Erosion of glacial till from the St. Clair River (Great Lakes basin)

► Critical shear stress for erosion of cohesive sediment (glacial till) was determined. ► Laboratory tests involved sample from St. Clair River, unidirectional recirculating flume and laser Doppler velocimetry (LDV) measurements. ► Bed shear stress was obtained by fit of logarithmic law to velocity profiles. ► Value of critical shear stress of glacial till from St. Clair River was 4.2 N/m2. ► A threshold condition for erosion of fine-grained cohesive sediments is proposed.