Dendrogeomorphic reconstruction of Little Ice Age paraglacial activity in the vicinity of the Homathko Icefield, British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

Geomorphology ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 121 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 197-205 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah J. Hart ◽  
John J. Clague ◽  
Dan J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Coast Mountains

Glacier fluctuations during the past millennium in Garibaldi Provincial Park, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (9) ◽  
pp. 1215-1233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Koch ◽  
John J Clague ◽  
Gerald D Osborn
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Southern Coast ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
The Past ◽  
Glacier Fluctuations ◽  
Garibaldi Provincial Park ◽  
Provincial Park ◽  
Past Millennium

The Little Ice Age glacier history in Garibaldi Provincial Park (southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia) was reconstructed using geomorphic mapping, radiocarbon ages on fossil wood in glacier forefields, dendrochronology, and lichenometry. The Little Ice Age began in the 11th century. Glaciers reached their first maximum of the past millennium in the 12th century. They were only slightly more extensive than today in the 13th century, but advanced at least twice in the 14th and 15th centuries to near their maximum Little Ice Age positions. Glaciers probably fluctuated around these advanced positions from the 15th century to the beginning of the 18th century. They achieved their greatest extent between A.D. 1690 and 1720. Moraines were deposited at positions beyond present-day ice limits throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries. Glacier fluctuations appear to be synchronous throughout Garibaldi Park. This chronology agrees well with similar records from other mountain ranges and with reconstructed Northern Hemisphere temperature series, indicating global forcing of glacier fluctuations in the past millennium. It also corresponds with sunspot minima, indicating that solar irradiance plays an important role in late Holocene climate change.

Little Ice Age glacial activity in the Mt. Waddington area, British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

2003 ◽  
Vol 40 (10) ◽  
pp. 1413-1436 ◽  
Author(s):  
S J Larocque ◽  
D J Smith
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Climate Forcing ◽  
Medium Size ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
Mountain Ranges ◽  
Relative Age ◽  
History Of ◽  
Forcing Mechanisms

The establishment of fourteen Little Ice Age (LIA) glacier chronologies in the Mt. Waddington area led to the development of an extended history of glacial activity in this portion of the southern British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada. The glaciers were located within four different mountain ranges, and were of varying size and aspect. Dendrochronological and lichenometric techniques were used to provide relative age estimates of moraines formed as glacier termini retreated from advanced positions. Evidence for pre-LIA glacial events is best preserved at Tiedemann Glacier, where the oldest glacial advances date to A.D. 620 and 925–933. Soil-covered and well-vegetated moraines built at Cathedral, Pagoda, and Siva glaciers date to between A.D. 1203 and 1226. Following this event, moraines constructed at Ragnarok, Siva, and Cathedral glaciers in the mid-14th century suggest glaciers in the region underwent a period of downwasting and retreat before readvancing. The majority of moraines recorded in the Mt. Waddington area describe late-LIA glacial events shown to have constructed moraines that date to A.D. 1443–1458, 1506–1524, 1562–1575, 1597–1621, 1657–1660, 1767–1784, 1821–1837, 1871–1900, 1915–1928, and 1942–1946. Over the last 500 years, these moraine-building episodes were shown to occur on average every 65 years and suggest there has been prolonged synchronicity in the glaciological response to persistent climate-forcing mechanisms. Nevertheless, our analysis suggests that local factors, such as aspect and size, play an important role in individual glacial response. Notably, ice termini of medium-size glaciers facing eastwards showed a quicker response to climatically induced mass balance changes.

Tree-ring derived Little Ice Age temperature trends from the central British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

2012 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 417-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kara J. Pitman ◽  
Dan J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Coarse Woody Debris ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Woody Debris ◽  
High Elevation ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Climatic Fluctuations ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
Air Temperature Anomaly ◽  
June July

AbstractMost glaciers in the British Columbia Coast Mountains reached their maximum Holocene extent during the Little Ice Age. Early- and late-Little Ice Age intervals of expansion and retreat fluctuations describe a mass-balance response to changing climates. Although existing dendroclimatic records provide insights into these climatic fluctuations over the last 400 yr, their short durations prohibit evaluation of early-Little Ice Age climate variability. To extend the duration of these records, submerged coarse woody debris salvaged from a high-elevation lake was cross-dated to living chronologies. The resulting chronology provides the opportunity to reconstruct a regional June–July air-temperature anomaly record extending from AD 1225 to 2010. The reconstruction shows that the intervals AD 1350–1420, 1475–1550, 1625–1700 and 1830–1940 characterized distinct periods of below-average June–July temperature followed by periods of above-average temperature. Our reconstruction provides the first annually resolved insights into high-elevation climates spanning the Little Ice Age in this region and indicates that Little Ice Age moraine stabilization corresponds to persistent intervals of warmer-than-average temperatures. We conclude that coarse woody debris submerged in high-elevation lakes has considerable potential for developing lengthy proxy climate records, and we recommend that researchers focus attention on this largely ignored paleoclimatic archive.

scholarly journals Holocene glacier history of Frank Mackie Glacier, northern British Columbia Coast Mountains

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-87 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vikki M. St-Hilaire ◽  
Dan J. Smith
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Mass Balance ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Radiocarbon Dating ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
The Holocene ◽  
History Of ◽  
Glacier Advance

Frank Mackie Glacier repeatedly advanced across the Bowser River valley in northwestern British Columbia to impound Tide Lake during the Holocene. The most recent infilling of Tide Lake was associated with a late Little Ice Age glacier advance and ended around 1930 when the lake catastrophically drained. Over the last century Frank Mackie Glacier has retreated and down wasted to reveal multiple glaciogenic sedimentary units within the proximal faces of prominent lateral moraines. The units are separated by buried in-situ tree stumps and laterally contiguous wood mats deposited on paleosols. Dendroglaciological and radiocarbon dating of these wood remains show that Frank Mackie Glacier expanded into standing forests at 3710–3300, 2700–2200, 1700–1290, 900–500, and 250–100 cal. years BP. These advances coincide closely in time with the previously established Tide Lake glacier dam chronology and with the Holocene history of other glaciers in the Bowser River watershed. The findings emphasize the likelihood that most glaciers within northwestern British Columbia underwent substantial size and mass balance changes over the last 4000 years, and often spent hundreds of years in advanced positions before retreating.

Neoglacial history of the Coast Mountains near Bella Coola, British Columbia

1990 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 281-290 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Desloges ◽  
J. M. Ryder
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Tree Ring ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Canadian Cordillera ◽  
Sampling Errors ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
History Of ◽  
Glacier Advance ◽  
Bella Coola

The maximum Holocene extent of glaciers in the study area is marked by late Neoglacial (Little Ice Age) terminal moraines. Moraine stratigraphy and 14C dates from a small number of sites suggest that glacier advance, almost as extensive as that of the late Neoglacial, occurred about 2500 14C years BP, and that late Neoglacial advance began well before 770 14C years BP (or the thirteenth century A.D.); glacier termini then stood close to the position of the climax moraines for several centuries. Dates of stabilization of end moraines at 16 glaciers were determined by dendrochronology, with tree-ring counts corrected for sampling errors and ecesis. Most terminal moraines date from 1860 to 1900. Many recessional moraines were formed between 1900 and 1940, coincident with a regionally documented phase of cooler and wetter climate. The proposed chronology is similar to results from elsewhere in the Canadian Cordillera.

Late Holocene glacial activity of Bridge Glacier, British Columbia Coast Mountains

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (12) ◽  
pp. 1753-1773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra M Allen ◽  
Dan J Smith
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Little Ice Age ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Significant Advance ◽  
Lateral Moraine ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
First Millennium ◽  
Subfossil Wood

Bridge Glacier is a prominent eastward-flowing valley glacier located on the east side of the Pacific Ranges within the southern British Columbia Coast Mountains. The terminus of Bridge Glacier has retreated at rates up to 125 m/year over the last 50 years and currently calves into proglacial Bridge Lake. Field investigations of the recently deglaciated terrain and moraines led to the discovery of detrital boles and glacially sheared stumps. Dendroglaciological analyses of this subfossil wood produced five radiocarbon-controlled floating tree-ring chronologies. The relative age and stratigraphic location of these samples revealed that Bridge Glacier experienced at least four periods of significant advance during the late Holocene: a Tiedemann-aged advance ca. 3000 14C years BP, an unattributed advance ca. 1900 14C years BP, a first millennium advance ca. 1500 14C years BP, and a Little Ice Age advance beginning ca. 700 14C years BP. Lichenometric investigations at eight terminal and lateral moraine complexes identified early Little Ice Age moraine stabilization during the late 13th to early 14th centuries, with subsequent ice-front oscillations ending in the middle 15th, early 16th, middle to late 17th, early 18th, middle to late 19th, and early 20th centuries. These investigations build upon previous research and compliment recent geobotanical evidence emerging from other glaciers in this region that describe multiple late Holocene glacier advances. The discovery of a glacially sheared whitebark pine stump dating to 1500 ± 50 14C years BP provides irrevocable proof for an advance of Bridge Glacier during a time when glaciers throughout Pacific North America were also expanding.

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