Davies OPP 9526459 Abstract This award supports editing and preparation work to develop an Atlas of Glacimarine Features. Late Cenozoic glaciation directly affected sedimentation on more than half the Earth's continental shelves. Ice continues to be a dominant influence on sedimentation around Greenland and on the shelves facing the Arctic ocean as well as around Antarctica. Elsewhere, glacimarine sedimentation is of particular significance on the shelves of North America, north of, northwest Europe and Russia, which were strongly influenced by the Late Cenozoic Glaciation, though now ice is a minor factor. The features of these shelves include true glacimarine features, i.e. those formed in a marine environment in proximity to, or strongly under the influence of, ice, and diamictons resulting from ice rafting. Also found, since large areas of the shelves were exposed during the Pleistocene lowering of sea level, are terrestrial glacial and periglacial features, e.g. fluvial outwash valleys and associated deposits, tunnel valleys, drumlin fields, lodgement till, which have subsequently been submerged and modified by marine influences. Better understanding of present-day glacimarine environments will enhance interpretation of the stratigraphic record in terms of past environments and the possible global climate changes implied by these interpretations, while from an immediate practical standpoint, recognizing and understanding the features of glaciated shelves will become increasingly significant as the search for energy and mineral resources extends to higher latitudes and into submerged regions. The planned Atlas of Glacimarine Features will provide a reference for professionals, teachers and students showing typical examples of sea floor and sub sea floor features seen in glacio-marine environments, as these appear in seismic records (single and multi-channel seismic reflection, high resolution, side scan). Likely users of the atlas will include Qua ternary scientists, marine geologists, geophysicists, geotechnical engineers, and surveyors working in universities, research institutions and government agencies, as well as those in industries with offshore interests (petroleum and hard mineral exploration and production, civil engineering, waste disposal, environmental concerns, etc.). The atlas will be assembled under the guidance of an international editorial committee from contributions submitted by members of the scientific community. Publication is planned for late 1996.
