A sediment-mixing process model of till genesis, using texture and clay mineralogy data from Saginaw lobe (Michigan, USA) tills

We present a sediment-mixing process model of till genesis based on data from surface tills of the Saginaw lobe terrain in lower Michigan. Our research uses a spatial approach to understanding glacial landsystems and till genesis. We sampled calcareous till at 336 upland sites and at 17 sites in lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. The loamy tills have bimodal grain-size curves, with a fine-texture mode near the silt–clay boundary and a sand mode. Spatial grouping analysis suggests that tills can be divided into six groups, each with different textures and clay mineral compositions that vary systematically down-ice. The similarity among groups with respect to the silt–clay mode and clay mineralogy argues for a common origin for the fines—illite-rich lacustrine sediment of the Saginaw Lake plain. Fine-textured sediments were probably entrained, transported, and deposited down-ice as till, which also becomes sandier and enriched in kaolinite, reflecting increasing mixing with shallow sandstone bedrock with distance from the lacustrine clay source. Clayey tills on the flanks of the Saginaw terrain may reflect proglacial ponding against nearby uplands. A process model of progressive down-ice mixing of preexisting fine lake sediments with crushed/abraded sandstone bedrock helps to better explain till textures compared with a purely crushing/abrasion process model.