Buried bedrock valleys and glacial and subglacial meltwater erosion in southern Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Morphometric features from a recently compiled bedrock topography map by the Ontario Geological Survey suggest a glacial erosion origin for the buried large bedrock valleys and troughs in southern Ontario. The bedrock valleys at Milverton, Wingham and Mount Forest are tunnel valleys, resulting from subglacial meltwater erosion beneath the Huron ice lobe, probably during or shortly after the Late-Wisconsinan glacial maximum. Diagnostic features for this interpretation include abrupt valley beginning and termination, uneven longitudinal valley profiles and up-slope gradients. The Dundas bedrock valley is the western extension of the Lake Ontario Basin. No comparable bedrock valleys were found to connect it to the Milverton valley for a joint drainage system as previously suggested. The Laurentian bedrock trough is the southeastward extension of the Georgian Bay Basin, both developed along shale bedrock between the Precambrian shield highlands and the Niagara Escarpment, resulting from long-term mechanical weathering associated with Pleistocene glacial erosion. This bedrock low has a floor that exceeds 50 km in width and is 26 m and more below the current water level of Georgian Bay. It could drain Georgian Bay should the drift cover be removed. There is no evidence to suggest that a preglacial river channel, if it existed, is still preserved in the floor of the Laurentian trough as previously suggested. The framework for an intensely glacially sculpted bedrock surface differs from the previous view for simple modification of a preglacial landscape and is, therefore, important in regional subsurface geological mapping and groundwater studies.