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Dating Early and Middle (Reid) Pleistocene Glaciations in Central Yukon by Tephrochronology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

John A. Westgate ,
Shari J. Preece ,
Duane G. Froese ,
Robert C. Walter ,
Amanjit S. Sandhu  and
Charles E. Schweger
John A. Westgate
Affiliation:
Physical Sciences Division, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canadawestgate@utsc.utoronto.ca
Shari J. Preece
Affiliation:
Physical Sciences Division, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canadawestgate@utsc.utoronto.ca
Duane G. Froese
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada
Robert C. Walter
Affiliation:
Physical Sciences Division, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canada
Amanjit S. Sandhu
Affiliation:
Physical Sciences Division, University of Toronto at Scarborough, 1265 Military Trail, Scarborough, Ontario, M1C 1A4, Canada
Charles E. Schweger
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2E3, Canada
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Abstract

The late Cenozoic deposits of central Yukon contain numerous distal tephra beds, derived from vents in the Wrangell Mountains and Aleutian arc–Alaska Peninsula region. We use a few of these tephra beds to gain a better understanding on the timing of extensive Pleistocene glaciations that affected this area. Exposures at Fort Selkirk show that the Cordilleran Ice Sheet advanced close to the outer limit of glaciation about 1.5 myr ago. At the Midnight Dome Terrace, near Dawson City, exposed outwash gravel, aeolian sand, and loess, related to valley glaciers in the adjacent Ogilvie Mountains, are of the same age. Reid glacial deposits at Ash Bend on the Stewart River are older than oxygen isotope stage (OIS) 6 and likely of OIS 8 age, that is, about 250,000 yr B.P. Supporting evidence for this chronology comes from major peaks in the rates of terrigeneous sediment input into the Gulf of Alaska at 1.5 and 0.25 myr B.P.

Keywords

glass-fission-track datingYukonlate CenozoicReid Glaciationbasalt flowsmagnetostratigraphyinterglacial bedsMosquito Gulch tephraMidnight Dome tephraSheep Creek tephraFort Selkirk tephra
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , November 2001 , pp. 335 - 348
Copyright
University of Washington

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