By studying the formation and samples found in the deposits left after a glacier melts, referred to as till deposits, geologists can put together a chronological history of a glacier's movement through time. This kind of exposure is exactly what geologists are looking for in order to put together chronologies of the ice sheet's movement and thus, correlations can be made with other climate references to gaining a better understanding of climate effects on glaciation. With limestone bedrock, as the first unit, the sediment becomes finer as the units approached the surface when disregarding the gravel layer present only near the beginning of the terrace. An illustration of the sedimentary layering at the Sharonville site where limestone is the base layer and Unit 1 and the gravel is the top layer and Unit 6. The above information is from Lowell et al .
Limestone is the bedrock and the gravel is the top layer.
The stumps are also important due to the fact that they can provide valuable data pertaining to the time the ice sheet flowed over the Sharonville area. Because the stumps were overrun and killed by the ice sheet, radiocarbon dating can determine when the ice sheet penetrated that area. The dates taken from the logs averaged to be 19,700 years before present. It is this information that allows Eckberg et al . It should be noted that there has been extensive study on the advance patterns of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, but due to lack of analyses, the retreat history is not well understood.