Late Wisconsinian glaciolacustrine sediments deposited in front of a submerged glacial terminus, Lake Erie Bluffs, Canada

A study was conducted to examine sedimentary processes occurring in front of an Upper Wisconsinian submerged glacial terminus. The stratigraphy and sedimentology of Lake Erie north shore bluffs were studied focussing on a 2 km long section proximal to an end moraine.; Detailed analysis of the deposits suggests diachronous deposition times. Within 400 m of the glacial terminus, the eastern glaciolacustrine succession is characterized by lenses of till and silty sand, followed by thick climbing ripple drifts, alternating with planar laminated and ripple cross-laminated sand and locally deformed pseudo-massive sandy silt lenses. These hyperpycnal flow deposits were derived from large outwash floods flowing in front, and from, the glacier. Western glaciolacustrine sediments are characterized by a complex juxtaposition of foreshore heavy mineral bearing planar laminated deposits, with upper shoreface planar laminae alternating with ripple cross-laminated sand. A thick (∼1.5 m) Brunisolic soil caps the bluffs, followed by a locally developed cliff top dune.