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A comparative analyses of microstructures from Late Jurassic diamictic units, near Helmsdale, northeast Scotland and a Pleistocene diamicton from near Milton, southern Ontario, Canada – a differential diagnostic method of sediment typing using micromorphology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2014

J. Menzies  and
C. Whiteman
J. Menzies*
Affiliation:
Depts. of Earth Sciences & Geography, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada L2S 3A1
C. Whiteman
Affiliation:
School of the Environment University of Brighton, Brighton, BN2 4GJ, England, U.K.
*
*Email: jmenzies@brocku.ca

Abstract

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Micromorphology is used to examine and compare a Late Jurassic diamictite from northeast Scotland with a Pleistocene diamict from southern Ontario, Canada in order to test if a statistical difference between diamicts can be recognized and used to separate differing types of diamicts/diamictites. The diamictites from Scotland have been ascribed to various depositional agencies occurring in several distinctly differing terrestrial and marine palaeoenvironments. In contrast, the Pleistocene diamicton is regarded as a subglacial till. Both diamicts appear remarkably similar visually and contain many corresponding features such as macrostructures, and exotic and fractured subangular to subrounded clasts. Micromorphology is used to re-examine these diamicts/diamictites at the microscopic level to detect if the palaeoenvironments within which they were deposited can be ascertained. In this paper a quantitative assessment of microstructures using micromorphology is developed. Comparative statistical analyses of these diamicts, using micromorphological features, reveals that the Jurassic diamictites are non-glacigenic, non-terrestrial and most likely deposited within a marine environment as a result of subaquatic debris mass movement, while, in contrast, the Pleistocene diamicts were most likely subglacial tectomicts deposited beneath the active base of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

Keywords

diamictitesdiamictonsdiamictstillmicromorphologyJurassicconglomeratesPleistocenestatistical analyses
Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 88 , Issue 1 , March 2009 , pp. 75 - 94
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2009

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