The sedimentation history of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay: results from analysis of seismic reflection profiles

Abstract

An extensive seismic reflection profile survey conducted concurrently with a sediment coring program in northern Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, and the North Channel revealed a detailed Holocene lake level history. Seven acoustic sequences were identified in the seismic stratigraphy, and these sequences show great variation in both the character and the spatial distribution of sediment deposition through time. The depths to the acoustically-defined sequence boundaries were digitized from the analog seismic records and merged with Loran-C navigation records from the cruise, yielding a three-dimensional record of the location of each sequence boundary. Thicknesses of the sequences were calculated from these depths, and a minimum-curvature spline surface was fit to the thickness data. These surfaces were used to construct isopach maps which show the trends in thickness of sediment accumulation throughout the lake basins for each of the sequences. 14C-AMS dates of materials from the cores fixed the dates of the sediment sequence boundaries, allowing sediment accumulation rates to be calculated. The distribution of sedimentation in the basins as shown on the isopach maps allowed assessment of sediment transport and water flow through the basins over time, which when combined with the work of Lewis & Anderson (1989), provides a detailed record of the transport and drainage of water through these basins as the Wisconsinan ice sheet retreated and isostatic rebound opened and closed outlets. Reversals of flow direction through the Straits of Mackinac and through the channels connecting Lake Huron and Georgian Bay and the North Channel are indicated by changes in sediment thickness distributions.