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User:Geo Swan/Magdalen shelf

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The Magdalen Shelf is a geologic formation under the Gulf of St. Lawrence.[1] It is part of the Fundy Epieugeosyncline. The shelf has been described as fan shaped. Recent glaciations scraped off rocks to a layer of red Permian sandstone, overlaid by sediments deposited after the Laurentian glaciation. Buoyant layers of rock salt, under the Permian sandstone, have caused salt domes to rise, including under the Magdalen Islands.

The shallow water over the shelf gives the Magdalen Islands warm summertime temperatures.

References

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  1. ^ K.G. Andrew Hamilton (2002). "Iles-de-la-Madeleine (Magdalen Is.): a glacial refugium for short-horned bugs (Homoptera: Auchenorrhyncha)?" (PDF). Le Naturaliste Canadien. p. 36. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-02-19. Retrieved 2014-09-09. All the archipelago except Le Corps Mort now lie on a single submerged plateau surrounded by shallow, sun-warmed waters which gives the islands a long, mild summer for their latitude. This plateau is a weakly sloped mound resembling a huge alluvial fan 130 by 150 km; but it is in fact covered by a rather thin layer of sediment of modern origin as all sediments older than 20,000 years have been removed from the Magdalen shelf (Loring and Nota, 1973). The plateau's convex shape is formed by a "salt dome" of ancient origin.