University of North Dakota UND Scholarly Commons Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects 1987 Tills Underlying the Sediments of Glacial Lake Souris North-Central North Dakota Gary A. Remple Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.und.edu/senior-projects Recommended Citation Remple, Gary A., "Tills Underlying the Sediments of Glacial Lake Souris North-Central North Dakota" (1987). Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects. 77. https://commons.und.edu/senior-projects/77 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, and Senior Projects at UND Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects by an authorized administrator of UND Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. •• • •• • • TILLS UNDERLYING THE SEDIMENTS OF -• GLACIAL LAKE SOURIS, • NORTH-CENTRAL NORTH DAKOTA - by • Gary A. Remple ,,• • A Senior Thesis submitted to the ~• • Department of Geology Faculty • of the University of North Dakota ~• • in partial fulfillment of the requirements • for the degree of • Bachelor of Science in Geology C • Grand Forks, North Dakota C May 1987 • C • C • • -• • ~:1i ~• ,,• • 1 • I C • C • C • C • C • '• • ~• -• 1 • ,,• TABLE OF CONTENTS • • LIST OF FIGURES •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• ii ,.• LIST OF TABLES •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• iii • ACKNOWLEDGENENTS • •••••••••••.•••••••••.•••••••••••••••.••••••.• i V • ABSTRACT • .................................................................................. V ,,• INTRODUCTION • ..................................................................... 1 • Purpose . ................................................................. 1 • Area o:f Study .. ............................................................ 1 ~• Glacial History oi the Area oi Study •••.•..••..•......••... 4 .I Previous Works ....... ........................................................ 7 •' METHODS OF STUDY •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 7 ,•I Sample Collection •••••••••••••••••...•...••.....••.••.••••• 7 • Laboratory Analyaes .••..•.....•............................ 8 • Data Anal ysea .. ............................................................ 9 • RESULTS • ........................................................................ 13 C DISCUSSION ................................................................. 22 1:1 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS •..••••••...............••...•.......... 28 APPENDICES • ......................................................... 29 C REFERENCES CI TED ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 34 1• C •1 C • It• i •I • -• • -• • LIST OF FIGURES ~• • 1. Area o:f Study . ................................................ 2 • 2 • Location o1 Sample Holes within Glacial Lake Souris Basin •• 3 ,,• 3. Ice-Movement Directions and Margins o1 Glacial Advance ••••• 5 • 4 • Glacial Lake Souris Extent ••.••••••••••••••••••.••...•••.•• 6 • 5 • Structure-Contour Map o1 Upper Till Sur1ace .•••.•••••••••. 12 6. Contour o1 Percent Sand ••.••••••••••••••..•..•..•.••.••••• 14 ~• • 7 • Contour o1 Percent Silt •••••••••••••••..•••.••.•••••.•••.• 14 • 8 • Contour o1 Percent Clay ••••••••••••.•••.•••••••••••••••••• 14 • 9. Longitudinal Pro1ile o1 Textural Values..•.•••.•••••••.•.• 15 C 10• Contour o1 Percent Carbonate . .............................. 17 • 11. Contour o1 Percent Shale . ................................. 17 • 12. Contour o1 Percent Sandstone and Siltstone•.••••••••.••••• 17 C 13. Contour o1 Percent Crystalline••••••••••••••••••.••••••••. 18 • 14. Contour o1 Percent Lignite . ................................ 18 • 15. Longitudinal Pro1ile o1 Lithologic Values ••••••••••••••••• 20 C 16. Crossplot Shoving Main Group and Side Group ••••••••••••••• 21 1: 17. Crossplot Shoving No Separation o1 Samples••.••••••••••••• 21 18. Contour o1 Average Percent Crystalline - Main Till •••••••• 23 C 19 • Contour o1 Average Percent Shale - Main Till •••••••••••••• 23 • 20 • Generalized Bedrock Map o1 Horth Dakota ••••••••••••••.•••• 24 • 21. Tills Present in Study Area •••...•.•.••••••••••.•••••••••• 26 C • It• ii • I. - • -• LIST OF TABLES • • 1. Textural and Lithologic Percentages o~ Selected Holes .•... 10 -• 2 • Average Textural and Lithologic Values •.... • ••.....••...•. 27 ,,• • ,,• • ,• • • C • C • C • C • • iii It• l-e • • ACKNOWLEDGEftENTS -• • First 0£ all. I would like to thank the North Dakota Geological ,,• S urvey £or the use 0£ vehicles and equipment in the £ield. Also, • I would like to thank Ken Harris 0£ the Survey £or his help£ul • ideas and suggestions • His help with data manipulation by computer ,,• was invaluable. Dave Lechner, also 0£ the Survey, deserves thanks • £or completing my textural analyses • • I would like to give special thanks to Mark Lord £or his ,,• continual help in planning, completing, and presenting this thesis. • His continual encouragement and prodding were instrumental in ,• £inishing this project• • • C • C • C • C • C iv • l•e • • ABSTRACT -• • During the Pleistocene, the Wisconsinan ice sheet retreated £ ram North Dakota leaving a veneer oi glacial drift over the ~• • l andscape • In the north-central area oi the state, as the Souris • Lobe retreated, Glacial Lake Souris formed and deposited mostly sand and silt over a large area oi till. The purpose oi this ~• • study was to characterize the till beneath Lake Souris sediments • and to determine which descriptive parameters are moat useful £ or till data analysis. ~• • The area of study is in McHenry and western Pierce Counties • and is contained entirely within the Glacial Lake Souris basin • • The North Dakota Geological Survey drilling rig was used to drill C holes, 36 of which penetrated till; a total oi 109 samples were • collected. Till vas characterized on the basis 0£ textural and • lithologic analyses, in addition to visual hand-sample descriptions. C The textural analyses provided sand, silt, and clay percentages, • whereas the lithologic analysis provided percentages 0£ fragments • 0£ certain rock types (crystalline, carbonate, sandstone and C siltstone, shale, and lignite> in the very-coarse sand fraction • 0£ the till . The best parameters £or characterizing the till • were percent normalized silt ( silt r. I silt X + clay Y. > plotted C against percent normalized crystalline ( xtal XI xtal X + • carbonate Y. > and percent sand • • The lithologic data show an increase in percent crystalline IC rock fragments and a corresponding decrease in percent sandstone • and percent carbonate fragments in a southeasterly direction . • V ~• •• • • Percentages 0£ sandstone, siltstone, and lignite £ragments peak i1"e in the center 0£ the lake basin and decrease toward the edges. • The textural data show that percent clay changes little throughout • the basin while silt values are high in the basin center and • s and is high near the basin margins • • The lithologic data indicate that di££erential resistance • 0£ rocks r esulted in r elative increases in the resistant rock ~ types in the down-glacier direction • With the data obtained • £ram the study, it vas possible to identi£y two tills within • the study area. The £irst till, an older unit, was £ound in ~ several holes that £armed a northwest-to- southeast-trending linear • band near the southwest margin 0£ the basin • The second, a ,• younger till, was £ound throughout the basin. • ,• 1=• C • C • C i•e I,C. vi • •• .,• • • INTRODUCTION • Purpose •• The purpose oi this study is to characterize the tills iound • beneath the sediments oi Glacial Lake Souris, both texturally ,,• and lithologically, and to determine which parameters are best • £or characterizing tills in this study • The results oi the analyses • will be used to deduce the number oi tills present in the study ~• area . The area chosen vas studied in conjuntion with a study • done on Glacial Lake Souris by Mark Lord £or his doctoral • dissertation . Tills to the vest in Ward County and to the east ~• in Pierce County vere studied by Kehew (1983) and Schnacke (1982), • respectively. but tills hadn't been studied extensively in McHenry • County . The iniormation irom this study could be used to correlate • tills in the area and other parts oi North Dakota . C • Area oi Study • The section studied is the Pleistocene sequence in the Glacial C Lake Souris basin oi McHenry County and western Pierce County 0£ north-central North Dakota <Figure 1). Speciiically, the 1= area lies between T.151 N. and T.160 N. and between R.71 W. and C R.80 W. <Figure 2) • The area is located entirely within the • Glacial Lake Souris basin • C • • 1 C • •ft• e ft• e ft e e ft e • ... • • ... • e ·--· e .~ e • •41 • • ·-· • ·-· NORTH DAKOTA !°' ··1un, -~-=;,=Nv._n_u-·r"~Mv·· -· ro,,m lroWNU r,,,. -• rH·W· l ~Mr'ii:iit-1-, L! 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