20 A. DREIMANIS CENTRAL LAKE ERIE oe NORTH SHORE, 2 ". CLAYEY or. (oara From ceLinas SILT TILL CONTENT q © SANDY SILT TILL *SOFT TLS DENSE TIL WESLEYVILLE, ‘ONT. coRmwate, onr. (asontonne (ATA FROM ADAMS, 1961,'FIGS. 183) ‘Gnd "RLY Pa) MOISTURE 2 5 0 2 50 100 150 PENETRATION RESISTANCE : BLOWS FER FOOT (30cm) Ficurt 10. Penetration natural moisture content in stance in standard penetration txts during ix drilings, esas vo texturally different types of till. * The softness of some basal tills may be caused by excess pore pressure uring their deposition, as suggested by Adams (1961). The effects of Grainage conditions, pore-water pressure and water content in general upon properties of tills und other sediments underneath lacial an other lowes have been discussed sso. by other authors. eg. those mentioned. in references ly 18, 28. 77,11 kon (961) further developed Goldthwats idea of the dependence of the compactnes of til upon an optimum amount of water. He suggest that the most compact variety of basal till called by him comminutton ifs formed by lodgement of freshly ground and crushed rock our, with the teat of erushing and shearing producing the proper amount of wait, about 8 per cent, to arrive at the maximum density which was obtained, in experiments with compaction of til simples, quoted hy Goldthwait™ IF tl is Formed from erushed porous clastic racks or sols, or by deformation of prexsting porous sediments, t should be soft, according to Elson.” R- Pusch (as quoted from reference 77 has suggested tht "at low water con. tent... the majority ofthe pore water is absorbed on mineral surfaces and fas largely reduced mobility, Water suction into the shear zone is therefore prevented and the shear srength is high" In conclusion, compactness may be quite variable in basal tills, and dependent upon several factors. In comparison with the superpacial tills however, most basal tills are more compact, and therefore are often called hardpan As some ofthe differences in compactness are related tothe genes af baa il — lodgement. basal ming, deformations — Is possible that Further investigations may produce resuits helplul in specilying the process of deposition of basal till ° » pectin she TILLS: THEIR ORIGIN AND PROPERTIES u Fabric of basal tll: Usually the orientation of long or a-axes oF elongate par- ticles is culled fabric, following Holmes.” although this term includes also fracture or joint patterns, meusured as described less commonly, "7" Till fabric develops from stresses, either glacial, or non-glacial (postdepositional), particularly the organized orientation of various size particles in basal till, We are concerned mainly with those of its elements which have resulted from glacial transport and/or the process of deposition, particularly by lodgment. Since considerable stresses are involved in the processes, organized [abric is theoretically expected in basal tills. It has been also observed by studying present glaciers, (For the history of fabric studies see Flint, 1971, und for a discussion on recent findings at currently active glaciers See Boulton, 1971'* and Mickelson, 1971.) Eurly observations on alignment of clasts in basal till, made by H. Miller 125 years ago," were followed by almost xt century of ignoring fabric by most students of till, until P. K. Richter's! and C. H. Holmes"™ studies ‘again drew attention to it. Numerous unfounded statements were made to the effect that till was an unorganized mixture of rock und mineral Fragments. Recently the pendulum has begun swinging to the other extreme — into assumptions by many that nearly all fabric maxima were parallel to the direction of glacial movement. Closer to the truth are the findings by several authors (see references 14, 32, 44, $4, 103, 106, 109. 164 and references in the latest publications) that’ both parallel and transverse maxima develop depending upon stress systems, and that these stresses are strongly influenced by local factors ‘Although fabries are considered to be an important tool in determination of directions of glacial movement, and their variations regionally and ver- tically, many suites of measurements are required, and reliable criteria have to be established as to haw to distinguish parallel from transverse maxima. Other methods, e.g. lithologic analyses, oF the measurement of striae on boulder pavements, should be used in conjunction with fabric measurements, and various post-depositional changes, either reorientation by following glacial advances,"*'""" or by mass movements, should also be considered. The techniques of obtaining fabric records, either by three dimensionil, semi-three dimensional, or two-dimensional measurements, may be chosen ‘depending upon the purpose of investigation. The particle sizes measured may vary from sand to boulders depending upon texture, stoniness and other local factors involved. Tedious measurements by compass and clinometer may be replaced in many cases by the more rapid determination of the anisotrophy of magnetic susceptibility in oriented samples." """~ In the case of two or more maxima, however, the magnetic fabric measurements will produce vectors which are unrelated to the direction of glacial movement or any other source of stress. The fabric elements other than orientation of particles already mentioned, for example fractures in tll, may be either of glacial or non-glacial origin. They are, probably, more significant from an applied rather than from a theoretical viewpoint, since groundwater movements and weathering