The stratigraphy of the Quaternary Clyde Foreland Formation, Baffin Island, illustrated by the distribution of benthic foraminifera |
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| Authors: | ROLF W FEYLING-HANSSEN |
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| Institution: | Department of Micropalaeontology, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark |
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| Abstract: | The Clyde Foreland Formation is defined as comprising unconsolidated or only slightly consolidated deposits, varying in grain size from very coarse boulder gravel to clay, situated between the outermost part of Clyde Inlet and the coastal mountains west-northwest of Kogalu River on the northeast coast of Baffin Island, Arctic Canada. They outcrop in an up to 40 m high almost straight-lined coastal cliff facing Baffin Bay and are composed of mainly marine deposits interbedded with glacigenic layers. Investigation of assemblages of fossil foraminifera revealed three main stratigraphical units of the marine deposits, viz., the hlandiella zone, being the youngest, the Cibicides rotundatus zone, and the Nonion tallahattensis zone, being the oldest. The hlandiella zone is supposed to be upper Pleistocene of age, comprising a large Mid-Wisconsinian (Mid-Weichselian) interstadial, and an interglacial that can be correlated with the Sangamonian (Eemian) interglacial. The Cibicides rotundatus zone may comprise Illinoian interstadial deposits as well as deposits of Yarmouthian (Holsteinian) interglacial age. The Nonion tallahattensis zone represents an older (Aftonian?) mild interval. |
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