Laurentide Ice Sheet dynamics in the Bay of Fundy, Canada, revealed through multibeam sonar mapping of glacial landsystems

Recent multibeam sonar data collected in the Bay of Fundy, Canada, interpreted in conjunction with geophysical profiling and sediment sampling, reveal in unprecedented detail a suite of glacial landforms associated with the southwest margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. These landforms constitute four glacial landsystems. 1) Subglacial landsystem I: In southwestern Bay of Fundy, the elongated Grand Manan Basin contains ice-contact sediments of possible mid-Wisconsinan age overlain by late-Wisconsinan ice-contact sediments strongly imprinted by iceberg furrows and pits. In places, possible mid-Wisconsinan glaciomarine sediments have been eroded by late-Wisconsinan ice, creating streamlined landforms. Eroded bedrock and megafluted ice-contact sediment on the flanks of Grand Manan Basin indicate the southwest direction of topographically-steered ice. 2) Subglacial landsystem II: Along the southern margin of the Bay of Fundy, an array of drumlins, with superimposed esker complexes, was formed by glacial ice that emanated northwest from the interior of Nova Scotia and was deflected to the southwest by the ice flowing out of the Bay of Fundy to the Gulf of Maine. The esker complexes formed later when the Nova Scotia ice sheet stagnated and meltwater escaped northwest via topographic gaps. 3) Ice-marginal landsystem I: In northern Bay of Fundy, both small De Geer moraines and larger, basin-bounding moraines were created when retreating late-Wisconsinan ice became grounded in relatively shallow water. New radiocarbon ages show that the Owen Basin Moraine in this landsystem was abandoned prior to c. 14,600 14C yr BP (cal BP 17,015–17,270 [0.7], 17,286–17,405 [0.3]). 4) Ice-marginal landsystem II: This distinctive landsystem consists of numerous arcuate moraines, commonly superimposed on one another. This landsystem was formed by thin (170 m), lightly grounded ice that retreated northeast into the Bay of Fundy. The splayed pattern of the ice margin was a response to a large accommodation space and velocity variations within the ice. The Isle Haute Moraine is a large lobate moraine; its age is poorly constrained by shells from glaciomarine sediments (13,750 ± 60 14C yr BP (cal BP 15,970–15,996 [0.03], 16,047–16,665 [0.97])) but the moraine may be coeval with the onset of a terrestrial ice margin established at the head of the Bay of Fundy by c. 14,300 14C yr BP (cal BP 16,824–17,013).

► Mapping has revealed a suite of glacial landforms of the Bay of Fundy, Canada.
► Glacial landsystems in the region indicate topographical control of the flow of ice.
► General ice flow direction was southwest from the Bay of Fundy to the Gulf of Maine.
► Distinctive recessional moraines formed in response to large accommodation space.