Late Deglaciation of the Central Labrador Coast and Its Implications for the Age of Glacial Lakes Naskaupi and McLean and for Prehistory

1990 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter U. Clark ◽  
William W. Fitzhugh
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
Central Coast ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Level Curves

AbstractThe age of the marine limit and associated deglaciation has been estimated from relative sea-level curves for the Hopedale and Nain areas of the central Labrador coast as approximately 7600 ± 200 and 8500 ± 200 yr ago, respectively. These ages indicate that the ice margin remained on the coast for up to 3000 yr longer than previously estimated. Because the central coast is due east of glacial lakes Naskaupi and McLean, the earliest the lakes could have formed was <8500 ± 200 yr ago, with their largest phases being fully established only after 7600 ± 200 yr ago. This suggests that the age of the lakes, and associated deglaciation of the central Labrador-Ungava region, is younger by at least 1500 yr than previously estimated. A late-glacial marine-based ice mass in Ungava Bay that dammed the lakes collapsed ca. 7000 yr ago. Within this time frame, therefore, the glacial lakes only existed for <500 yr. The persistence of the Laurentide Ice Sheet margin on the central Labrador coast until 7600 yr ago probably restricted the northward movement of early prehistoric people into northern Labrador.

A relative sea-level history for Arviat, Nunavut, and implications for Laurentide Ice Sheet thickness west of Hudson Bay

2014 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen M. Simon ◽  
Thomas S. James ◽  
Donald L. Forbes ◽  
Alice M. Telka ◽  
Arthur S. Dyke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Tidal Range ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Hudson Bay ◽  
Level Curve ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Vertical Land Motion ◽  
Crustal Uplift

AbstractThirty-six new and previously published radiocarbon dates constrain the relative sea-level history of Arviat on the west coast of Hudson Bay. As a result of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) following deglaciation, sea level fell rapidly from a high-stand of nearly 170 m elevation just after 8000 cal yr BP to 60 m elevation by the mid Holocene (~ 5200 cal yr BP). The rate of sea-level fall decreased in the mid and late Holocene, with sea level falling 30 m since 3000 cal yr BP. Several late Holocene sea-level measurements are interpreted to originate from the upper end of the tidal range and place tight constraints on sea level. A preliminary measurement of present-day vertical land motion obtained by repeat Global Positioning System (GPS) occupations indicates ongoing crustal uplift at Arviat of 9.3 ± 1.5 mm/yr, in close agreement with the crustal uplift rate inferred from the inferred sea-level curve. Predictions of numerical GIA models indicate that the new sea-level curve is best fit by a Laurentide Ice Sheet reconstruction with a last glacial maximum peak thickness of ~ 3.4 km. This is a 30–35% thickness reduction of the ICE-5G ice-sheet history west of Hudson Bay.

North American Deglacial Marine- and Lake-Limit Surfaces*

2007 ◽  
Vol 59 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 155-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur S. Dyke ◽  
Lynda A. Dredge ◽  
Douglas A. Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
North American ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Limit Surface ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Level Curves ◽  
Recent Synthesis

Abstract The deglacial marine-limit surface is a virtual topography that shows the increase of elevation since deglaciation. The currently available set of marine-limit elevations (n = 929), about three times the number available in the most recent synthesis, allows a fairly detailed rendering of the surface across most of glaciated North America and Greenland. Certain large glacial lake-limit surfaces are analogous to marine-limit surfaces, except that their gradients were not dampened by eustatic sea-level rise. Collectively the surfaces reflect both gross ice-sheet geometry and regional to local rates of ice-marginal recession. As such, they are replication targets for glacioisostatic modelling that are supplementary to and more continuously distributed than relative sea-level curves.

Holocene delevelling of Devon Island, Arctic Canada: implications for ice sheet geometry and crustal response

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (8) ◽  
pp. 885-904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur S Dyke
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Bowhead Whale ◽  
Large Set ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Level Curves ◽  
Devon Island ◽  
Ice Load ◽  
Raised Beaches

The raised beaches and deltas of Devon Island contain an abundance of dateable materials. A large set of radiocarbon dates (228), 154 of which are new, are used to construct relative sea level curves and isobase maps for the island. The best materials for this purpose are driftwood logs (61 dates) and bowhead whale bones (74 dates) from raised beaches and mollusc shells from marine-limit deltas (20 dates) or from altitudes close to marine limit (14 dates). During the last glacial maximum, the island is thought to have lain beneath the southeastern flank of the Innuitian Ice Sheet. The relative sea level history is congruent with that inferred ice configuration. The island spans half the ice sheet width. Relative sea level curves are of simple exponential form, except near the glacial limit where an early Holocene emergence proceeded to a middle Holocene lowstand below present sea level, which was followed by submergence attending the passage of the crustal forebulge. The response times of relative sea level curves and of crustal uplift decrease from the uplift centre toward the limit of loading, but the change appears strongest near the limit. The Innuitian uplift is separated from the Laurentide uplift to the south by a strong isobase embayment over Lancaster Sound. Hence, ice load irregularities with wavelengths of about 100 km were large enough to leave an isostatic thumbprint in this region of the continent. The apparent absence of a similar embayment over Jones Sound probably indicates a greater Late Wisconsinan ice load there, or a thicker crust than in Lancaster Sound.

scholarly journals Late Glacial and Holocene shore-level changes in the Aarhus Bugt area, Denmark

2021 ◽  
Vol 47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ole Bennike ◽  
Katrine Juul Andresen ◽  
Peter Moe Astrup ◽  
Jesper Olsen ◽  
Marit-Solveig Seidenkrantz
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Lake Level ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Mean Sea Level ◽  
Shore Level ◽  
Level Curves ◽  
Isostatic Uplift ◽  
Northern Regions ◽  
Late Glacial And Holocene

We propose a new relative shore-level curve for the Aarhus Bugt area, an embayment in eastern Jylland, Denmark, based on a compilation of published and new radiocarbon ages of organic material. Lakes existed in the area during the Late Glacial and Early Holocene. Lake level rose gradually until the region was inundated by the sea at c. 9000 cal. years BP. The relative sea level reached a high stand at about 6000 cal. years BP, when the local relative sea level was c. 3 m above present-day mean sea level. The Aarhus Bugt area was inundated by the sea later than the Limfjord area in northern Jylland, but earlier than the Lillebælt region in southern Denmark. The shore-level curves for these areas differ partly because the glacio-isostatic uplift was more pronounced in the Limfjord area than farther south and partly because the northern regions were inundated by the sea earlier than the southern areas.

A reinterpretation of glacial and marine limits around the northwestern Laurentide Ice Sheet

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 591-601 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur S. Dyke
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
East Coast ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Banks Island ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

Seven new radiocarbon dates pertaining to deglaciation of northern Prince of Wales Island place the margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet on the island by 11 000 BP. This requires a revision of the proposed age for the Viscount Melville Sound Ice Shelf of 10 300 – 9880 BP. A revised age of 11 300 – 11 000 BP is suggested.The new dates also require revisions of the proposed Wisconsinan and Holocene history of Banks Island. Shells thought to have been thrust onshore to an elevation of 88 m by the ice shelf on northern Banks Island after 10 600 BP are reinterpreted as undisturbed postglacial marine shells recording a relative sea level of 88 m or more. This, in turn, suggests that the East Coast Sea and Jesse Till are of Late Wisconsinan rather than Early Wisconsinan age and that the Late Wisconsinan glacial limit on Banks Island as figured on the 1968 Glacial Map of Canada, rather than on recent revisions, is essentially correct.

Observations of postglacial uplift at Churchill, Manitoba

1992 ◽  
Vol 29 (11) ◽  
pp. 2418-2425 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Mark Tushingham
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Tide Gauge ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Isostatic Adjustment ◽  
Tide Gauge Record ◽  
Isostatic Adjustment ◽  
Absolute Gravimetry ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Level Data

Churchill, Manitoba, is located near the centre of postglacial uplift caused by the Earth's recovery from the melting of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The value of present-day uplift at Churchill has important implications in the study of postglacial uplift in that it can aid in constraining the thickness of the ice sheet and the rheology of the Earth. The tide-gauge record at Churchill since 1940 is examined, along with nearby Holocene relative sea-level data, geodetic measurements, and recent absolute gravimetry measurements, and a present-day rate of uplift of 8–9 mm/a is estimated. Glacial isostatic adjustment models yield similar estimates for the rate of uplift at Churchill. The effects of the tide-gauge record of the diversion of the Churchill River during the mid-1970's are discussed.

scholarly journals Comparing a thermo-mechanical Weichselian ice sheet reconstruction to GIA driven reconstructions: aspects of earth response and ice configuration

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 2345-2388 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Schmidt ◽  
B. Lund ◽  
J-O. Näslund
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Younger Dryas ◽  
Slow Phase ◽  
Glacial Isostatic Adjustment ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Isostatic Adjustment ◽  
Earth Models ◽  
Uplift Rates ◽  
Best Fit

Abstract. In this study we compare a recent reconstruction of the Weichselian ice-sheet as simulated by the University of Main ice-sheet model (UMISM) to two reconstructions commonly used in glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) modeling: ICE-5G and ANU (also known as RSES). The UMISM reconstruction is carried out on a regional scale based on thermo-mechanical modelling whereas ANU and ICE-5G are global models based on the sea-level equation. The Weichselian ice-sheet in the three models are compared directly in terms of ice volume, extent and thickness, as well as in terms of predicted glacial isostatic adjustment in Fennoscandia. The three reconstructions display significant differences. UMISM and ANU includes phases of pronounced advance and retreat prior to the last glacial maximum (LGM), whereas the thickness and areal extent of the ICE-5G ice-sheet is more or less constant up until LGM. The final retreat of the ice-sheet initiates at earliest time in ICE-5G and latest in UMISM, while ice free conditions are reached earliest in UMISM and latest in ICE-5G. The post-LGM deglaciation style also differs notably between the ice models. While the UMISM simulation includes two temporary halts in the deglaciation, the later during the Younger Dryas, ANU only includes a decreased deglaciation rate during Younger Dryas and ICE-5G retreats at a relatively constant pace after an initial slow phase. Moreover, ANU and ICE-5G melt relatively uniformly over the entire ice-sheet in contrast to UMISM which melts preferentially from the edges. We find that all three reconstructions fit the present day uplift rates over Fennoscandia and the observed relative sea-level curve along the Ångerman river equally well, albeit with different optimal earth model parameters. Given identical earth models, ICE-5G predicts the fastest present day uplift rates and ANU the slowest, ANU also prefers the thinnest lithosphere. Moreover, only for ANU can a unique best fit model be determined. For UMISM and ICE-5G there is a range of earth models that can reproduce the present day uplift rates equally well. This is understood from the higher present day uplift rates predicted by ICE-5G and UMISM, which results in a bifurcation in the best fit mantle viscosity. Comparison of the uplift histories predicted by the ice-sheets indicate that inclusion of relative sea-level data in the data fit can reduce the observed ambiguity. We study the areal distributions of present day residual surface velocities in Fennoscandia and show that all three reconstructions generally over-predict velocities in southwestern Fennoscandia and that there are large differences in the fit to the observational data in Finland and northernmost Sweden and Norway. These difference may provide input to further enhancements of the ice-sheet reconstructions.

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