Hostname: page-component-7dd5485656-glrdx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-10-31T08:32:01.488Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Rapid changes in the level of Kluane Lake in Yukon Territory over the last millennium

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John J. Clague ,
Brian H. Luckman ,
Richard D. Van Dorp ,
Robert Gilbert ,
Duane Froese ,
Britta J.L. Jensen  and
Alberto V. Reyes
John J. Clague*
Affiliation:
Centre for Natural Hazard Research, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada V5A 1S6; Geological Survey of Canada, 101-605 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC, Canada V6B 5J3
Brian H. Luckman
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C2
Richard D. Van Dorp
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada N6A 5C2
Robert Gilbert
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Queen’s University, Kingston, ON, Canada K7L 3N6
Duane Froese
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E3
Britta J.L. Jensen
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E3
Alberto V. Reyes
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada T6G 2E3
*
⁎Corresponding author. E-mail address:jclague@sfu.ca (J.J. Clague).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The level of Kluane Lake, the largest lake in Yukon Territory, was lower than at present during most of the Holocene. The lake rose rapidly in the late seventeenth century to a level 12 m above present, drowning forest and stranding driftwood on a conspicuous high-stand beach, remnants of which are preserved at the south end of the lake. Kluane Lake fell back to near its present level by the end of the eighteenth century and has fluctuated within a range of about 3 m over the last 50 yr. The primary control on historic fluctuations in lake level is the discharge of Slims River, the largest source of water to the lake. We use tree ring and radiocarbon ages, stratigraphy and sub-bottom acoustic data to evaluate two explanations for the dramatic changes in the level of Kluane Lake. Our data support the hypothesis of Hugh Bostock, who suggested in 1969 that the maximum Little Ice Age advance of Kaskawulsh Glacier deposited large amounts of sediment in the Slims River valley and established the present course of Slims River into Kluane Lake. Bostock argued that these events caused the lake to rise and eventually overflow to the north. The overflowing waters incised the Duke River fan at the north end of Kluane Lake and lowered the lake to its present level. This study highlights the potentially dramatic impacts of climate change on regional hydrology during the Little Ice Age in glacierised mountains.

Keywords

Little Ice AgeKluane LakeDendrochronologyDrainage evolution

Information

Type
Short Paper
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 66 , Issue 2 , September 2006 , pp. 342 - 355
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.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Abbott, M.B., Finney, B.P., Edwards, M.E., and Kelts, K.R. Late-level reconstructions and paleohydrology of Birch Lake, central Alaska, based on seismic reflection profiles and core transects. Quaternary Research 53, (2000). 154–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barber, V.A., and Finney, B.P. Late Quaternary paleoclimatic reconstructions for interior Alaska based on paleolake-level data and hydrologic models. Journal of Paleolimnology 24, (2000). 29–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borns, H.W. Jr., and Goldthwait, R.P. Late-Pleistocene fluctuations of Kaskawulsh Glacier. American Journal of Science 269, (1966). 600–619.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bostock, H.S. Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory, its drainage and allied problems. Geological Survey of Canada. Paper (1969). 36–65.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C. Development of the radiocarbon program OxCal. Radiocarbon 43, (2001). 355–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, I.D., Last, W.M., Campbell, C., Clare, S., and McAndrews, J.H. The late-Holocene paleohydrology of Pine Lake, Alberta; a multiproxy investigation. Journal of Paleolimnology 24, (2000). 427–441.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clague, J.J. Landslides at the south end of Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 18, (1981). 959–971.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clague, J.J., Evans, S.G., Rampton, V.N., and Woodsworth, G.J. Improved age estimates for the White River and Bridge River tephras, western Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 32, (1995). 1172–1179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, G.H., and Stuiver, M. Neoglacial chronology, northeastern St. Elias Mountains, Canada. American Journal of Science 264, (1966). 577–599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fahnestock, R.K., (1969). Morphology of the Slims River. In Bushnell, V.C., Ragle, R.H. (eds.), Icefield Ranges Research Project scientific results. American Geographical Society, NY., and Arctic Institute of North America, Montreal, PQ., 1, 161–172.Google Scholar
Friele, P.A., Clague, J.J., Simpson, K., and Stasiuk, M. Impact of a Quaternary volcano on Holocene sedimentation in Lillooet River valley, British Columbia. Sedimentary Geology 176, (2005). 305–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, R. Sedimentation in Lillooet Lake, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 12, (1975). 1697–1711.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, R. Calculated wave base in relation to the observed patterns of sediment deposition in northeastern Lake Ontario. Journal of Great Lakes Research 25, (1999). 883–891.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holmes, R.L. Dendrochronology Program Library, Users Manual. (1994). University of Arizona, Tucson.Google Scholar
Last, W.M., and Vance, R.E. The Holocene history of Oro Lake, one of the western Canada's longest continuous lacustrine records. Sedimentary Geology 148, (2002). 161–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Last, W.M., Vance, R.E., Wilson, S., and Smol, J.P. A multi-proxy limnologic record of rapid early-Holocene hydrologic change on the northern Great Plains, southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada. The Holocene 8, (1998). 503–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowdon, J.A., Blake, W. Jr. Geological Survey of Canada radiocarbon dates IX. Radiocarbon 12, (1970). 46–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowdon, J.A., Blake, W. Jr. Geological Survey of Canada radiocarbon dates XIII. Geological Survey of Canada. Paper (1973). 73–77.Google Scholar
Luckman, B.H., Watson, E., and Youngblut, D.K. Dendroclimatic reconstruction of precipitation and temperature patterns in British Columbia and the Yukon Territory.. Unpublished report, Meteorological Service of Canada Collaborative Research Agreement (2002). 2001–2002.Google Scholar
Menounos, B.P. Climate, fine-sediment transport linkages, Coast Mountains, British Columbia. Ph.D. dissertation. (2002). University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.Google Scholar
Pienitz, R., Smol, J.P., Last, W.M., Leavitt, P.R., and Cumming, B.F. Multi-proxy Holocene palaeoclimatic record from a saline lake in the Canadian Subarctic. The Holocene 10, (2000). 673–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rampton, V.N. Surficial materials and landforms of Kluane National Park, Yukon Territory. Geological Survey of Canada. Paper (1981). 24–79.Google Scholar
Reyes, A.V., Luckman, B.H., Smith, D.J., Clague, J.J., and Van Dorp, R.D. Tree-ring dates for the maximum Little Ice Age advance of Kaskawulsh Glacier, St. Elias Mountains, Canada. Arctic 59, (2006). 12–20.Google Scholar
Sawada, M., and Johnson, P.G. Hydrometeorology, suspended sediment and conductivity in a large glacierized basin, Slims River, Yukon Territory, Canada (1993–94). Arctic 53, (2001). 101–117.Google Scholar
Sinclair, I.R., and Smith, I.J. Deep water waves in lakes. Freshwater Biology 2, (1972). 387–399.Google Scholar
Sly, P.G. Sedimentary processes in lakes. Lerman, A. Lakes; Chemistry, Geology, Physics. (1978). Springer-Verlag, New York. 65–89.Google Scholar
Stokes, M., and Smiley, T. An Introduction to Tree Ring Dating. (1968). University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, G., van der Plicht, J., and Spurk, M. INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000-0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40, (1998). 1041–1083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terrain Analysis and Mapping Services Geology and Limnology of Kluane Lake. (1978). Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 527 Google Scholar
Van Dorp, R.D., (2004). Dendrochronological studies of lake level changes at Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory. Honours B.Sc. thesis. University of Western Ontario, London, ON, Canada.Google Scholar
Woo, M-K. Northern hydrology. French, H.M., and Slaymaker, O. Canada's Cold Environments. (1993). McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, QC. 117–142.Google Scholar