GEOCHRONOLOGY PERSPECTIVES AT THE FEDERAL LEVEL: MOTIVATION, AGES, PROGRESS (MAPS) ACROSS THE GLACIATED REGIONS OF THE UNITED STATES (Invited Presentation)

Since 1997 the Great Lakes Geological Mapping Coalition, now consisting of eight State Geological Surveys, the United States Geological Survey, and the Ontario Geological Survey, have been utilizing and developing innovative geological mapping techniques to better understand the complex geologic framework of the Glaciated Regions produced by multiple Pleistocene glaciations. By addressing societal needs and scientific discovery through high resolution geochronology, our collaborative interagency and academia framework can improve understanding of the glacial and climate history around the northern tier of the U.S.

The thick, complex glacial deposits provide significant challenges in understanding the subsurface geology and ages of deposits. Case studies highlighting geochronology will be shown and discussed for each of our over arching questions: What should Quaternary scientists know about dating methods before determining whether the site they have found would be suitable for a particular technique? What would be important to have at the site and what could be unimportant or missing and still guarantee an effective outcome? How close is the geochronology community to “real-time” dating in the field? What particular archives exist for accumulated geochronology?

The Great Lakes Geological Mapping Coalition has been a consistent presence to map the geology and advance scientific understanding of dynamic glacial lobes of the Laurentide Ice Sheet that span the political boundaries of the Great Lakes Region. Our program goal to bring together chronologic databases, improved field and laboratory access at a Federal-State level, and numerous techniques based on cosmogenics, OSL, and radiocarbon are now being commonly used in laboratories worldwide.