Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-04T19:06:41.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Late Quaternary Mollusks from Glacial Lake Algonquin, Nipissing, and Transitional Sediments from Southwestern Ontario, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

B. B. Miller
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, 44242 USA
P. F. Karrow
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
L. L. Kalas
Affiliation:
Department of Environment, Canada Centre for Inland Waters, Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Mollusks were studied from six sites in Lake Algonquin deposits (12,000-10,000 yr B.P.), five transitional (Lake Stanley low stage; 10,000 – 6000 yr B.P.), and six Nipissing stage sites (6000-4000 yr B.P.) east of Lake Huron in southwestern Ontario. The sites represent a variety of near-shore, lagoonal, estuarine, and fluvial environments. Eighteen species were limited to occurrences in Algonquin stage deposits; 8 were found only in the transitional age sites; and 14 species were restricted to Nipissing stage localities. With the possible exception of Goniobasis livescens, which occurred at five of the six Nipissing stage sites, the remaining stratigraphically limited species were usually restricted to one or two localities and probably cannot be used as zone fossils. Some cold-tolerant species (e.g., Anodonta grandis simpsoniana) were very early migrants into the study area, while others arrived later, apparently from eastern, southern, and western sources. Mollusks proved useful in paleoenvironmental reconstructions and to a lesser extent in biostratigraphic zonation.

Type
Original Articles
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ashworth, A.C., 1977. A late Wisconsinan Coleopterous assemblage from southern Ontario and its environmental significance. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 14, 1625-1634.Google Scholar
Ashworth, A.C., Clayton, L., Bickley, W.B., 1972. The Mosbeck site: A paleoenvironmental interpretation of the Late Quaternary history of Lake Agassiz based on fossil insect and mollusk remains. Quaternary Research. 2, 176-188.Google Scholar
Baker, F.C., 1920. The life of the Pleistocene or glacial period. Illinois University Bulletin. 17, 1-476.Google Scholar
Basch, P., 1963. Environmentally influenced shell distortion in a fresh-water limpet. Ecology. 44, 1 193-194.Google Scholar
Bell, R., 1861. On recent land and fresh-water shells collected around Lakes Superior and Huron in 1859–1860. Canadian Naturalist and Geologist. 6, 268-270 (from reprint in Sterkiana 8 , 49–51).Google Scholar
Bickel, E.D., 1970. Pleistocene non-marine mollusca of the Gatineau Valley and Ottawa areas of Quebec and Ontario, Canada. Sterkiana. 38, 1-50.Google Scholar
Burch, J.B., 1975 Freshwater Sphaeriacean Clams (Mollusca: Pelecypoda) of North America. Malacological Publications, Hamburg, Mich. Google Scholar
Clark, A.L., 1961. Pleistocene molluscan faunas of the Castalia Deposit, Erie Counby, Ohio. Sterkiana. 3, 19-39.Google Scholar
Clarke, A.H., 1973. The freshwater molluscs of the Canadian Interior Basin. Malacologia. 13, 1-509.Google Scholar
Clayton, L., 1961. Late Wisconsin mollusca from ice-contact deposits in Logan County, North Dakota. Proceedings of North Dakota Academy of Science. 15, 11-18.Google Scholar
Clayton, L., 1962. Glacial geology of Logan and McIntosh Counties, North Dakota. North Dakota Geological Survey Bulletin. 37, 1-84.Google Scholar
Clowers, S.R., 1966. Pleistocene mollusca of the Box Marsh deposit, Admaston Township, Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Sterkiana. 22, 31-59.Google Scholar
Cowan, W.R., Karrow, P.F., Cooper, A.J., Morgan, A.179., 1975 Late Quaternary Stratigraphy of the Waterloo-Lake Huron Area, Southwestern Ontario. University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, 180-222 Waterloo '75 Field Trips Guidebook.Google Scholar
Elson, J.A., 1967. Geology of glacial Lake Agassiz. Mayer-Oakes, W.S., Life, Land and Water. Univ. of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg, 37-95.Google Scholar
Farrand, W.R., Miller, B.B., 1968. Radiocarbon dates on and depositional environment of the Wasage Beach (Ontario) marl deposit. Ohio Journal of Science. 68, 4 235-239.Google Scholar
Henson, E.B., 1966. A review of Great Lakes benthos research. Publication no. 14. University of Michigan Great Lakes Research Division, 37-54.Google Scholar
Henson, E.B., Herrington, H.B., 1965. Sphaeriidae (Mollusca: Pelecypoda) of Lakes Huron and Michigan in the vicinity of the Straits of Mackinac. Publication no. 13. University of Michigan Great Lakes Research Division, 77-95.Google Scholar
Herrington, H.B., 1962 A Revision of the Sphaeriidae of North America (Mollusca: Pelecypoda). Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan Miscellaneous Publications No. 118.Google Scholar
Herrington, H.B., 1968. The Sphaerridae. Brinkhurst, R.O., Hamilton, A.L., Herrington, H.B., Components of the Bottom Fauna of the St. Lawrence, Great Lakes. PR no. 33. Great Lakes Institute, University of Toronto, 13-16.Google Scholar
Hibbard, C.W., Taylor, D.W., 1960. Two late Pleistocene faunas from southwestern Kansas. Contributions of the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan. 16, 1-223.Google Scholar
Hough, J.L., 1963. The prehistoric Great Lakes of North America. American Scientist. 51, 84-109.Google Scholar
Karrow, P.F., Clarke, A.H., Herrington, H.B., 1972. Pleistocene Mollusks from Lake Iroquois deposits in Ontario. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 9, 5 589-595.Google Scholar
Karrow, P.F., Anderson, T.W., Clarke, A.H., Delorme, L.D., Sreenivasa, M.R., 1975. Stratigraphy, paleontology, and age of Lake Algonquin sediments in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Quaternary Research. 5, 49-87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonard, A.B., 1974. Chronology and molluscan paleontology of two Post-Woodfordian bogs in northeastern Illinois. Illinois Geological Survey Circular. 487, 1-28.Google Scholar
Lewis, C.F.M., 1969. Late Quaternary history of lake levels in the Huron and Erie basins. Proceedings 12th Conference on Great Lakes Research. 250-270.Google Scholar
McAndrews, J.H., Stewart, R.E. Jr., Bright, R.C., 1967. Paleoecology of a prairie pothole: A preliminary report. Clayton, L., Freers, T.F., Glacial Geology of the Missouri Coteau and Adjacent Areas. North Dakota Geological Survey Miscellaneous Series 30. 101-113.Google Scholar
Oughton, J., 1948 A Zoogeographical Study of the Land Snails of Ontario. Univ. of Toronto Studies, Biological Series no. 57.Google Scholar
Rawson, D.S., 1930 The Bottom Fauna of Lake Simcoe and Its Role in the Ecology of the Lake. University Toronto Studies, Publication Ontario Fisheries Research Laboratory No. 40.Google Scholar
Robertson, A.D., 1915. The mollusca of Georgian Bay. Contributions to Canadian Biology. Supplement to 67th Annual Report Dept Marine and Fisheries, Sessional Paper No. 39b. 95-111.Google Scholar
Semken, H.A., Miller, B.B., Stevens, J.B., 1964. Late Wisconsin woodland musk oxen in association with pollen and invertebrates from Michigan. Journal of Paleontology. 38, 5 823-825.Google Scholar
Thwaites, F.T., Bertrand, K., 1957. Pleistocene geology of the Door Peninsula, Wisconsin. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 68, 831-879.Google Scholar
Tuthill, S.J., 1961. A molluscan fauna and late Pleistocene climate in southeastern North Dakota. Proceedings North Dakota Academy of Sciences. 15, 19-26.Google Scholar
Tuthill, S.J., 1967a. Late Pleistocene mollusca of the Missouri Coteau District, North Dakota. A note and bibliography. Clayton, L., Freers, T.F., Glacial Geology of the Missouri Coteau and Adjacent Areas. North Dakota Geological Survey Miscellaneous Series 30. 73-82.Google Scholar
Tuthill, S.J., 1967b. Paleo-zoology and molluscan paleontology of the glacial Lake Agassiz region. Mayer-Oakes, W.J., Life, Land, and Water. Univ. of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg, 299-312.Google Scholar
Tuthill, S.J., Laird, W.M., Kresl, R.J., 1964. Fossiliferous marl beneath lower Campbell (glacial Lake Agassiz) beach sediments. Proceedings North Dakota Academy Sciences. 18, 135-140.Google Scholar
Watts, W.A., Bright, R.C., 1968. Pollen, seed, and mollusk analysis of a sediment core from Pickerel Lake, northeastern South Dakota. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 79, 855-876.Google Scholar
Zoltai, S.C., 1969. Sampling fossil mollusks from glacial Lake Agassiz sediments. Journal of Paleontology. 43, 534-537.Google Scholar
Zoltai, S.C., Herrington, H.B., 1966. Late glacial molluscan fauna north of Lake Superior, Ontario. Journal of Paleontology. 40, 439-446.Google Scholar