Deciphering the depositional history of glaciated basins using sedimentology and geomatics

加拿大和北美北部的许多城市地区被冰川和间冰期条件下沉积的第四纪沉积序列覆盖着，厚度高达200米。这些沉积形成了关于该地区过去12万年来存在的环境和气候条件的丰富信息来源。然而，关于其中许多沉积物的来源存在很大争议。一些研究人员认为，晚第四纪记录是由灾难性的冰下大洪水形成的，而另一些研究人员则认为，它是通过长时间运行的正常的冰下过程形成的。此外，关于过去冰期气候条件的严重性和五大湖流域冰川湖泊的范围，也存在激烈的辩论。了解第四纪沉积物形成的环境条件，对于准确重建过去的气候变化，以及预测这些沉积物中发现的地下水和污染物运动至关重要。这项提议是为了资助研究五大湖盆地第四纪沉积物的沉积成因，既使用传统的沉积学技术，也使用新开发的涉及数字数据库的基于计算机的空间分析的地球学方法。将使用从水井记录、施工报告和自然暴露中获得的信息，为选定的地区创建地下地质数据库。这些数据将被可视化为3-D地下模型，并使用地理信息系统软件进行分析。这将为确定第四纪矿床的沉积成因提供有价值的信息，并将有助于查明地下含水层的位置和形式，这是地下水资源勘探、保护和补救问题的重要信息。拟议研究的新颖性和意义在于使用了一种混合的方法，将传统的沉积学分析方法与新开发的大型数字数据库空间分析技术相结合，这种类型的混合分析用于石油和天然气行业，现在可以应用于第四纪沉积物地层学的研究。

Many urban areas in Canada and northern North America are underlain by thick (up to 200 m) successions of Quaternary-age sediment deposited under glacial and interglacial conditions.  These sediments form a rich source of information regarding environmental and climatic conditions that existed in the region over the past 120,000 years.  However, there is much debate regarding the origin of many of these sediments.  Some researchers believe that the late Quaternary record was formed by 'catastrophic' subglacial megafloods while others believe it formed through 'normal' subglacial processes operating over extended periods of time.  There is also vigorous debate regarding the severity of climatic conditions during past 'glacial' episodes and the extent of glacial lakes in the Great lakes basins.  Understanding the environmental conditions under which the Quaternary sediments formed is essential for accurate reconstruction of past climatic change and also for prediction of subsurface water and contaminant movement in aquifers found within these deposits. This proposal is for funding to examine the depositional origin of Quaternary-age sediments in the Great Lakes basins using both 'traditional' sedimentological techniques and newly developed 'geomatics' approaches that involve computer-based spatial analysis of digital databases.  Subsurface geological databases will be created for selected areas using information obtained from waterwell records, construction reports and natural exposures.  These data will be visualized as 3-D subsurface models and analyzed using GIS software. This will provide valuable information on which the depositional origin of the Quaternary deposits can be determined and will allow identification of the location and form of subsurface aquifers, important information for groundwater resource exploration, protection and remediation issues. The novelty and significance of the proposed research lies in the use of a 'hybrid' approach, combining traditional sedimentological methods of analysis with newly developed techniques for the spatial analysis of large digital databases.  This type of hybrid analysis is used in the oil and gas industry and can now be applied to investigations of Quaternary sediment stratigraphies.