Abstract
The bedrock framework of the northern Gulf of Maine coast, USA (Fig. 1), controls the geometry of headlands and embayments (Shipp et al., 1985, 1987; Kelley, 1987). Quaternary continental glaciers sculpted this paraglacial coast, culminating in the latest Wisconsinan Laurentide Ice Sheet, which reached its maximum extent in the region 20–22 ka (Hughes et al., 1985). This ice sheet was marine-based in much of the Gulf of Maine 20–15 ka (Schnitker et al., 2001) and during later stages of retreat through the Maine coastal lowlands (Stuiver and Borns, 1975; Dorion et al., 2001). Sediments of a wide variety of (Thompson and Borns, 1985) were deposited duringeglacial retreat, interpreted in a sequence-stratigraphic model by Belknap and Shipp (1991) and Barnhardt et al. (1997). Sediment sources to the evolving Holocene coast included reworking from glacial and glaciomarine outcrops, as well as limited fluvial inputs.
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Belknap, D.F., Gontz, A.M., Kelley, J.T. (2005). Paleodeltas and Preservation Potential on a Paraglacial Coast — Evolution of Eastern Penobscot Bay, Maine. In: FitzGerald, D.M., Knight, J. (eds) High Resolution Morphodynamics and Sedimentary Evolution of Estuaries. Coastal Systems and Continental Margins, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-3296-X_16
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