Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-skm99 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T18:12:27.064Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Advance of alpine glaciers during final retreat of the Cordilleran ice sheet in the Finlay River area, northern British Columbia, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Thomas R. Lakeman ,
John J. Clague  and
Brian Menounos
Thomas R. Lakeman*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
John J. Clague
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada V5A 1S6
Brian Menounos
Affiliation:
Geography Program and Natural Resources and Environmental Studies Institute, University of Northern British Columbia, 3333 University Way, Prince George, British Columbia, Canada V2N 4Z9
*
*Corresponding author.E-mail address:tlakeman@ualberta.ca (T.R. Lakeman).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Sharp-crested moraines, up to 120 m high and 9 km beyond Little Ice Age glacier limits, record a late Pleistocene advance of alpine glaciers in the Finlay River area in northern British Columbia. The moraines are regional in extent and record climatic deterioration near the end of the last glaciation. Several lateral moraines are crosscut by meltwater channels that record downwasting of trunk valley ice of the northern Cordilleran ice sheet. Other lateral moraines merge with ice-stagnation deposits in trunk valleys. These relationships confirm the interaction of advancing alpine glaciers with the regionally decaying Cordilleran ice sheet and verify a late-glacial age for the moraines. Sediment cores were collected from eight lakes dammed by the moraines. Two tephras occur in basal sediments of five lakes, demonstrating that the moraines are the same age. Plant macrofossils from sediment cores provide a minimum limiting age of 10,550–10,250 cal yr BP (9230±5014C yr BP) for abandonment of the moraines. The advance that left the moraines may date to the Younger Dryas period. The Finlay moraines demonstrate that the timing and style of regional deglaciation was important in determining the magnitude of late-glacial glacier advances.

Keywords

Cordilleran ice sheetFraser glaciationYounger Dryaslate-glacialBritish ColumbiaFinlay River
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 69 , Issue 2 , March 2008 , pp. 188 - 200
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.)

Footnotes

Present address: Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, 1-26 Earth Sciences Building, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada T6G 2E3.

References

Alley, R.B., (2000). The Younger Dryas cold interval as viewed from central Greenland. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, 213–226.Google Scholar
Bednarski, J.M., (1999). Preliminary report on mapping surficial geology of Trutch map area, northeastern British Columbia. Current Research 1999-A. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 35–43.Google Scholar
Bednarski, J.M., (2000). Surficial geology, Trutch, British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 3885.Google Scholar
Bednarski, J.M., (2001). Drift composition and surficial geology of the Trutch map area (94G), northeastern British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 3815 .Google Scholar
Bednarski, J.M., Smith, I.R., (2007). Laurentide and montane glaciation along the Rocky Mountain Foothills of northeastern British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 44, 445–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaise, B., Clague, J.J., Mathewes, R.W., (1990). Time of maximum Late Wisconsin glaciation, west coast of Canada. Quaternary Research 34, 282–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobrowsky, P., Rutter, N.W., (1992). The Quaternary geologic history of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 46, 5–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bond, J., (2004). Late Wisconsinan McConnell glaciation of the Whitehorse map area (105D), Yukon. Emond, D.S., Lewis, L.L., Yukon Exploration Geology 2003. 73–88.,(Yukon Geological Survey).Google Scholar
Bond, J.D., Kennedy, K.E., (2005). Late Wisconsinan McConnell ice-flow and sediment distribution patterns in the Pelly Mountains, Yukon. Emond, D.S., Lewis, L.L., Bradshaw, G.D., Yukon Exploration Geology 2004. 67–82.,(Yukon Geological Survey).Google Scholar
Briner, J.P., Kaufman, D.S., Werner, A., Caffee, M., Levy, L., Manley, W.F., Kaplan, M.R., Finkel, R.C., (2002). Glacier readvance during the late glacial (Younger Dryas?) in the Ahklun Mountains, southwestern Alaska. Geology 30, 679–682.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clague, J.J., (1981). Late Quaternary geology and geochronology of British Columbia. Part 2: Summary and discussion of radiocarbon-dated Quaternary history. Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 80–35.Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., (1985). Deglaciation of the Prince Rupert–Kitimat area, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 22, 256–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clague, J.J., (1989). Quaternary geology of the Canadian Cordillera. Fulton, R.J., Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland. Geological Survey of Canada, Geology of Canada vol. 1, .Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., James, T.S., (2002). History and isostatic effects of the last ice sheet in southern British Columbia. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 71–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clague, J.J., Mathewes, R.W., Guilbault, J.-P., Hutchinson, I., Ricketts, B.D., (1997). Pre-Younger Dryas resurgence of the southwestern margin of the Cordilleran ice sheet, British Columbia, Canada. Boreas 26, 261–278.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Engstrom, D.R., Hansen, B.C.S., Wright, H.E. Jr., (1990). A possible Younger Dryas record in southeastern Alaska. Science 250, 1383–1385.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Environment Canada, , (2002). National climate data and information archive [online]. Available from http://www.climate.weatheroffice.ec.gc.ca [accessed 9 September 2006].Google Scholar
Friele, P.A., Clague, J.J., (2002a). Younger Dryas readvance in Squamish river valley, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 1925–1933.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Friele, P.A., Clague, J.J., (2002b). Readvance of glaciers in the British Columbia Coast Mountains at the end of the last glaciation. Quaternary International 87, 45–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fulton, R.J., (1967). Deglaciation studies in Kamloops region, an area of moderate relief, British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 154, .Google Scholar
Fulton, R.J., (1991). A conceptual model for growth and decay of the Cordilleran ice sheet. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 45, 281–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gosse, J.C., Evenson, E.B., Klein, J., Lawn, B., Middleton, R., (1995). Precise cosmogenic 10Be measurements in western North America: Support for a global Younger Dryas cooling event. Geology 23, 877–880.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamilton, T.S., (1981). Late Cenozoic alkaline volcanics of the Level Mountain Range, northwestern British Columbia: geology, petrology, and palaeomagnetism. Ph.D. thesis, University of Alberta, , Edmonton, Alberta.Google Scholar
Hansen, B.C.S., Engstrom, D.R., (1996). Vegetation history of Pleasant Island, southeastern Alaska, since 13,000 yr BP. Quaternary Science Reviews 46, 161–175.Google Scholar
Hendy, I.L., Kennett, J.P., Roark, E.B., Ingram, B.L., (2002). Apparent synchroneity of submillennial scale climate events between Greenland and Santa Barbara Basin, California from 30–10 ka. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 1167–1184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hetherington, R., Reid, R.G.B., (2003). Malacological insights into the marine ecology and changing climate of the late Pleistocene–early Holocene Queen Charlotte Islands archipelago, western Canada, and implications for early peoples. Canadian Journal of Zoology 81, 626–661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hughes, O.L., (1990). Surficial geology and geomorphology, Aishihik Lake, Yukon Territory. Geological Survey of Canada, Paper 87–29, .Google Scholar
Jackson, L.E. Jr., Ward, B., Duk-Rodkin, A., Hughes, O.L., (1991). The last Cordilleran Ice Sheet in southern Yukon Territory. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 45, 341–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, K.E., Bond, J.D., (2004). Evidence for a late-McConnell readvance of the Cassiar Lobe in Seagull Creek, Pelly Mountains, central Yukon. Emond, D.S., Lewis, L.L., Yukon Exploration Geology 2003. Yukon Geological Survey 121–128.Google Scholar
Kovanen, D.J., (2002). Morphologic and stratigraphic evidence for Allerød and Younger Dryas age glacier fluctuations of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, British Columbia, Canada and northwest Washington, U.S.A. Boreas 31, 163–184.Google Scholar
Kovanen, D.J., Easterbrook, D.J., (2001). Late Pleistocene, post-Vashon, alpine glaciation of the Nooksack drainage, North Cascades, Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin 113, 274–288.Google Scholar
Kovanen, D.J., Easterbrook, D.J., (2002). Timing and extent of Allerød and Younger Dryas age (ca. 12,500–10,000 14C yr B.P.) oscillations of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet in the Fraser Lowland, western North America. Quaternary Research 57, 208–224.Google Scholar
Lacourse, T., (2005). Late Quaternary dynamics of forest vegetation on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, 105–121.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lakeman, T.R., (2006). Late-glacial alpine glacier advance, and early Holocene tephras, northern British Columbia. M.Sc. thesis, Simon Fraser University, , Burnaby, British Columbia., .Google Scholar
Licciardi, J.M., Clark, P.U., Brook, E.J., Elmore, D., Sharma, P., (2004). Variable responses of western U.S. glaciers during the last deglaciation. Geology 32, 81–84.Google Scholar
Mann, D.H., Hamilton, T.D., (1995). Late Pleistocene and Holocene paleoenvironments of the North Pacific coast. Quaternary Science Reviews 14, 449–471.Google Scholar
Mathewes, R.W., (1993). Evidence for Younger Dryas — age cooling on the North Pacific coast of America. Quaternary Science Reviews 12, 321–331.Google Scholar
Mathewes, R.W., Heusser, L.E., Patterson, R.T., (1993). Evidence for a Younger Dryas-like event on the British Columbia coast. Geology 21, 101–104.Google Scholar
Mathews, W.H., (1980). Retreat of the last ice sheets in northeastern British Columbia and adjacent Alberta. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin 331, .Google Scholar
McCuaig, S.J., Roberts, M.C., (2002). Topographically-independent ice flow in northwestern British Columbia: Implications for Cordilleran Ice Sheet reconstruction. Journal of Quaternary Science 17, 341–348.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meidinger, D., Pojar, J., (1991). Ecosystems of British Columbia. British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Victoria, British Columbia., .Google Scholar
Menounos, B., Reasoner, M.A., (1997). Evidence for cirque glaciation in the Colorado Front Range during the Younger Dryas Chronozone. Quaternary Research 48, 38–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborn, G., Gerloff, L., (1997). Latest Pleistocene and early Holocene fluctuations of glaciers in the Canadian and northern American Rockies. Quaternary International 38/39, 7–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Osborn, G.D., Robinson, B.J., Luckman, B.H., (2001). Holocene and latest Pleistocene fluctuations of Stutfield Glacier, Canadian Rockies. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 38, 1141–1155.Google Scholar
Owen, L.A., Finkel, R.C., Minnich, R.A., Perez, A.E., (2003). Extreme southwestern margin of the late Quaternary glaciation in North America: timing and controls. Geology 31, 729–732.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, R.T., Guilbault, J.P., Thomson, R.E., Luternauer, J.L., (1995). Foraminiferal evidence of Younger Dryas age cooling on the British Columbia shelf. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 49, 409–427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, S.C., (1975). Equilibrium line altitudes of late Quaternary glaciers in the Southern Alps, New Zealand. Quaternary Research 5, 27–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reasoner, M.A., (1993). Equipment and procedure improvements for a lightweight, inexpensive, percussion core sampling system. Paleolimnology 8, 273–281.Google Scholar
Reasoner, M.A., Osborn, G., Rutter, N.W., (1994). Age of the Crowfoot advance in the Canadian Rocky Mountains: a glacial event coeval with the Younger Dryas oscillation. Geology 22, 439–442.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Baillie, M.G.L., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Bertrand, C., Blackwell, P.G., Buck, C.E., Burr, G., Cutler, K.B., Damon, P.E., Edwards, R.L., Fairbanks, R.G., Friedrich, M., Guilderson, T.P., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, F.G., Manning, S., Bronk Ramsey, C., Reimer, R.W., Remmele, S., Southon, J.R., Stuiver, M., Talamo, S., Taylor, F.W., van der Plicht, J., Weyhenmeyer, C.E., (2004). IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0–26 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46, 1029–1058.Google Scholar
Riedel, J.L., Clague, J.J., Scott, K.M., Swanson, T., (2003). Late Fraser alpine glacier activity in the North Cascades, Washington. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs 35, 216.Google Scholar
Roots, E.F., (1954). Geology and mineral deposits of Aiken Lake map-area, British Columbia. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 274, .Google Scholar
Ryder, J.M., Maynard, D., (1991). The Cordilleran Ice Sheet in northern British Columbia. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 45, 355–363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saunders, I.R., Clague, J.J., Roberts, M.C., (1987). Deglaciation of Chilliwack River valley, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 24, 915–923.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Souch, C., (1989). New radiocarbon dates for early deglaciation from the southeastern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 26, 2169–2171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stumpf, A.J., Broster, B.E., Levson, V.M., (2000). Multiphase flow of the late Wisconsinan Cordilleran ice sheet in western Canada. Geological Society of America Bulletin 112, 1850–1863.Google Scholar
Tallman, A.M., (1975). Glacial and periglacial geomorphology of the Fourth of July Creek valley, Atlin region, Cassiar district, northwestern British Columbia. Ph.D. thesis, Michigan State University, , East Lansing, Michigan., .Google Scholar
Watson, K., de, P., Mathews, W.H., (1944). The Tuya–Teslin area, northern British Columbia. British Columbia Department of Mines, Bulletin 19, .Google Scholar
Zielinski, G.A., Davis, P.T., (1987). Late Pleistocene age of the type Temple Lake moraine, Wind River Range, Wyoming, U.S.A. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 41, 397–401.CrossRefGoogle Scholar