Stratigraphic and chronologic analysis of the Warren Beach, northwest Ohio, USA

The current understanding of Lake Warren as a proglacial lake stage in the Lake Erie basin during the last deglaciation is based on limited stratigraphic information from strandlines and a wide range of radiocarbon ages. The purpose of this study is to use ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating to reconstruct the stratigraphy, depositional environment, and age of the Oak Openings Ridge (OOR), a former strandline of Lake Warren in northwestern Ohio. Both sedimentary exposures and >4 km of GPR data were used to demonstrate that the OOR is a barrier spit that migrated from the northeast to the southwest, and is currently blanketed by an aeolian sheet. Sediments observed in exposures show a shallowing-up sequence attributed to the retreat of proglacial lakes from the area. Corresponding GPR data reveal three distinct GPR facies. The lowermost radar facies 1 (RF1) is a sandy barrier spit platform of a lower beach face prograding across finer-grained lacustrine mud or ...