Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:20:58.603Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Sediment Characterization and Porewater Isotope Chemistry of Quaternary Deposits from the St. Clair Delta, Ontario, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John D. Cumming  and
Ihsan S. Al-Aasm
John D. Cumming
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4, Canada
Ihsan S. Al-Aasm
Affiliation:
Earth Sciences, Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4, Canada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Walpole Island is part of a large freshwater delta located at the St. Clair River mouth in southwestern Ontario. Quaternary deposits on the island consist of Lake Nipissing to Lake St. Clair stage deltaic sediments underlain by a thick sequence of Late Wisconsin glaciolacustrine rhythmites and massive clayey till. These sediments overlie a thin freshwater aquifer resting on Paleozoic bedrock. Porewater δ18O, δD, and δ13CDICprofiles of cores taken from northern and central Walpole Island show that older (>10,000 yr B.P.), deeper glaciogenic porewaters have mixed with, and have been displaced by, younger modern surficial water. In contrast, isotopic profiles from a core taken from southern Walpole Island indicate that modern St. Clair River waters have penetrated the entire 20-m core via fractures, effectively displacing all glaciogenic porewater. Fracturing and faulting are clearly visible throughout the southern core, and their presence may be attributed to its location on the trend of the Electric Fault. These features are interpreted as the product of renewed Holocene fault movement. Porewater Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+concentration gradients are consistent with the presence of upwardly diffusing deep brine, for which the Electric Fault may serve as a conduit.

Keywords

stable isotopes, sedimentology, Quaternary sediment, St. Clair Delta
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 51 , Issue 2 , March 1999 , pp. 174 - 186
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

Barnett, P. J., (1985). Glacial retreat and lake levels, north-central Lake Erie basin, Ontario. In Quaternary Evolution of the Great Lakes, 185, 194.Google Scholar
Barnett, P.J., (1992). Quaternary geology of Ontario. Geology of Ontario Ontario Geological Survey, p. 1011–1088.Google Scholar
Bigeleison, J., Perlman, M.L., Proser, H.C., (1952). Conversion of hydrogenic materials to hydrogen for isotopic analyses. Analytical Chemistry 24, 1356–1361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brigham, R. J., (1971). Structural Geology of Southwestern Ontario and Southeastern Michigan.Google Scholar
Chapman, L.J., Putnam, , (1984). The Physiography of Southern Ontario.Google Scholar
Chekiri, K. (1996). Groundwater Recharge above a Buried Esker in Essex County. Ontario .Google Scholar
Christensen, M. D., (1993). Acoustic Investigation and New Depositional Model for the Development of the St. Clair Delta.Google Scholar
Connell, D. E., (1984). Distribution, Characteristics, and Genesis of Joints in Fine-Grained Till and Lacustrine Sediment. Eastern and Northwestern Wisconsin .Google Scholar
Crnokrak, B., (1991). An Environmental Isotope and Computer Flow Model Investigation of the Freshwater Aquifer in the Lake Huron to Lake Erie Corridor.Google Scholar
Cumming, J. D. (1995). Sedimentology and Porewater Isotope Chemistry of Quaternary Deposits from the St. Clair Delta. Walpole Island, Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
D'Astous, A.Y., Ruland, W.W., Bruce, J.R.G., Cherry, J.A., Gilham, R., (1988). Fracture effects in the shallow groundwater zone in weathered Sarnia-area clay. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 26, 43–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desaulniers, D.E., Cherry, J.A., Fritz, P., (1981). Origin, age and movement of porewater in argillaceous Quaternary deposits at four sites in southwestern Ontario. Journal of Hydrology 50, 231–257.Google Scholar
Dorr, J.A., Eschman, D.F., (1971). Geology of Michigan. Univ. of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Prest, V.K., (1987). Late Wisconsinan and Holocene history of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire 41, 237–263.Google Scholar
Epstein, S., Mayeda, T.K., (1953). Variations of the18 16 . Geochimica Cosmochimica Acta 4, 213–222.Google Scholar
Eschman, D.F., Karrow, P.F., (1985). Huron basin glacial lakes: A review. Quaternary Evolution of the Great Lakes p. 79–93.Google Scholar
Flint, R.F., (1971). Glacial and Quaternary Geology. Wiley and Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Frye, J. C., Willman, H. B., Glass, H. D., (1960). Gumbotil, Accretion-Gley, and the Weathering Profile.Google Scholar
Graber, E.R., Aharon, P., (1991). An improved microextraction technique for measuring dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), δ13 DIC 18 H20 . Chemical Geology (Isotope Geosciences Section) 94, 137–144.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grisak, G.E., Cherry, J.A., (1975). Hydrological characteristics and response of fractured till and clay confining a shallow aquifer. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 12, 23–43.Google Scholar
Husain, M. M., (1996). Origin and Persistance of Pleistocene Water in the Regional Quaternary Aquitard and Underlying Aquifer. Southwestern Ontario .Google Scholar
Johnson, M.D., Armstrong, D.K., Sanford, B.V., Telford, P.G., Rutka, M.A., (1992). Paleozoic and Mesozoic geology of Ontario. Thurston, P.C., Williams, H.R., Sutcliffe, R.H., Scott, G.M. Geology of Ontario Ontario Geological Survey, 907–1008.Google Scholar
Karrow, P.F., (1984). Quaternary stratigraphy and history, Great Lakes–St. Lawrence Region. Quaternary Stratigraphy of Canada—A Canadian contribution to IGCP Project 24 p. 137–153.Google Scholar
Karrow, P.F., (1989). Quaternary geology of the Great Lakes subregion. Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland p. 326–350.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, B., (1995). Grain Size Distribution and Mineralogy of the St. Clair River Delta Sediments.Google Scholar
MacGregor, J. D., (1980). Petroleum Evaluation of the Walpole Island Indian Reserve No. 46.Google Scholar
Mason, S. A., (1987). Seepage of Groundwater into the St. Clair River near Sarnia. Ontario, Canada.Google Scholar
McKay, L. D., (1991). Groundwater Flow and Contaminant Transport in a Fractured Clay Till.Google Scholar
McNutt, R. H., Frape, S. K., Dollar, P., (1987). A strontium, oxygen and hydrogen isotopic composition of brines, Michigan and Appalachian basins, Ontario and Michigan. In Geochemistry of Waters in Deep Sedimentary Basins, Hanore, J. S, Applied Geochemistry, 2, 495, 505.Google Scholar
Pezzetta, J. M., (1968). The St. Clair River Delta.Google Scholar
Quigley, R.M., Dreimanis, A., (1972). Weathered interstadial green clay at Port Talbot, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 9, 991–1000.Google Scholar
Raphael, C.N., Jaworski, E., (1982). The St. Clair River delta: A unique lake delta. Geographical Bulletin 21, 7–28.Google Scholar
Salomons, W., Mook, W.G., (1986). Isotope geochemistry of carbonates in the weathering zone. Fritz, P., Fontes, J.C. Handbook of Environmental Isotope Geochemistry Elsevier, Amsterdam.239–269.Google Scholar
Sanford, B. V., (1965). Salina Salt Beds.Google Scholar
Sklash, M., (1986). Investigation of the Oxygen-18 and Tritium Concentrations in Water from the ‘Deep Holes’ in the St. Clair River near Walpole Island.Google Scholar
Soderman, L.G., Kim, Y.D., (1970). Effects of groundwater levels on the stress history of the St. Clair Till deposit. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 7, 173–187.Google Scholar
Vandenberg, A., Lawson, D. W., Charron, J. E., Novakovic, B., (1977). Subsurface Waste in Lambton County. Ontario: Piezometric Head in the Disposal Formation and Groundwater Chemistry of the Shallow Aquifer.Google Scholar