Seismic reflection stratigraphy of Lac Simard, Quebec, Canada: mass flow sedimentation in glacial Lake Barlow-Ojibway
Abstract
Lac Simard is a glaciated Shield basin situated in the Western Quebec Seismic Zone, an area of recurrent intraplate seismicity encompassing several densely populated areas. Previous works nearby have demonstrated that sediments preserved in lake basins hold the potential to serve as valuable archives of paleoseismicity. Correspondingly, a high-resolution chirp seismic reflection survey was conducted in Lac Simard, with results showing four acoustic facies (Af-1 to Af-4) within two stratigraphic successions (SS-1 and SS-2). The lowermost SS-1 is dominated by high-amplitude, laminated Af-2, interpreted as lateglacial varves deposited by suspension from primarily overflows and interflows during glacial lake ponding following deglaciation. Suspension deposition of Af-2 was episodically interrupted by stacked, chaotically bedded, weakly graded to opaque, channelled Af-3 interpreted as either debris flows or high-density turbidity currents. Presence of silt-clast breccias in Af-3 also suggests downslope collapse and reworking of varves from basin sidewalls. The overlying SS-2 is dominated by weakly reflective, laminated, high-frequency varved Af-4, suggesting a continuing seasonal control on postglacial sedimentation but with relative sediment starvation. A basin-wide erosional unconformity separating SS-1 and postglacial SS-2 records the abrupt drainage of glacial Lake Barlow-Ojibway around 8 000 years ago. Considering the history of lake floor disturbance in the region, mass flow facies Af-3 may be seismogenic, and thus, have regional tectonic significance. However, we cannot rule out the possibility of mass flows triggered by abrupt inflows of meltwater and sediment from a highly dynamic retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet prone to surging.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
Adams J. 1989. Postglacial faulting in eastern Canada: nature, origin and seismic hazard implications. Tectonophysics, 163: 323–331.
Adams J., Allen T., Halchuk S., Kolaj M. 2019. Canada’s 6th generation seismic hazard model, as prepared for the 2020 National Building Code of Canada. 12th Canadian Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Château Frontenac, Quebec.
Alley R.B., Mayewski P.A., Sowers T., Stuiver M., Taylor K.C., Clark P.U. 1997. Holocene climatic instability: a prominent, widespread event 8200 yr ago. Geology, 25: 483–486.
Ashley G.M. 1975. Rhythmic sedimentation in Glacial Lake Hitchcock, Massachusetts-Connecticut. In Glaciofluvial and Glaciolacustrine sedimentation. Edited by Jopling A.V., McDonald B.C. SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology, Tulsa. pp. 304–320.
Barber D.C., Dyke A.S., Hillaire-Marcel C., Jennings A.E., Andrews J.T., Kerwin M.W., et al. 1999. Forcing of the cold event of 8,200 years ago by catastrophic drainage of Laurentide lakes. Nature, 400: 344–348.
Basham P.W., Adams J. 1989. Problems of seismic hazard estimation in regions with few large earthquakes: examples from eastern Canada. Tectonophysics, 167: 187–199.
Basham P.W., Weichert D.H., Berry M.J. 1979. Regional assessment of seismic risk in eastern Canada. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 69: 1567–1602.
Benn K., Miles W., Hashemi M.R., Gillet J.L. 1994. Crustal structure and kinematic framework of the northwestern Pontiac Sub province, Quebec: an integrated structural and geophysical study. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 31: 271–281.
Breckenridge A., Lowell T.V., Stroup J.S., Evans G. 2012. A review and analysis of varve thickness records from glacial Lake Ojibway (Ontario and Quebec, Canada). Quaternary International, 260: 43–54.
Brennand T.A., Shaw J. 1996. The Harricana glaciofluvial complex, Abitibi region, Quebec: its genesis and implications for meltwater regime and ice-sheet dynamics. Sedimentary Geology, 102: 221–262.
Brooks G.R. 2015. An integrated stratigraphic approach to investigating evidence of paleoearthquakes in lake deposits of eastern Canada. Geoscience Canada, 42: 247–261.
Brooks G.R. 2016a. Evidence of late glacial paleo seismicity from submarine landslide deposits within Lac Dasserat, northwestern Quebec. Quaternary Research, 86: 184–199.
Brooks G.R. 2016b. Reconnaissance sub-bottom profiling survey at Lac Opasatica, Quebec.
Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 7984.
Brooks G.R. 2018. Deglacial record of palaeoearthquakes interpreted from mass transport deposits at three lakes near Rouyn-Noranda, north-western Quebec, Canada. Sedimentology, 65: 2439–2467.
Brooks G.R. 2020. Evidence of a strong paleoearthquake in ∼9.1 ka cal BP interpreted from mass transport deposits, western Quebec – northeastern Ontario, Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews, 234: 106250.
Brooks G.R., Adams J. 2020. A review of evidence of glacially-induced faulting and seismic shaking in eastern Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews, 228: 106070.
Brooks G.R., Grenier A. 2017. Reconnaissance sub-bottom acoustic profiling at Lac Taschereau, Quebec.
Geological Survey of Canada Open File 8215. pp. 1–15.
Brouard E., Lajeunesse P., Cousineau P.A., Govare E., Locat J. 2016. Late Wisconsinan deglaciation and proglacial lakes development in the Charlevoix region, southeastern Québec, Canada. Boreas, 45: 754–772.
Brouard E., Roy M., Godbout P.M., Veillette J.J. 2021. A framework for the timing of the final meltwater outbursts from glacial Lake Agassiz-Ojibway. Quaternary Science Reviews, 274: 107269.
Carrivick J.L., Tweed F.S. 2013. Proglacial lakes: character, behaviour, and geological importance. Quaternary Science Reviews, 78: 34–52.
Cauchon-Voyer G., Locat J., St-Onge G. 2008. Late quaternary morphosedimentology and submarine mass movements of the Betsiamites area, Lower St. Lawrence Estuary, Quebec, Canada. Marine Geology, 251: 233–252.
Chan H., Kenney T. 1973. Laboratory investigation of permeability ratio of New Liskeard varved soil. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 10: 453–472.
Cohen J.K., Stockwell J.W. 2010. CWP/SU: Seismic Un* x Release No. 42: an open source software package for seismic research and processing. Colorado School of Mines, Golden.
Cronin T.M., Manley P.L., Brachfeld S., Manley T.O., Willard D.A., Guilbault J.P., et al. 2008. Impacts of post-glacial lake drainage events and revised chronology of the Champlain Sea episode 13-9 ka. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 262: 46–60.
Dalton A.S., Margold M., Stokes C.R., Tarasov L., Dyke A.S., Adams R.S., et al. 2020. An updated radiocarbon-based ice margin chronology for the last deglaciation of the North American Ice Sheet Complex. Quaternary Science Reviews, 234: 106223.
Daubois V., Roy M., Veillette J.J., Menard M. 2015. The drainage of Lake Ojibway in glaciolacustrine sediments of northern Ontario and Quebec, Canada. Boreas, 44: 305–318.
Doig R. 1991. Effects of strong seismic shaking in lake sediments, and earthquake recurrence interval, Timiskaming, Quebec. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 28: 1349–1352.
Doughty M., Eyles N., Daurio L. 2010. Earthquake-triggered slumps (1935 Timiskaming M6.2) in Lake Kipawa, western Quebec seismic zone, Canada. Sedimentary Geology, 228: 113–118.
Doughty M., Eyles N., Eyles C. 2013. High-resolution seismic reflection profiling of neotectonic faults in Lake Timiskaming, Timiskaming Graben, Ontario-Quebec, Canada. Sedimentology, 60: 983–1006.
Doughty M., Eyles N., Wallace K.W., Boyce J.I., Eyles C. 2014. Lake sediments as natural seismographs: earthquake-related deformations (seismites) in central Canadian (Ontario and Quebec) lakes produced by reactivation of Precambrian structures. Sedimentary Geology, 313: 45–67.
Dyke A.S. 2004. An outline of North American deglaciation with emphasis on central and northern Canada. Developments in Quaternary Sciences, 2: 373–424.
Eyles N., Mullins H. 1997. Seismic stratigraphy of Shuswap Lake, British Columbia, Canada. Sedimentary Geology, 109: 283–304.
Eyles N., Doughty M., Boyce J.I., Mullins H.T., Halfman J.D., Koseoglu B. 2003. Acoustic architecture of glaciolacustrine sediments deformed during zonal stagnation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet; Mazinaw Lake, Ontario, Canada. Sedimentary Geology, 157: 133–151.
Eyles N., Zajc A., Doughty M. 2015. High-resolution seismic sub-bottom reflection record of low hypsithermal levels in Ontario lakes. Journal of Great Lakes Research, 41: 41–52.
Feng R., Kerrich R. 1992. Geodynamic evolution of the southern Abitibi and Pontiac terranes: evidence from geochemistry of granitoid magma series (2700-2630 Ma). Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 29: 2266–2286.
Forsyth D.A. 1981. Characteristics of the western Quebec seismic zone. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 18: 103–119.
Goda K. 2019. Nationwide earthquake risk model for wood-frame houses in Canada. Frontiers in Built Environment, 5: 128.
Godbout P.M., Roy M., Veillette J.J. 2019. High-resolution varve sequences record one major late-glacial ice readvance and two drainage events in the eastern Lake Agassiz-Ojibway basin. Quaternary Science Reviews, 223: 105942.
Godbout P.M., Roy M., Veillette J.J., Schaefer J. 2017. Cosmogenic 10Be dating of raised shorelines constrains the timing of lake levels in the eastern Lake Agassiz-Ojibway basin. Quaternary Research, 88: 265–276.
Gustavson T.C., Ashley G.M., Boothroyd J.C. 1975. Depositional sequences in glaciolacustrine deltas. In Glaciofluvial and Glaciolacustrine sedimentation. Edited by Jopling A.V., McDonald B.C. SEPM Society for Sedimentary Geology, Tulsa. 264–280.
Hughes O.L. 1965. Surficial geology of part of the Cochrane District, Ontario, Canada. Geological Society of America Special Papers. pp. 535–573.
Kenney T.C. 1977. Formation and geotechnical characteristics of glacial-lake varved soils. In Laurits Bjerrum Memorial Volume, Contributions to Soil Mechanics. Edited by Janbu N., Jorstad F., Kjaernsli B. Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo. pp. 15–39.
Kumarapeli P.S., Saull V.A. 1966. The St. Lawrence valley system: a North American equivalent of the East African rift valley system. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 3: 639–658.
Lajeunesse P., Sinkunas B., Morissette A., Normandeau A., Joyal, G., St-Onge G., Locat J. 2017. Large-scale seismically-induced mass-movements in a former glacial lake basin: Lake Témiscouata, northeastern Appalachians (eastern Canada). Marine Geology, 384:120–130.
Lamontagne M., Brouillette P., Grégoire S., Bédard M.P., Bleeker W. 2020. Faults and lineaments of the Western Quebec Seismic Zone, Quebec and Ontario.
Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 8361. pp. 1.
Lazorek M., Eyles N., Eyles C., Doughty M., L’Heureux E., Milkereit B. 2006. Late quaternary seismo-stratigraphy of Lake Wanapitei, Sudbury, Ontario, Canada: arguments for a possible meteorite impact origin. Sedimentary Geology, 192: 231–242.
Ma S., Eaton D.W., Adams J. 2008. Intraplate seismicity of a recently deglaciated shield terrane: a case study from Northern Ontario, Canada. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 98: 2828–2848.
Margold M., Stokes C.R., Clark C.D. 2018. Reconciling records of ice streaming and ice margin retreat to produce a palaeogeographic reconstruction of the deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews, 189: 1–30.
Mazzotti S. 2007. Geodynamic models for earthquake studies in intraplate North America. In Continental intraplate earthquakes: science, hazard, and policy issues. Edited by Stein S., Mazzotti S.
Geological Society of America, Special Papers 425. pp. 17–33.
Mortensen J.K., Card K.D. 1993. U-Pb age constraints for the magmatic and tectonic evolution of the Pontiac Sub-province, Quebec. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 30: 1970–1980.
Mullins H.T., Eyles N. 1996. Subsurface geologic investigations of New York Finger Lakes: implications for Late Quaternary deglaciation and environmental change. Geological Society of America, Boulder.
Mullins H.T., Hinchey E.J. 1989. Erosion and infill of New York Finger Lakes: implications for Laurentide ice sheet deglaciation. Geology, 17: 622–625.
Nzekwe O.P., Lapointe F., Francus P., St-Onge G., Lajeunesse P., Fortin D., et al. 2022. A new ∼900-year varved record in Lake Walker, Quebec North Shore, eastern Canada: insight on late holocene climate mode of variability. Journal of Paleolimnology, 67: 35–57.
Praet N.P., Van Daele M., Collart T., Moernaut J., Vandekerkhove E., Kempf P., et al. 2020. Turbidite stratigraphy in proglacial lakes: deciphering trigger mechanisms using a statistical approach. Sedimentology, 67: 2332–2359.
Quigley R.M. 1983. Glaciolacustrine and glaciomarine clay sedimentation: a North American perspective. In Glacial geology: an introduction for engineers and earth scientists. Edited by Eyles N. Pergamon Press, Oxford. pp. 140–167.
Rimando J.M., Peace A.L. 2021. Reactivation potential of intraplate faults in the western Quebec seismic zone, Eastern Canada. Earth Space Science, 8: 1–14.
Roy M., Veillette J.J., Daubois V., Menard M. 2015. Late stage phases of glacial Lake Ojibway in the central Abitibi region. Geomorphology, 248: 14–23.
Shilts W.W. 1984. Sonar evidence for postglacial tectonic instability of the Canadian Shield and Appalachians. Current research, Part A.
Geological Survey of Canada Papers 84-1A. pp. 567–579 .
St-Onge G., Mulder T., Piper D.J.W., Hillaire-Marcel C., Stoner J.S. 2004. Earthquake and flood-induced turbidites in the Saguenay Fjord (Québec): a Holocene paleoseismicity record. Quaternary Science Reviews, 23: 283–294.
Stokes C.R., Clark C.D. 2001. Palaeo-ice streams. Quaternary Science Reviews, 20: 1437–1457.
Stokes C.R., Margold M., Clark C.D., Tarasov L. 2016. Ice stream activity scaled to ice sheet volume during Laurentide Ice Sheet deglaciation. Nature, 530: 322–326.
Syvitski J.P.M., Lee H.J. 1997. Postglacial sequence stratigraphy of Lake Melville, Labrador. Marine Geology, 143: 55–79.
Tarnockai D.M. 1997. Petrogenesis of the Lac Simard Intrusive Complex, Pontiac Sub-province, Quebec.
M.Sc. thesis, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa.
Trottier A.P., Brouard E., Lajeunesse, P., Normandeau, A. 2021. The morphosedimentary record of glacial to postglacial environmental changes in fjord-lake Mékinac and adjacent areas (southeastern Canadian Shield). Geomorphology, 376:107565.
Trottier A.P., Lajeunesse P., Gagnon-Poiré A., Francus P. 2020. Morphological signatures of deglaciation and postglacial sedimentary processes in a deep fjord-lake (Grand Lake, Labrador).Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 45: 928–947.
Trottier A.P., Lajeunesse, P., Normandeau, A., Gagnon-Poiré A. 2019. Deglacial and postglacial paleoseismological archives in mass movement deposits of lakes of south-central Québec.Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 56:60–76.
Vandekerkhove E., Van Daele M., Praet N.P., Cnudde P., Haeussler P., De Batist M. 2020. Flood-triggered versus earthquake-triggered turbidites: a sedimentological study in clastic lake sediments (Eklutna Lake, Alaska). Sedimentology, 67: 364–389.
Veillette J.J. 1986. Former southwesterly ice flows in the Abitibi–Timiskaming region: implications for the configuration of the late wisconsinan ice sheet. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 23: 1724–1741.
Veillette J.J. 1987. Surficial geology, Lac Simard, Québec. Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa.
Veillette J.J. 1994. Evolution and paleohydrology of glacial lakes Barlow and Ojibway. Quaternary Science Reviews, 13: 945–971.
Veillette J.J., Paradis S.J., Buckle J., Bonham-Carter G.F. 2005. Bedrock and surficial geology of the general area around Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec and Ontario. Metals in the Environment Around Smelters at Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, and Belledune, New Brunswick: Results and Conclusions of the GSC MITE Point Sources Project Bulletin. Vol. 584.
Wu P. 1998. Will earthquake activity in eastern Canada increase in the next few thousand years? Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 35: 562–568.
Wu P., Mazzotti S. 2007. Effects of a lithospheric weak zone on postglacial seismotectonics in eastern Canada and northeastern United States. In Continental intraplate earthquakes: science, hazard, and policy issues. Edited by Stein S., Mazzotti S.Geological Society of America, Boulder. pp. 113–128.
Zolitschka B., Francus P., Ojala A.E., Schimmelmann A. 2015. Varves in lake sediments–a review. Quaternary Science Reviews, 117: 1–41.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
Volume 60 • Number 11 • November 2023
Pages: 1509 - 1529
History
Received: 25 February 2023
Accepted: 23 May 2023
Accepted manuscript online: 8 June 2023
Version of record online: 4 July 2023
Notes
This paper is part of a collection entitled "GAC-MAC Glacial Session".
Copyright
© 2023 The Author(s). Permission for reuse (free in most cases) can be obtained from copyright.com.
Data Availability Statement
Topography of the Lac Simard region is available from the High Resolution Digital Elevation Model from Natural Resources Canada. Low resolution bathymetry of Lac Simard is available from the Canadian Hydrographic Service. Additional profiles are available from https://github.com/alanjyu/lac_simard_data.
Key Words
Authors
Author Contributions
Conceptualization: AJY, NE
Data curation: AJY, MD
Formal analysis: AJY, NE, MD
Funding acquisition: NE
Investigation: AJY, NE, MD
Methodology: AJY, NE, MD
Project administration: NE
Resources: NE, SB
Software: AJY, MD, SB
Supervision: NE
Validation: NE
Visualization: AJY, MD
Writing – original draft: AJY
Writing – review & editing: AJY, NE, MD
Competing Interests
The authors declare there are no competing interests.
Funding Information
AJY acknowledges funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Undergraduate Summer Research Award and the Centre for Research in Earth System Science (CRESS) at the University of Toronto Scarborough. NE thanks NSERC for ongoing funding of seismic reflection studies in Canadian lakes.
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Other Metrics
Citations
Cite As
Alan J. Yu, Nick Eyles, Mike Doughty, and Syed Bukhari. 2023. Seismic reflection stratigraphy of Lac Simard, Quebec, Canada: mass flow sedimentation in glacial Lake Barlow-Ojibway. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences.
60(11): 1509-1529. https://doi.org/10.1139/cjes-2023-0027
Export Citations
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.
Cited by
1. Submerged imprint of glacier dynamics in the NW sector of Lago Viedma (southern Patagonia, Argentina)
View Options
Login options
Check if you access through your login credentials or your institution to get full access on this article.