Solution Pits

Abstract

Littoral solution pits were studied along 4 shorelines in the Guelph and Amabel Formations of the Bruce Peninsula. Pit depths, diameters, and densities were measured at several elevations above and below water, and various distances from the shoreline. Differences in pit characteristics were related to differences in shoreline energies, lithologies, and fluctuating lake levels in the post glacial period. Pit depths above water are shallower than pit depths below water. This conclusion supports previous hypotheses proposed by Cowell (1976) and Ford (in Goodchild, 1984) that the depth of solution pits increase with increasing water depth. The conclusions also indicate that pits are initiated above water, and that solutional deepening of pits can occur underwater.