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Late Quaternary Temporal and Event Classifications, Great Lakes Region, North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

W. Hilton Johnson ,
Ardith K. Hansel ,
E. Arthur Bettis III ,
Paul F. Karrow ,
Grahame J. Larson ,
Thomas V. Lowell  and
Allan F. Schneider
W. Hilton Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois, 61801
Ardith K. Hansel
Affiliation:
Illinois State Geological Survey, Champaign, Illinois, 61820
E. Arthur Bettis III
Affiliation:
Geological Survey Bureau, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242
Paul F. Karrow
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences and Quaternary Sciences Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 3G1, Canada
Grahame J. Larson
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 48824
Thomas V. Lowell
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45221
Allan F. Schneider
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Wisconsin-Parkside, Kenosha, Wisconsin, 53141
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Abstract

Several temporal and event classifications are used for the Quaternary glacial and interglacial record in the Great Lakes region of North America. Although based on contrasting principles, the classifications, as practiced, are similar to one another in most respects and they differ little from the classification proposed by Chamberlin a century ago. All are based on stratigraphic units having time-transgressive boundaries; thus the associated time spans and events are diachronous. Where application of geochronologic classification based on isochronous boundaries is not practical or useful, we advocate the use of diachronic principles to establish local and regional temporal and event classifications. Diachronic and event classifications based on such principles are proposed herein for the Great Lakes region. Well-established names, including Wisconsin, Sangamon, and Illinois, are used at the episode (or glaciation/interglaciation) rank without significant redefinition. The Hudson Episode (Interglaciation) is introduced for postglacial time, the current interglacial interval. The Wisconsin Episode is divided into the Ontario, Elgin, and Michigan Subepisodes in the eastern and northern parts of the Great Lakes region and into the Athens and Michigan Subepisodes in the southern and western parts of the Great Lakes region.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 47 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 1 - 12
Copyright
University of Washington

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