Early growth of the last Cordilleran ice sheet deduced from glacio-isostatic depression in southwest British Columbia, Canada

2005 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Clague ◽  
Duane Froese ◽  
Ian Hutchinson ◽  
Thomas S. James ◽  
Karen M. Simon
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Initial Phase ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Early Growth ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Strait Of Georgia ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet

Relative sea level at Vancouver, British Columbia rose from below the present datum about 30,000 cal yr B.P. to at least 18 m above sea level 28,000 cal yr B.P. In contrast, eustatic sea level in this interval was at least 85 m lower than at present. The difference in the local and eustatic sea-level positions is attributed to glacio-isostatic depression of the crust in the expanding forefield of the Cordilleran ice sheet during the initial phase of the Fraser Glaciation. Our findings suggest that about 1 km of ice was present in the northern Strait of Georgia 28,000 cal yr B.P., early during the Fraser Glaciation.

scholarly journals Relative Sea-Level Change in the Northern Strait of Georgia, British Columbia*

2007 ◽  
Vol 59 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 113-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas S. James ◽  
Ian Hutchinson ◽  
J. Vaughn Barrie ◽  
Kim W. Conway ◽  
Darcy Mathews
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Sea Level Change ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Strait Of Georgia ◽  
Level Change ◽  
Decay Times ◽  
Crustal Uplift ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet

Abstract Twenty-four new radiocarbon dates from isolation basin cores, excavations and natural exposures, and an archeological site, constrain relative sea-level change since the last glaciation in the northern Strait of Georgia, British Columbia. Relative sea level fell rapidly from about 150 m elevation to 45 m elevation from 11 750 to 11 000 BP (13 750 to 13 000 cal BP), then its rate of fall slowed. The initial rapid emergence began soon after the transition from proximal to distal glaciomarine sedimentation, when the glacial front retreated from the Strait of Georgia and the Earth’s surface was unloaded. A sea-level lowstand a few metres below present-day sea level may have occurred in the early Holocene, but sea level was near its present level by 2000 BP. Sea-level change in the northern Strait of Georgia lagged the mid Strait of Georgia, 80 km to the south, by a few hundred years during initial emergence. The lowstand in the northern strait was later and probably shallower than in the mid strait. Isostatic depression inferred from the sea-level observations can be fit with two decaying exponential terms with characteristic decay times of 500 and 2600 years. The faster decay time corresponds to a shallow mantle viscosity of about 1019 Pa s, consistent with previous glacio-isostatic modelling. The present-day crustal uplift rate from the residual isostatic effects of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet is about 0.25 mm/a. Crustal uplift is not expected to significantly ameliorate projected sea-level rise in the mid and northern Strait of Georgia because present-day vertical crustal movements are inferred to be small.

The Quaternary stratigraphic record of British Columbia—evidence for episodic sedimentation and erosion controlled by glaciation

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 885-894 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Clague
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Quaternary Sediments ◽  
Strait Of Georgia ◽  
Incised Valley ◽  
Stratigraphic Record ◽  
Valley Fills ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet ◽  
Coastal Lowlands

The terrestrial Quaternary stratigraphic record of British Columbia is largely a product of brief depositional events separated by long periods of nondeposition and erosion. Thick, stratified Quaternary sediments are present mainly in valleys and coastal lowlands and accumulated during periods of growth and decay of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. At glacial maxima, till was deposited over large areas of low and moderate relief. However, at the same time, much of the landscape was eroded by glaciers.Sedimentation has been more restricted and has occurred at lower rates during nonglacial periods than during glaciations. On land, the only important sediment accumulation sites during nonglacials have been lakes, floodplains, and fans. However, large amounts of sediment have accumulated offshore, especially in fjords and basins such as the Strait of Georgia. Because of the restricted aspect of sedimentation during nonglacials, the stratigraphic record of these periods is meagre. In most places, true nonglacial units are thin and discontinuous, or they are absent altogether. Commonly, a nonglacial period is recorded only by an unconformity produced when streams incised valley fills shortly after the end of the preceding glaciation.

Ice-free conditions in southwestern British Columbia at 16000 years BP

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 938-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Clague ◽  
Ian R. Saunders ◽  
Michael C. Roberts
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Maximum Extent ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet

New radiocarbon dates on wood from two exposures in Chilliwack valley, southwestern British Columbia, indicate that this area was ice free and locally forested 16 000 radiocarbon years ago. This suggests that the Late Wisconsinan Cordilleran Ice Sheet reached its maximum extent in this region after 16 000 years BP. The Chilliwack valley dates are the youngest in British Columbia that bear on the growth of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet.

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.

scholarly journals Antarctic Ice-Sheet Volume at 18000 Years B.P. and Holocene Sea-Level Changes at the West Antarctic Margin

1979 ◽  
Vol 24 (90) ◽  
pp. 213-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Craig S. Lingle ◽  
James A. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level Rise ◽  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Sea Level Changes ◽  
Ice Shelf ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
The Antarctic

AbstractThe Antarctic ice sheet has been reconstructed at 18000 years b.p. by Hughes and others (in press) using an ice-flow model. The volume of the portion of this reconstruction which contributed to a rise of post-glacial eustatic sea-level has been calculated and found to be (9.8±1.5) × 106 km3. This volume is equivalent to 25±4 m of eustatic sea-level rise, defined as the volume of water added to the ocean divided by ocean area. The total volume of the reconstructed Antarctic ice sheet was found to be (37±6) × 106 km3. If the results of Hughes and others are correct, Antarctica was the second largest contributor to post-glacial eustatic sea-level rise after the Laurentide ice sheet. The Farrell and Clark (1976) model for computation of the relative sea-level changes caused by changes in ice and water loading on a visco-elastic Earth has been applied to the ice-sheet reconstruction, and the results have been combined with the changes in relative sea-level caused by Northern Hemisphere deglaciation as previously calculated by Clark and others (1978). Three families of curves have been compiled, showing calculated relative sea-level change at different times near the margin of the possibly unstable West Antarctic ice sheet in the Ross Sea, Pine Island Bay, and the Weddell Sea. The curves suggest that the West Antarctic ice sheet remained grounded to the edge of the continental shelf until c. 13000 years b.p., when the rate of sea-level rise due to northern ice disintegration became sufficient to dominate emergence near the margin predicted otherwise to have been caused by shrinkage of the Antarctic ice mass. In addition, the curves suggest that falling relative sea-levels played a significant role in slowing and, perhaps, reversing retreat when grounding lines approached their present positions in the Ross and Weddell Seas. A predicted fall of relative sea-level beneath the central Ross Ice Shelf of as much as 23 m during the past 2000 years is found to be compatible with recent field evidence that the ice shelf is thickening in the south-east quadrant.

scholarly journals Englacial lake dynamics within a Pleistocene cordilleran ice sheet at Kima' Kho tuya (British Columbia, Canada)

2021 ◽  
Vol 273 ◽  
pp. 107247
Author(s):  
James K. Russell ◽  
Benjamin R. Edwards ◽  
Marie Turnbull ◽  
Lucy A. Porritt
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet ◽  
Lake Dynamics

scholarly journals Historie retreat of Grand Pacific and Melbern Glaciers, Saint Elias Mountains, Canada: an analogue for decay of the Cordilleran ice sheet at the end of the Pleistocene?

1994 ◽  
Vol 40 (134) ◽  
pp. 205-210
Author(s):  
John J. Clague ◽  
S. G. Evans
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Marginal Land ◽  
Terminal Pleistocene ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet

AbstractGrand Pacific and Melbern Glaciers, two of the largest valley glaciers in British Columbia, have decreased over 50% in volume in the last few hundred years (total ice loss = 250–300km3). Melbern Glacier has thinned 300–600 m and retreated 15 km during this period; about 7 km of this retreat occurred between the mid-1970s and 1987, accompanied by the formation of one of the largest presently existing, ice-dammed lakes on Earth. Grand Pacific Glacier, which terminates in Tarr Inlet at the British Columbia–Alaska boundary, retreated 24 km between 1879 and 1912. This rapid deglaciation has destabilized adjacent mountain slopes and produced spectacular ice-marginal land forms. The sediments and land forms produced by historic deglaciation in Melbern-Grand Pacific valley are comparable, both in style and scale, to those associated with the decay of the Cordilleran ice sheet at the end of the Pleistocene (c. 14–10 ka BP). Rates of historic and terminal Pleistocene deglaciation also may be comparable.

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