Glacial-Marine Sedimentation

Transcription

1 Glacial-Marine Sedimentation

2 Glacial-Marine Sedimentation Edited by Bruce F. Molnia Los Altos, California Plenum Press New York and London

3 PREFACE This volume of 18 papers describes the glacial-marine sedimentary environment in a variety of temporal and spatial settings. The volume's primary emphasis is the characterization of Quaternary glacial-marine sedimentation to show (1) the significant differences that exist between glacialmarine environments in different geographic settings and (2) their resulting glacial-marine deposits and facies. Additionally, papers describing ancient glacial-marine environments are also presented to illustrate lithified analogs of the Quaternary deposits. With the Doctrine of Uniformitarianism in mind (the present is the key to the past), it is hoped that this volume will serve to expand the horizons of geologists working on the rock record, especially those whose primary criteria for recognition of ancient glacial-marine environments is the presence of dropstones in a finer-grained matrix. As the papers presented here show, diamictite is only one of many types of deposits that form in the glacial-marine sedimentary environment. Papers presented in this volume examine the Quaternary glacia1-marine sedimentary picture in subarctic Alaska, Antarctica, the Arctic Ocean, the Kane Basin, Baffin Island, the Puget-Fraser Lowland of Washington and British Columbia, and the North Atlantic Ocean. Ancient glacia1-marine deposits described are the Neogene Yakataga Formation of southern Alaska, the Late Paleozoic Dwyka Formation of the Karoo Basin of South Africa, and the Precambrian Mineral Fork Formation of Utah. For continuity, a paper summar1z1ng the temporal and spatial occurrences of glacial-marine deposits is also presented. Two papers, one evaluating the geotechnical characteristics of Holocene glacia1-marine Gulf of Alaska seidment, and one presenting a detailed evaluation of the paleoecology of late Wisconsin Pacific Northwest deposits, show the degree of detail that can be determined from some Quaternary glacia1-marine deposits, details unfortunately missing from most ancient deposits. v

4 vi PREFACE As the reader will discover, there are significant differences between various present-day glacial-marine sedimentary environments and their resulting deposits. Papers presented will answer many questions about problematic facies in older deposits, and additionally, I hope many new questions will arise about previous interpretations. Models and descriptions presented here will help in solving these problems. Special thanks to Diane S. Stephens for word processing the final manuscript and taking charge of the many tasks required to pull all the pieces of this project together. Additionally, special thanks to Elizabeth A. Johnson, Bessie Lee, Linda C. Ames, and Mary A. Molnia for their assistance in proofreading and preparation of the final manuscript; without Mary A. Molnia's infinite patience, I doubt if the manuscript would ever have been completed. Lastly, without the cooperation and assistance of the many authors whose manuscripts are included in the volume, this project would not have been possible. Bruce F. Molnia July 1983

5 CONTENTS I. GLACIAL-MARINE SEDIMENT IN SPACE AND TIME Ancient Glacial-Marine Deposits: Their Spatial and Temporal Distribution.. John B. Anderson 3 II. QUATERNARY GLACIAL-MARINE SEDIMENTATION ALASKA Subarctic Glacial-Marine Sedimentation: A Model Bruce F. Molnia 95 Geotechnical Analyses of Submarine Landslides in Glacial-Marine Sediment, Northeast Gulf of Alaska..... William C. Schwab and Homa J. Lee 145 Glacial-Marine Sedimentation Processes and Lithofacies of Temperate Tidewater Glaciers, Glacier Bay, Alaska.... Ross D. Powell 185 ANTARCTICA Development of a Polar Glacial-Marine Sedimentation Model from Antarctic Quaternary Deposits and Glaciological Information John B. Anderson, Chris Brake, Eugene Domack, Nathan Meyers, and Robyn Wright 233 Distribution and Association of Sediment Gravity Flow Deposits and Glacial/Glacial-Marine Sediments Around the Continental Margin of Antarctica Robyn Wright, John B. Anderson, and Pamela P. Fisco 265 ARCTIC OCEAN Central Arctic Ocean Sediment Texture: A Key to Ice Transport Mechanisms David L. Clark and Arnold Hanson 301 vii

6 viii CONTENTS A Late Cenozoic Stratigraphy for Glacial-Marine Sediments of The Eastern Alpha Cordillera, Central Arctic Ocean.... David A. Minicucci and David L. Clark 331 Stratigraphy and Sedimentology of Ice-Rafted and Turbidite Sediment, Canada Basin, Arctic Ocean.. Robert H. Goldstein 367 KANE BASIN Glacial and Glacial-Marine Sediment Lithofacies of the Kane Basin Joseph H. Kravitz 401 BAFFIN ISLAND Changes in Glacial-Marine Sedimentation in Core HU77-159, Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, N.W.T.: A Record of Proximal, Distal, and Ice-Rafting Glacial-Marine Environments. L.E. Osterman and J.T. Andrews 451 A Facies Model of Quaternary Glacial-Marine Cyclic Sedimentation Along Eastern Baffin Island, Canada W.N. Mode, A.R. Nelson, and J.K. Brigham 495 PUGET LOWLANDS Facies of Late Pleistocene Glacial-Marine Sediments on Whidbey Island, Washington: An Isostatic Glacial-Marine Sequence Eugene W. Domack 535 Paleoecology of Late Pleistocene Glacial-Marine Sediments in Northwestern Washington and Southwestern British Columbia Maria A. Balazarini 571 NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN Distal Glacial-Marine Sedimentation: Abundance, Composition, and Distribution of North Atlantic Ocean Pleistocene Ice-Rafted Sediment.. Bruce F. Molnia 593

7 CONTENTS ix III. OLDER GLACIAL-MARINE SEDIMENTATION NEOGENE Glacial Lithofacies of the Neogene Yakataga Formation, Robinson Mountains, Southern Alaska Coast Range, Alaska John M. Armentrout 629 PALEOZOIC Glacial-Marine Sedimentation in the Late Paleozoic Karoo Basin, Southern Africa... J.N.J. Visser 667 PRECAMBRIAN Glacial-Marine and Subglacial Sedimentation, Upper Proterozoic Mineral Fork Formation, Utah Nicholas Christie-Blick 703 LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS AUTHOR INDEX SUBJECT INDEX GEOGRAPHIC INDEX