Northern Labrador Shelf glacial chronology and depositional environments

Abstract

The data suggest the following sequence of glaciation and deposition: ice grounds on the shelf and upper slope during the glacial maximum; shelf-basinal and bank portions of the ice sheet begin basal melting before 9770 and .apprx. 10,260 BP, respectively; degrounding of the ice in shelf basins and admission of sea water by 9770 BP, perhaps at 1st beneath ice shelves; deposition of fine-grained glacial muds in basins as runoff from actively ablating valley glaciers on Labrador finds its way into fjord-like embayments in the ice sheet (.apprx. 9770-8380 BP); and deformation of sediments on shallower portions of the shelf and upper slope possible by Hudson Bay, Foxe Basin or Ungava Bay surge ice exiting outer Hudson Strait, .apprx. 8380-7500 BP.