Sedimentary Architecture of Modern and Ancient Glaciated Basins

拟议的研究将记录现代和古代冰川盆地的地貌和沉积物的沉积结构，以加强我们对过去环境和气候变化的了解。冰川盆地包含古环境变化的重要记录，但由于在解释冰川沉积的起源方面存在不确定性，这一记录往往难以破译。了解冰川沉积物的空间特征(结构)可以帮助确定其成因模式，对于水文地质调查以确定地下水的来源、质量和可持续性也很重要；加拿大社区使用的大部分地下水都位于冰川沉积物内的含水层中，我们对这些含水层的地下几何形状或范围的了解有限。 这项研究将侧重于使用新的方法记录冰岛现代环境中形成的冰川地貌和沉积物以及安大略省第四纪层序中保存的冰川地貌和沉积物。现代冰川和前冰川地貌和沉积物地层在冰岛南部海岸几个后退的冰川边缘前暴露得很好。野外工作将涉及使用全球定位系统和标准沉积学测井技术(记录颗粒大小、沉积结构、单元接触、厚度和几何图形)对地貌和露头进行详细测量和记录。这些实地数据将与卫星数据相结合，用于确定和分析现代冰川地貌和沉积物的空间关系和分布。 拟议研究的第二个要素是将从冰岛现代冰川边缘学到的东西应用于分析安大略省南部的晚第四纪沉积，那里的晚第四纪冰川、湖泊和河流沉积的复杂地层在冰川和前冰川背景下积累。来自安大略省南部几个地点(包括乔治敦、南西姆科以及伊利湖和安大略省北岸)暴露的沉积序列和钻探岩心数据将与从冰岛收集的现代沉积学和建筑数据进行比较。这将使更准确地重建安大略省第四纪晚期的古环境条件，并将大大促进关于大冰川下融水洪水在第四纪地貌和沉积物地层形成中所起作用的辩论。

The proposed research will document the sedimentary architecture of landforms and sediments in modern and ancient glaciated basins in order to enhance our understanding of past environmental and climatic change. Glaciated basins contain an important record of paleoenvironmental change but this record is often difficult to decipher due to uncertainties in interpreting the origin of glacial deposits. Understanding the spatial characteristics (architecture) of glacial sediments can help identify their mode of origin and is also important for hydrogeological investigations to determine the source, quality and sustainability of groundwater; most of the groundwater used by Canadian communities is hosted in aquifers within glacial deposits and we have limited understanding of the subsurface geometry or extent of these aquifers. This research will focus on using new approaches to the documentation of glacial landforms and sediments forming in modern environments in Iceland and those preserved in Quaternary successions in Ontario. Modern glacial and proglacial landforms and sediment stratigraphies are well exposed in front of several retreating glacier margins along the southern coast of Iceland. Fieldwork will involve detailed measurement and documentation of landforms and outcrops using GPS and standard sedimentological logging techniques (recording grain size, sedimentary structures, unit contacts, thicknesses and geometries). These field data will be integrated with satellite data and will be used to identify and analyze the spatial relationships and distribution of modern glacial landforms and sediments. A second element of the proposed research is to apply what is learned from modern glacier margins in Iceland to the analysis of late Quaternary deposits in southern Ontario where complex stratigraphies of Late Quaternary glacial, lacustrine and fluvial deposits have accumulated in glacial and proglacial settings. Exposed sedimentary successions and drill core data from several locations in southern Ontario (including Georgetown, South Simcoe, and the northern shores of Lake Erie and Ontario) will be compared with the modern sedimentological and architectural data collected from Iceland. This will allow more accurate reconstructions of Late Quaternary paleoenvironmental conditions in Ontario, and will contribute significantly to the debate regarding the role that large subglacial meltwater floods played in the creation of Quaternary landforms and sediment stratigraphies.