ABSTRACT: Post-glacial stratigraphy, eolian activity, and paleoenvironment: A view from the Atkinson Site, Glacial Lake Hind Basin, southwestern Manitoba, Canada.

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Abstract

The Atkinson site, located in the Lauder Sand Hills, glacial Lake Hind Basin, SW Manitoba is an important multi-component archaeological site. Previous geoarchaeological research along the 850 m-long cutbank exposure of the Souris River adjacent to the site, ongoing since 2002, has revealed an eolian and fluvial post-glacial stratigraphic sequence (geomorphic units A-E). Recent flooding followed by low water levels in the Souris River revealed fresh exposures. This made it possible to address remaining questions about the contacts between units, the number of dune depositional episodes, and dune migration directions. Thirty-one stratigraphic profiles were described and added to the data base. Geomorphic units were traced across the exposure and mapped using a total station, correlated with profiles described in previous years, and the existing topographic site map was expanded by ~ 15,000 m2 using a total station. Additional sand samples of eolian units (B-E) were collected and analyzed for particle-size distribution (sonic sifter, half-phi interval) and 37 new cross-strata measurements from unit B were added to the data base. Our results confirm: mid-Holocene dune unit B conformably overlies unit A2 but welds with unit C, and both units C and B pinch out downstream near the archaeological excavation block; units D, E, and A2 extend across the entire exposure, units D and E represents four distinct episodes of late Holocene dune activity (dune migration from the northwest), the mid-Holocene unit B dune migrated from the west, and grain populations from eolian units (B, C, D and E) are distinguishable statistically

Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology