Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T04:18:40.266Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Timing and duration of North American glacial lake discharges and the Younger Dryas climate reversal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John A. Rayburn ,
Thomas M. Cronin ,
David A. Franzi ,
Peter L.K. Knuepfer  and
Debra A. Willard
John A. Rayburn*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, SUNY New Paltz, New Paltz, NY 12561, USA
Thomas M. Cronin
Affiliation:
926A U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192, USA
David A. Franzi
Affiliation:
Center for Earth and Environmental Sciences, SUNY Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY, 12901, USA
Peter L.K. Knuepfer
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences and Environmental Studies, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
Debra A. Willard
Affiliation:
926A U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, VA 20192, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: +1 845 257 3755.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Radiocarbon-dated sediment cores from the Champlain Valley (northeastern USA) contain stratigraphic and micropaleontologic evidence for multiple, high-magnitude, freshwater discharges from North American proglacial lakes to the North Atlantic. Of particular interest are two large, closely spaced outflows that entered the North Atlantic Ocean via the St. Lawrence estuary about 13,200–12,900 cal yr BP, near the beginning of the Younger Dryas cold event. We estimate from varve chronology, sedimentation rates and proglacial lake volumes that the duration of the first outflow was less than 1 yr and its discharge was approximately 0.1 Sv (1 Sverdrup = 106 m3 s−1). The second outflow lasted about a century with a sustained discharge sufficient to keep the Champlain Sea relatively fresh for its duration. According to climate models, both outflows may have had sufficient discharge, duration and timing to affect meridional ocean circulation and climate. In this report we compare the proglacial lake discharge record in the Champlain and St. Lawrence valleys to paleoclimate records from Greenland Ice cores and Cariaco Basin and discuss the two-step nature of the inception of the Younger Dryas.

Keywords

Glacial lakeChamplain seaDischargeYounger dryasForaminifers
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 75 , Issue 3 , May 2011 , pp. 541 - 551
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Anderson, T.W. Late Quaternary pollen stratigraphy of the Ottawa Valley—Lake Ontario region and its application in dating the Champlain Sea. Gadd, N.R. The Late Quaternary Development of the Champlain Sea Basin 35, (1988). Geological Association of Canada, 207–224. Special Paper Google Scholar
Anderson, T.W., Levac, E., and Lewis, C.F.M. Cooling in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and estuary region at 9.7 to 7.2 14C ka (11.2–8.0 cal ka): palynological response to the PBO and 8.2 cal ka cold events, Laurentide Ice Sheet air-mass circulation and enhanced freshwater runoff. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 246, (2007). 75–100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Antonov, J.I., Levitus, S., and Boyer, T.P. Steric sea level variations during 1957– 1994: importance of salinity. J. Geophys. Res. 107, C12 (2002). 8013 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2001JC000964Google Scholar
Born, A., and Levermann, A. The 8.2 ka event: abrupt transition of the subpolar gyre toward a modern North Atlantic circulation. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 11, (2010). Q06011 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009GC003024CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Kennett, J.P., Flower, B.P., Teller, J.T., Trumbore, S., Bonani, G., and Woelfli, W. Routing of meltwater from the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the Younger Dryas cold episode. Nature 341, (1989). 318–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S. Was the Younger Dryas triggered by a flood?. Science 312, (2006). 1146–1148.Google Scholar
Bryden, H.L., Longworth, H.R., and Cunningham, S.A. Slowing of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation at 25° N. Nature 438, (2005). 655–657.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cadwell, D.H., Pair, D.L., (1991). Surficial geology map of New York: New York State Museum Map and Chart Series 40. Adirondack sheet, scale 1:250 000.Google Scholar
Carlson, A.E., Clark, P.U., Haley, B.A., Klinkhammer, G.P., Simmons, K., Brook, E.J., and Meissner, K. Geochemical proxies of North American freshwater routing during the Younger Dryas. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 104, (2007). 6556–6561.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlson, A.E., and Clark, P.U. Comment: radiocarbon deglaciation chronology of the Thunder Bay, Ontario area and implications for ice sheet retreat patterns. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, (2009). 2546–2547.Google Scholar
Chapman, D.H. Late-glacial and postglacial history of the Champlain Valley. American Journal of Sciences 5th Series 34, (1937). 89–124.Google Scholar
Cronin, T.M. Late-Wisconsin marine environments of the Champlain Valley (New York, Quebec). Quaternary Research 7, (1977). 238–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronin, T.M. Late Pleistocene benthic foraminifers from the St Lawrence Lowlands. Journal of Paleontology 53, (1979). 781–814.Google Scholar
Cronin, T.M. Paleoclimate implications of late Pleistocene marine ostracodes from the St. Lawrence Lowlands. Micropaleontology 27, (1981). 384–418.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cronin, T.M., Manley, P., Brachfield, S., Manley, T., Willard, D.A., Guilbault, J.-P., Rayburn, J.A., Thunell, R., and Berke, M. Impacts of post-glacial lake drainage events and revised chronology of the Champlain Sea episode 13–9 ka. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 262, (2008). 46–60.Google Scholar
Curry, R., and Mauritzen, C. Dilution of the northern North Atlantic in recent decades. Science 308, (2005). 1772–1774.Google Scholar
Delworth, T.L., and Mann, M.E. Observed and simulated multi-decadal variability in the Northern Hemisphere. Climate Dynamics 16, (2000). 661–676.Google Scholar
Dickson, R.R., Yashayaev, I., Meincke, J., Turrell, W., Dye, S., and Holfort, J. Rapid freshening of the deep North Atlantic over the past four decades. Nature 416, (2002). 832–837.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dickson, R.R., Curry, R., and Yashayaev, I. Recent changes in the North Atlantic. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 361A, (2003). 1917–1934.Google Scholar
Enfield, D.B., Mestas-Nunez, A.M., and Trimble, P.J. The Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation and its relation to rainfall and river flows in the continental U.S.. Geophysical Research Letters 28, (2001). 2077–2080.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, T.G. Strandline analysis in the southern basin of glacial Lake Agassiz, Minnesota and North and South Dakota, USA. GSA Bulletin 117, (2005). 1481–1496.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, T.G., Lowell, T.V., Kelly, M.A., Lepper, K., (2008). The chronology of glacial Lake Agassiz Overflow. Program and Abstracts, p. 28–29. XX AMQUA Biennial Meeting, State College, PA. June 5–7.Google Scholar
Franzi, D.A., Rayburn, J.A., Yansa, C.H., and Knuepfer, P.L.K. Late glacial water bodies in the Champlain and Hudson lowlands, New York. New York State Geological Association/New England Intercollegiate Geological Conference Joint Annual Meeting Guidebook A5, (2002). 1–23.Google Scholar
Franzi, D.A., Rayburn, J.A., Knuepfer, P.L.K., and Cronin, T.M. Late Quaternary history of northeastern New York and adjacent parts of Vermont and Quebec. 70th Annual northeast Friends of the Pleistocene Guidebook. (2007). Plattsburgh, New York. 70 p. Google Scholar
Franzi, D.A., Feranec, R., and Rayburn, J.A., (2010). A Champlain Sea Phocid seal from the Champlain Lowland at Plattsburgh. New York: Geological Society of America, (2010). Abstracts with Programs, Northeastern Section, V.42, No.2., p.68.Google Scholar
Ganopolski, A., and Rahmstorf, S. Rapid changes of glacial climate simulated in a coupled climate model. Nature 409, (2001). 153–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Godsey, H.S., Moore, T.C. Jr., and Rea, D.K. Annual and seasonal post-Younger Dryas climatic variability as recorded in Lake Huron varved sediments. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 36, (1999). 533–547.Google Scholar
Guilbault, J.-P. Foraminiferal distribution in the central and western parts of the Late Pleistocene Champlain Sea Basin, eastern Canada. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire 43, (1989). 3–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Häkkinen, S., and Rhines, P.B. Decline of subpolar North Atlantic Circulation during the 1990s. Science 304, (2004). 555–559.Google Scholar
Hillaire-Marcel, C. Isotopic composition (18O, 13C, 14C) of biogenic carbonates in Champlain Sea sediments. Gadd, N.R. The Late Quaternary Development of the Champlain Sea Basin 35, (1988). Geological Association of Canada, 177–194. Special Paper Google Scholar
Hughen, K.A., Southon, J.R., Lehman, S.J., and Overpeck, J.T. Synchronous radiocarbon and climate shifts during the last deglaciation. Science 290, (2000). 1951–1954.Google Scholar
Hunt, A.S., and Rathburn, A.E. Microfaunal assemblages of southern Champlain Sea piston cores. Gadd, N.R. The Late Quaternary Development of the Champlain Sea Basin 35, (1988). Geological Association of Canada, 145–154. Special Publication Google Scholar
Hurrell, J.W., and Dickson, R.R. Climate variability over the North Atlantic. Stenseth, N.C., Ottersen, G., Hurrell, J.W., and Belgrano, A. Marine Ecosystems and Climate Variation—the North Atlantic. (2004). Oxford University Press, Oxford. 15–31.Google Scholar
LeGrande, A.N., and Schmidt, G.A. Ensemble, water-isotope enabled, coupled general circulation modeling insights into the 8.2-kyr event. Paleoceanography (2008). PA001610 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LeGrande, A.N., Schmidt, G.A., Shindell, D.T., Field, C.V., Miller, R.L., Koch, D.M., Faluvegi, G., and Hoffmann, G. Consistent simulations of multiple proxy responses to an abrupt climate change event. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103, (2006). 837–842.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leverington, D.W., Mann, J.D., and Teller, J.T. Changes in the bathymetry and volume of glacial Lake Agassiz between 9200 and 7700 14C yr BP. Quaternary Research 57, (2002). 244–252.Google Scholar
Lewis, C.F.M., and Anderson, T.W. Stable isotope (O and C) and pollen trends in eastern Lake Erie, evidence for a locally-induced climate reveral of Younger Dryas age in the Great Lakes basin. Climate Dynamics 6, (1992). 241–250.Google Scholar
Lewis, C.F.M., Anderson, T.W., Gareau, P.L., Karrow, P.F., Mott, R.J., and Rodrigues, C.G. Outburst floods to Champlain Sea from glacial Lake Algonquin during the Younger Dryas event. Program with Abstracts, GAC-MAC Annual Meeting 31, (2006). 88 Google Scholar
Lewis, C.F.M., Moore, T.C. Jr., Rea, D.K., Dettman, D.L., Smith, A.J., and Mayer, L.A. Lakes of the Huron basin: their record of runoff from the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews 13, (1994). 891–922.Google Scholar
Lepper, K., Fisher, T.G., Hajdas, I., and Lowell, T.V. Ages for the Big Stone Moraine and the oldest beaches of glacial Lake Agassiz: implications for deglacial chronology. Geology 43, (2007). 670–776.Google Scholar
Lowell, T.V., Fisher, T.G., Comer, G.C., Hajdas, I., Waterson, N., Glover, K., Loope, H.M., Schaefer, J.M., Rinterknecht, V., Broecker, W., Denton, G., and Teller, J.T. Testing the Lake Agassiz meltwater trigger for the Younger Dryas. EOS 86, 40 (2005). 365–373.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowell, T.V., Fisher, T.G., Hajdas, I., Glover, K., Loope, H., and Henry, T. Radiocarbon deglaciation chronology of the Thunder Bary, Ontario area and implications for ice sheet retreat patterns. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, (2009). 1597–1607.Google Scholar
Lowell, T.V., and Fisher, T.G. Reply to comments by Carlson et al., (2009) on “Radiocarbon deglaciation chronology of the Thunder Bay, Ontario area and implications for ice sheet retreat patterns”. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, (2009). 2548–2550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Manabe, S., and Stouffer, R.J. Coupled ocean–atmosphere model response to freshwater input: comparison to the Younger Dryas event. Paleoceanography 12, (1997). 321–336. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/96PA03932Google Scholar
Moore, T.C. Jr., Walker, J.G.C., Rea, D.K., Lewis, C.F.M., Shanne, L.C.K., and Smith, A.J. The Younger Dryas interval and outflow from the Laurentide ice sheet. Paleoceanography 15, (2000). 9–18. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006PA001340Google Scholar
Marchitto, C.L., and Wei, K. History of Laurentide meltwater flow to the Gulf of Mexico during the last deglaciation as revealed by reworked calcareous nannofossils. Geology 23, (1995). 779–782.Google Scholar
Murton, J.B., Bateman, M.D., Dallimore, S.R., Teller, J.T, Yang, Z., (2010). Identification of Younger Dryas outburst flood path from Lake Agassiz to the Arctic Ocean: Nature 464. 1 April (2010). 740–743. Doi10.1038/nature089954.Google Scholar
Occhietti, S., Parent, M., Shilts, W.W., Dionne, J.-C., Govare, E., and Harmand, D. Late Wisconsinan glacial dynamics, deglaciation and marine invasion in southern Québec. Weddle, T.K., Retelle, M.J. Deglacial History and Relative Sea-level Changes 351, (2001). Geological Society of America, Northern New England and Adjacent Canada, Boulder, Colorado. 245–272. Special Paper Google Scholar
Parent, M., and Occhietti, S. Late Wisconsinan deglaciation and Champlain Sea invasion in the St. Lawrence Valley, Quebec. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire 42, (1988). 215–246.Google Scholar
Parent, M., and Occhietti, S. Late Wisconsinan deglaciation and glacial lake development in the Appalachians of southeastern Quebec. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire 53, (1999). 117–135.Google Scholar
Peterson, B.J., Holmes, R.M., McClelland, J.W., Vörösmarty, C.J. et al. Increasing river discharge to the Arctic Ocean. Science 298, (2002). 2171–2173.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peterson, B.J., McClelland, J.W., Curry, R., Holmes, R.M., Walsh, J.E., and Aagaard, K. Trajectory shifts in the Arctic and subarctic freshwater cycle. Science 313, (2006). 1061–1066.Google Scholar
Rahmstorf, S. Bifurcations of the Atlantic thermohaline circulation in response to changes in the hydrological cycle. Nature 378, (1995). 145–149.Google Scholar
Rayburn, J.A. Correlation of the Campbell strandlines along the northwestern margin of glacial Lake Agassiz. Unpublished M.Sc. thesis. (1997). University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba. 189 p Google Scholar
Rayburn, J.A. Deglaciation of the Champlain Valley New York and Vermont and its possible effects on North Atlantic climate change. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. (2004). Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York. 158p Google Scholar
Rayburn, J.A., Knuepfer, P.L.K., and Franzi, D.A. A series of large late Wisconsinan meltwater floods through the Champlain and Hudson Valleys, New York State, USA. Fisher, T.G., and Russell, A.J. Re-assessing the Role of Meltwater Processes During Quaternary Glaciations. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, (2005). 2410–2419.Google Scholar
Rayburn, J.A., Franzi, D.A., Knuepfer, P.L.K., Cronin, T.M., and Berke, M.A. Evidence for a series of large freshwater discharge events from eastern North America to the North Atlantic immediately preceding the Younger Dryas. Program with Abstracts, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. (2005). Google Scholar
Rayburn, J.A., Cronin, T.M., Manley, P.L., Franzi, D.A., and Knuepfer, P.L.K. Variable marine reservoir effect in bivalves from Champlain Sea sediments in the Lake Champlain Valley, USA. Program with Abstracts, American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. (2006). Google Scholar
Rayburn, J.A., Franzi, D.A., and Knuepfer, P.L.K. Evidence from the Lake Champlain Valley for a later onset of the Champlain Sea, and implications for late glacial meltwater routing to the North Atlantic. Lewis, C.F.M., and Teller, J.T. Late Quaternary North American Meltwater and Floods to the Atlantic Ocean: Evidence and Impacts. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 246, (2007). 62–74.Google Scholar
Rensson, H., Goosse, H., Fichefet, T., and Campin, J.-M. The 8.2 kyr BP event stimulated by a global atmosphere–sea–ice–ocean model. Geophysical Research Letters 28, (2001). 1567–1570.Google Scholar
Richard, P.J.H., and Occhietti, S. 14C chronology for ice retreat and inception of Champlain Sea in the St. Lawrence Lowlands, Canada. Quaternary Research 63, (2005). 353–358.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rigor, I., and Wallace, J.M. Variations in the age of Arctic sea-ice and summer sea-ice extent. Geophysical Research Letters 31, (2004). L09401,GL019492 Google Scholar
Serreze, M.C., Holland, M.M., and Stroeve, J. Perspectives on the Arctic's shrinking sea-ice cover. Science 315, (2007). 1533–1536.Google Scholar
Stouffer, R.J., Yin, J., Gregory, J.M., Dixon, K.W., Spelman, M.J., Hurlin, W., Weaver, A.J., Eby, M., Flato, G.M., Hasumi, H., Hu, A., Jungclaus, J.H., Kamenkovich, I.V., Levermann, A., Montoya, M., Murakami, S., Nawrath, S., Oka, A., Peltier, W.R., Robitaille, D.Y., Sokolov, A., Vettoretti, G., and Weber, S.L. Investigating the causes of the response of the thermohaline circulation to past and future climate changes. Journal of Climate 19, (2006). 1365–1387.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Reimer, R.W., (2005). CALIB 5.0.. [WWW program and documentation].Google Scholar
Tarasov, L., and Peltier, W.R. Arctic freshwater forcing of the Younger Dryas cold reversal. Nature 435, (2005). 662–665.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Taylor, K.C., Lamorey, G.W., Doyle, G.A., Alley, R.B., Grootes, P.M., Mayewski, P.A., White, J.W.C., and Barlow, L.K. The ‘flickering switch’ of late Pleistocene climate change. Nature 361, (1993). 432–436.Google Scholar
Teller, J.T., and Thorleifson, H.L. The Lake Agassiz–Lake Superior connection. Teller, J.T., Clayton, L. Glacial Lake Agassiz 26, (1983). Geological Association of Canada, 261–290. Special Paper Google Scholar
Teller, J.T. Lake Agassiz and its contribution to flow through the Ottawa–St. Lawrence system. Gadd, N.R. The Late Quaternary Development of the Champlain Sea Basin 35, (1988). Geological Association of Canada, 281–289. Special Paper Google Scholar
Teller, J.T., Leverington, D.W., and Mann, J.D. Freshwater outbursts to the oceans from glacial Lake Agassiz and their role in climate change during the last deglaciation. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, (2002). 879–887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teller, J.T., Boyd, M., Yang, Z., Kor, P.S.G., and Fard, A.M. Alternative routing of Lake Agassiz during the Younger Dryas: new dates, paleotopography and a re-evaluation. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, (2005). 1890–1905.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teller, J.T., and Leverington, D.W. Glacial Lake Agassiz: a 5000-year history of change and its relationship to the d18O record of Greenland. Geological Society of America Bulletin 116, (2004). 729–742.Google Scholar
Thompson, D.W.J., and Wallace, J.M. The Arctic Oscillation signature in the wintertime geopotential height and temperature fields. Geophysical Research Letters 25, (1998). 1297–1300.Google Scholar
Trenberth, K.E., and Shea, D.J. Atlantic hurricanes and natural variability in 2005. Geophysical Research Letters 33, (2006). L12704 Google Scholar
Wall, G.R. Post glacial drainage in the Mohawk River valley with emphasis on paleodischarge and paleochannel development. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. (1995). Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York. 352 p. Google Scholar
Wall, G.R., (1996). Magnitude and effects of glacial Lake Iroquois drainage in the Mohawk Valley and Hudson-Mohawk lowland, New York. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Program, Northeastern Section. 28, 108 Google Scholar
Wiersma, A.P., and Renssen, H. Model-data comparison for the 8.2 ka BP event: confirmation of a forcing mechanism by catastrophic drainage of Laurentide lakes. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, (2006). 63–88.Google Scholar
Willard, D.A., Bernhardt, C.E., Brooks, G.R., Cronin, T.M., Edgar, T., and Larson, R. Deglacial climate variability in central Florida, USA. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 251, (2007). 366–382.Google Scholar