Geomorphic evolution of a floodplain point bar on the lower Thames River, southern Ontario: Channel stability and archaeological implications.
Published: 2006
Language: eng
Number of pages: 169
ISBN-13: 9780494211816
Description: Vertical accretion is a common style of alluvial sedimentation in low-energy, cohesive-bank systems. Superficial evidence for point bar development and avulsion on a meandering, single-thread reach of the lower Thames River, Ontario, suggests the past operation of a broader range of processes. Archaeological site distribution, erosion data, hydrological records, topography, sediment coring and ground-penetrating radar are used to investigate channel adjustment and floodplain formation. Results at one channel bend below a glaciofluvial scarp show both lateral and vertical accretion occurring within the floodplain. Basal deposits in the most distal of three cores, 280 m from the channel, yielded the date 9060 +/- 90 BP (TO-9988). The morphology and chronology of floodplain changes favour the idea that archaeological sites that post-date 5000 BP are preserved there. Channel and floodplain activity associated with Nipissing-era base level rise and later Holocene higher precipitation might have removed or buried earlier sites.
Notes: Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-03, page: 1428.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2006.

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