Quaternary events on the Burin Peninsula, Newfoundland, and the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, France

Abstract

Morphogenetic mapping of surficial deposits and analysis of infrequent multiple-unit exposures of drift in the Burin Peninsula and on St. Pierre and Miquelon provide evidence of the following sequence of late Quaternary events in the south-central coastal region of Newfoundland. (1) Overall glaciation by Newfoundland-centred ice (pre-Wisconsinan or, possibly, Early Wisconsinan in age), represented by a few occurrences of weathered till. (2) Overall glaciation by Newfoundland-centred ice (Early Wisconsinan), widely represented throughout the peninsula. (3) Marine overlap in the southwest of the peninsula and on St. Pierre and Miquelon (Mid-Wisconsinan). (4) Partial glaciation by ice from an offshore source to the southeast (late Mid-Wisconsinan), represented by onshore-directed striae and a well-developed former ice-marginal position in the lower peninsula. (5) Limited glaciation by Newfoundland-centred ice of the northern part of the area (Late Wisconsinan); the former ice margin is a well-defined feature across the Gisborne basin and small separate ice caps existed along the central spine of the upper peninsula. In developing the chronology for these events, the occurrence of marine deposits, containing Foraminifera of proposed Mid-Wisconsinan age, between two till units at Dantzic Cove in the southwest of the Burin Peninsula is important.