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Middle Wisconsin glacial advance into the Appalachian Plateau, Sixmile Creek, Tompkins Co., NY

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Daniel E. Karig  and
Norton G. Miller
Daniel E. Karig*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA
Norton G. Miller
Affiliation:
Biological Survey, New York State Museum, Albany, NY, 12230, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:dek9@cornell.edu (D.E. Karig).
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Abstract

Areal mapping of the middle Wisconsin varved clay site along Sixmile Creek near Ithaca, New York, has revealed a much more widespread and varied array of sediments than previously thought. Lacustrine clays, some varved, are interbedded with sands and gravels interpreted as sub-aqueous fan deposits, and both are overlain by a deformation till. Nine radiocarbon dates indicate a 34–37 14C ka BP age for the lacustrine sediment, with the deformation till less than a few thousand years younger. Beneath this sequence is a deposit dated at ± 42 14C ka BP. Both strata represent a tundra climate with a mean July temperature of about 10°C. The Sixmile Creek deformation till must correlate with the 35 14C ka BP till along the Genesee River, 125 km to the NW, and defines a Cherrytree stade glacial advance into the Appalachian Plateau, much further south than what has generally been accepted. Such an advance would require drainage from a proglacial lake in the western Ontario basin to flow westward instead of northeastward. The Sixmile strata suggest a colder than accepted middle Wisconsin stage. Recent data indicate that this stage is one of progressive cooling, with large climatic fluctuations.

Keywords

Middle WisconsinVarvesDeformation tillSub-aqueous fanRadiocarbon agesNew York
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 80 , Issue 3 , November 2013 , pp. 522 - 533
Copyright
University of Washington

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Footnotes

1 Deceased.

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