Abstract
A collection of short cores were taken from the Canada Basin northwest of the Canadian continental shelf at depths of 3,600 to 3,700 m, where the bottom slope is less than 0.1°. The cores consist of turbidites and glacial-marine sediment as determined by diagnostic sedimentary character. The turbidite layers observed are graded and commonly contain a Bouma C to D transition. The glacial-marine layers generally exhibit a peloidal texture, and in some cores, contain striated pebbles. The peloidal texture consists of clots or pellets which have been aggregated in interstices between crystals of ice and have maintained their integrity despite falling through almost 4,000 m of water. Till and till peloids are released by ice rafted across the basin. A previously unrecognized lithostratigraphy, consisting of 20 laterally continuous units, is correlated over a wide area of the Canada Basin. Magnetic stratigraphy shows this sequence to be Pleistocene-Holocene in age. The stratigraphic sequence is dominantly turbidites with a minor number of ice-rafted layers, which represent a history of intermittent turbidity current deposition masking a slow, relatively constant influx of ice-rafted sediment. The glacial-marine sediment layers represent long periods between turbidite events. The Canada Basin lithostratigraphy has little similarity to the lithostratigraphy developed for turbidite-free sediment of a similar age from the adjacent Alpha Cordillera. End_of_Article - Last_Page 931------------
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