Recessional moraines are end moraines deposited during a temporary but significant pause in the final retreat of a glacier or ice sheet. Curvilinear, sub-parallel ridges of sediment on the southern Scotian Shelf are interpreted as recessional moraines formed in proximity to the grounding line of the southeastern extent of the Laurentide Ice Sheet; collectively they are termed the Scotian Shelf end moraine complex (e.g. King 1969; King & Fader 1986). Mapping of the distribution of moraines on the Scotian Shelf provides a basis for the interpretation of the advance and retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum (Courtney 1993; Stea et al. 1998; Shaw et al. 2006, 2014). The seismostratigraphy of the recessional moraines and overlying postglacial deposits enables shelf-wide correlation of glacial and deglacial events.
Description
The southern Scotian Shelf is 130–190 km wide and consists of a series of banks and basins (Fig. 1a). Roseway Basin is flanked by Browns Bank to the SW and Roseway Bank to the NE; the basin itself is subdivided into two sub-basins by a ridge (the most prominent of the Roseway Basin Moraines, Fig. 1a). To the NE of Roseway Bank is the LaHave Basin. Water depths range from <100 m on the banks to almost 300 m …
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