Palynostratigraphy and Th/U ages of upper Pleistocene interglacial and interstadial deposits on Cape Breton Island, eastern Canada

A. de Vernal; C. Causse; C. Hillaire-Marcel; R. J. Mott; S. Occhietti

doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1986)14<554:PATAOU>2.0.CO;2

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Research Article| July 01, 1986

Palynostratigraphy and Th/U ages of upper Pleistocene interglacial and interstadial deposits on Cape Breton Island, eastern Canada

A. de Vernal;

A. de Vernal

1

Laboratoire de Géochimie isotopique et de Geochronologie (GEOTOP), Université du Québec à Montréal, B.P. 8888, succ. A, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada

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C. Causse;

C. Causse

1

Laboratoire de Géochimie isotopique et de Geochronologie (GEOTOP), Université du Québec à Montréal, B.P. 8888, succ. A, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada

4

Permanent address: Laboratoire de Geologic du Quaternaire, CNRS Lummy, Case 907, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France

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C. Hillaire-Marcel;

C. Hillaire-Marcel

1

Laboratoire de Géochimie isotopique et de Geochronologie (GEOTOP), Université du Québec à Montréal, B.P. 8888, succ. A, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada

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R. J. Mott;

R. J. Mott

2

Terrain Science Division, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A OE6, Canada

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S. Occhietti

3

Laboratoire de Géochimie isotopique et de Géochronologie (GEOTOP), Université du Québec a Montréal B.P. 8888, succ. A, Montréal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada

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Author and Article Information

A. de Vernal

1

Laboratoire de Géochimie isotopique et de Geochronologie (GEOTOP), Université du Québec à Montréal, B.P. 8888, succ. A, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada

C. Causse

1

Laboratoire de Géochimie isotopique et de Geochronologie (GEOTOP), Université du Québec à Montréal, B.P. 8888, succ. A, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada

4

Permanent address: Laboratoire de Geologic du Quaternaire, CNRS Lummy, Case 907, 13288 Marseille Cedex 09, France

C. Hillaire-Marcel

1

Laboratoire de Géochimie isotopique et de Geochronologie (GEOTOP), Université du Québec à Montréal, B.P. 8888, succ. A, Montréal, Québec H3C 3P8, Canada

R. J. Mott

2

Terrain Science Division, Geological Survey of Canada, 601 Booth Street, Ottawa, Ontario K1A OE6, Canada

S. Occhietti

3

Laboratoire de Géochimie isotopique et de Géochronologie (GEOTOP), Université du Québec a Montréal B.P. 8888, succ. A, Montréal, Quebec H3C 3P8, Canada

Publisher: Geological Society of America

First Online: 01 Jun 2017

Online ISSN: 1943-2682

Print ISSN: 0091-7613

Geological Society of America

Geology (1986) 14 (7): 554–557.

https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1986)14<554:PATAOU>2.0.CO;2

Abstract

On Cape Breton Island (Nova Scotia), near the margin of the Wisconsinan ice sheet, karst depressions in Mississippian gypsum-bearing rocks contain interglacial and interstadial organic-rich deposits. Three palynostratigraphic units have been observed and tentatively dated by Th/U measurements on embedded fossil wood. The first, dated at ca. 125 ka, may be assigned to the oceanic ¹⁸O substage 5e; thermophilous forests (Quercus, Ostrya, Pinus strobus) developed in response to a climate warmer than the present. The second unit, rich in Abies balsamea pollen and dated at ca. 87 ka, may relate to the ¹⁸O substage 5a; it reflects a cool and wet climate not unlike that of today. The third unit probably spans part of the mid-Wisconsinan (¹⁸O stage 3); it shows alternating boreal forest-tundra forest assemblages indicative of climatic oscillations during a generally cold interval.

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