scholarly journals Marine record of late-glacial readvance and last recession of Laurentide ice, inner Frobisher Bay, Baffin Island, Arctic Canada

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Deering ◽  
Trevor Bell ◽  
Donald L. Forbes
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Seabed Sediment ◽  
Ice Retreat ◽  
Marine Facies ◽  
Deposit Feeding ◽  
Glacial Advance

The Cockburn Substage readvance marks the last major late-glacial advance of the northeast sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet on Baffin Island. The causes of this abrupt, late reversal of retreat are still unclear, but greater chronological control may provide some insight. To date, the literature has focused on the large terminal moraines in the region, providing a date of readvance (c. 9.5-8.5 ka cal BP). In Frobisher Bay, the Cockburn Substage readvance and recession onshore are marked by a series of moraines spread over ~20 km along the inner bay. Acoustic marine mapping reveals five distinct transverse ridges, morphologically suggestive of grounding-zone wedges, and two later fields of DeGeer moraines on the floor of the inner bay. These indicate that the style of ice retreat (beginning no later than 8.5 ka cal BP) changed over time from punctuated recession of a floating ice-front (20 km over >680 years, with four pauses) to more regular tidewater ice-front retreat, reaching the head of the bay 900 years or more after withdrawal from the outer Cockburn limit. The established chronology for final recession in the region is based largely on radiocarbon dating of bulk shell samples and single shells of deposit-feeding molluscs, notably <i>Portlandia arctica</i>, affected by old carbon from carbonate-rich sediments. Sedimentary analysis and judicious sampling for <sup>14</sup>C dating of glaciomarine and marine facies in seabed sediment cores enables development of a late- and postglacial lithostratigraphy that indicates final withdrawal of ice from the drainage basin by 7 ka cal BP.

Holocene sedimentation in glacial Tasikutaaq Lake, Baffin Island

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 810-823 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald S. Lemmen ◽  
Robert Gilbert ◽  
John P. Smol ◽  
Roland I. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Sediment Accumulation ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Sediment Concentration ◽  
Diatom Assemblage ◽  
Laminated Sediments ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Sediment Input

Tasikutaaq Lake, on Cumberland Peninsula, Baffin Island, receives inflow and fine sediment from a 448 km2 drainage basin, 21% of which is glacier covered. During the summer of 1983 the lake remained essentially isothermal between about 4 and 6 °C. The suspended sediment concentration of inflow never exceeded 100 mg L−1 with overflow and homopycnal flow dominant.Surface sediments are clearly laminated, although varves are not apparent. The sediments are very fine, with less than 3% sand in all but the most proximal sites. Average sedimentation rates between 1976 and 1983 ranged from about 4 mm a−1 to 0.25 mm a−1 down lake from the point of inflow. The absence of varves is a function of the low rates of sediment accumulation and the long residence time of the fine sediments in the water column.Three sediment cores up to 135 cm in length reveal marked changes in sediment characteristics and diatom assemblages through the Holocene. During the late Foxe Glaciation it is likely that glacier ice contacted the lake, with retreat upvalley recorded by thinly varved (?) silts. By 7580 ± 140 BP ice had retreated to near its present margins. The earliest diatom assemblage in the cores is dominated by small Fragilaria spp., typical of late glacial, pioneering environments. Sedimentation rates during much of the Hypsithermal were about five times less than at present, with the resulting massive sediments having "nonglacial" characteristics despite the presence of glacial ice in the drainage basin. A planktonic diatom flora suggests that summer lake ice cover was minimal at this time. A climatic deterioration at about 4500 BP marks the onset of the Neoglacial, recorded by a shift in the diatom assemblage to species characteristic of more shallow water environments. Retreat from Neoglacial moraines is recorded by clearly laminated sediments and increasing accumulation rates. In general, laminated sediments relate to periods of high sediment input associated with glacial retreat, whereas massive sediments relate to low sediment input in association with glacial stabilization or advance.

scholarly journals Lake Onego development in the late glacial assessed with the use of GIS technologies

2019 ◽  
pp. 83-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Subetto ◽  
M. S. Potakhin ◽  
M. B. Zobkov ◽  
A. Yu. Tarasov ◽  
T. S. Shelekhova ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drainage Basin ◽  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Digital Maps ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Spatial Parameters ◽  
Elevation Model ◽  
Maximum Development

The GIS-based reconstructions of Lake Onego development in the Late Glacial (14500–12300 yrs ago) were performed. Reconstructions have been based on the deglaciation model of the Lake Onego depression, digital elevation model of the lake depression, SRTM model of its drainage basin and on the data obtained from the palaeolimnological studies of numerous lake sediment cores. This allowed us to distinguish six main stages of the lake development for which a series of detailed schemes were produced. 1. Formation of the ice-dammed lake as a result of the ice sheet retreating (14.5 cal ka BP). 2. Emerging of the southern and central parts of the lake basin from the ice cover (14.0 cal ka BP). 3. The maximum development of the proglacial lake (13.3 cal ka BP). The lake area in this period was around 33 000 km2. 4. The first regression (13.2 ka BP). 5. The second regression (12.4 ka BP). 6. The third regression (12.3 ka BP), when the area of the lake dropped to 18 000 km2. We created detailed digital maps of the main stages of Lake Onego development during the Late Glacial and calculated the spatial parameters of the lake. The quantitative data obtained in this study would be used in estimation of the volumes of the lake and outflow discharges in the past. Maps are available in electronic form.

scholarly journals The Quaternary History of Cumberland Sound, Southeastern Baffin Island: The Marine Evidence

2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne E. Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Late Phase ◽  
Atlantic Water ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Sedimentation Rates ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Arctic Water ◽  
Glacial Ice ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ice Retreat ◽  
Cumberland Sound

ABSTRACTAcoustic and core data from Cumberland Sound show that glacial ice derived from the Foxe Sector (Amadjuak Dome) of the Laurentide Ice Sheet advanced to the continental shelf at the mouth of the sound during a late phase of the Foxe Glaciation. The basal lithofacies/acoustic unit (Ai/BUD) in the sound is a massive, black diamicton. On the basis of strati-graphic, acoustic, lithologie and faunal evidence, this unit is interpreted as till. The till is overlain by an ice proximal to ice distal glacial-marine sediment sequence termed the Davis Strait Silt (DSS). The influence of ice retreat is reflected in the foraminiferal assemblages of the DSS. Rapid sedimentation rates in the sound prevailed during deposition of the DSS as shown by the conformable geometry of the DSS. Accelerator Mass Spectrometry dates on molluscs and foraminifera and a single conventional 14C date on disseminated organic material from ice proximal sediment of the DSS (lithofacies B and lower lithofacies C) indicate that the ice retreated rapidly from its probable maximum position on the shelf no earlier than ca. 13,400 BP and into the fiords along the coast of the sound by ca. 8900 BP. Deposition of ice-distal glacial marine sediments (lower lithofacies D) continued in the sound until ca. 7600 BP as the ice margin rapidly retreated into the fiords. Between ca. 8900 BP and ca. 8000 BP, the foraminiferal fauna show that the influence of glacial ice is remote and that "Atlantic Water" impinges on the seafloor. Postglacial sedimentation began in the sound at ca. 7600 BP. Retreat of the ice margin onto land made the fiord basins available as sediment catchments. The reduced sedimentation rates in the sound during this interval are indicated by the change to onlapping basin fill geometry of the Tiniktartuq Silt and Clay (TS&C). Calcareous foraminifera disappear from the sediments by ca. 6300 BP and are replaced by agglutinated foraminifera reflecting "Arctic Water" conditions at the seafloor. The TS&C is presently being deposited in the sound.

Oriented lake-and-ridge assemblages of the Arctic coastal plains: glacial landforms modified by thermokarst and solifluction

Polar Record ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 35 (194) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail G. Grosswald ◽  
Terence J. Hughes ◽  
Norman P. Lasca
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Mackenzie Delta ◽  
Space Images ◽  
The North ◽  
Arctic Ice ◽  
Glacial Landforms

AbstractOriented assemblages of parallel ridges and elongated lakes are widespread on the coastal lowlands of northeast Eurasia and Arctic North America, in particular, in Alaska, Arctic Canada, and northeast Siberia. So far, only the oriented lakes have been of much scientific interest. They are believed to be formed by thermokarst in perennially frozen ice-rich sediments, while their orientation is accounted for either by impact of modern winds blowing at right angles to long axes of the lakes (when it concerns individual lakes), or by the influence of underlying bedrock structures (in the case of longitudinal and transverse alignment of lake clusters).En masseexamination of space images suggests that oriented lake-and-ridge assemblages, not the oriented lakes alone, occur in the Arctic. Hence any theory about their formation should account for the origin and orientation of the assemblages as a whole. The existing hypotheses appear inadequate for this end, so this paper proposes that the assemblages were initially created by glacial activity, that is, by ice sheets that drumlinized and tectonized their beds, as well as by sub- and proglacial meltwater, and then they were modified by thermokarst, solifluction, and aeolian processes. This assumption opens up an avenue by which all known features of oriented landforms in the Arctic can be explained. The paper suggests that the oriented landforms in Siberia and Alaska are largely signatures of a marine Arctic ice sheet that transgressed from the north, while the Baffin Island and Mackenzie Delta forms were created by the respective sectors of the Laurentide ice sheet. The oriented features discussed belong to the last Late Glacial through the Early Holocene.

A Regional Stratigraphic Isochron (ca. 8000 14C yr B.P.) from Final Deglaciation of Hudson Strait

1996 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Kerwin
Keyword(s):  
Sediment Cores ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Time Interval ◽  
Hudson Bay ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Clay Layer ◽  
X Ray ◽  
Northern Margin ◽  
Group A ◽  
Glaciomarine Sediments

Sedimentologic, rock-magnetic, and X-ray fluorescence data from two marine sediment cores in Hudson Strait suggest that a red, hematite-rich clay layer was deposited throughout the strait during the final collapse of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in the vicinity of northern Hudson Bay and western Hudson Strait. This layer, which can be recognized by its reddish-pink color (10YR6/2 to 5YR4/2) and relatively high-hematite proportions (low magnetic susceptibility and magnetite-to-hematite ratio), is dated from 8000 to 7900 14C yr B.P. at both ends of the strait. The Dubawnt Group, a Proterozoic bedrock unit in northern Hudson Bay, is the most likely source of this stratigraphic isochron. In eastern Hudson strait, the recognition of this red unit and other distal glaciomarine sediments from 8400 to 7900 14C yr B.P. indicates that little sediment from the nearby Labrador Dome reached eastern Hudson Strait during this 500-yr interval. This time interval immediately postdates the Noble Inlet advance, a northward flow of Labrador ice across eastern Hudson Strait onto southern Baffin Island from ca. 8900 to 8400 14C yr B.P. One explanation for the lack of Labrador sediments is that the northern margin of the Labrador dome was cold-based for up to 500 yr following the Noble Inlet advance.

scholarly journals First recognition of a Laurentide Ice Stream : Robert Bell on Hudson Strait

2010 ◽  
Vol 61 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 211-215 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian A. Brookes
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Hudson Bay ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
West Antarctic Ice Sheet ◽  
West Antarctic ◽  
Ice Stream ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

Abstract In papers published in 1895 and 1901, and in undated notes for a 1907 paper he did not deliver or publish, Robert Bell of the Geological Survey of Canada interpreted the pattern of glacial striae, stossing of rock knobs, and surficial sediment composition along the margins of Hudson Strait, between Labrador, Ungava Bay and Baffin Island, as evidence of what he called an ice-stream, a long river-like glacier, fed from Hudson Bay and Foxe Basin, that had moved eastward along the Strait during the Late Glacial period. This was the earliest mention of such a glaciological feature within the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS). It was not until ice-streams were recognized in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in the 1970’s that Bell’s concept was revived in the next decade and subsequently, in recognition of several ice-streams within the Late Wisconsinan LIS.

Past and Present Glaciological Responses to Climate in Eastern Baffin Island

1972 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 303-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.T. Andrews ◽  
R.G. Barry ◽  
R.S. Bradley ◽  
G.H. Miller ◽  
L.D. Williams
Keyword(s):  
Late Glacial ◽  
Baffin Island ◽  
Last Interglacial ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Snow Cover Extent ◽  
Long Term Monitoring ◽  
Term Monitoring ◽  
Glacial Advance

Much of Baffin Island is close to the modern glaciation limit and climatic changes within the last decade are already being reflected in snow cover extent. Statistical analysis of glacierized and ice-free corries indicates that changes in direct solar radiation due to astronomical factors are inadequate to account for glacierization of those at present ice-free. These and other sources of evidence demonstrate the need for augmented winter snowfall in order to increase the extent of glacierization. The pattern of glacial history in this area is for maximum ice extent during the early glacial phase (>68,000, <137,000 BP), followed by a reduction in ice volume during the cold pleniglacial (>24,000, < 68,000 BP) and then a limited late glacial advance (the Cockburn Stade, ca. 8,000 BP) due to increased precipitation. The Barnes Ice Cap did not disappear in the Holocene as it did in the last interglacial. The area is highly suitable for long-term monitoring of climatic change and glacial response.

scholarly journals Supplemental Material: Evidence for a late glacial advance near the beginning of the Younger Dryas in western New York State: An event postdating the record for local Laurentide ice sheet recession

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.A. Young ◽  
et al.
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York State ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
York State ◽  
Supplemental File ◽  
Glacial Tills ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Extended Discussion ◽  
Glacial Advance

An extended discussion relating to the identification of glacial tills at the critical sites in this investigation is provided as a Supplemental File to eliminate any concerns that the exposures might be landslide debris as opposed to primary glacial till. The supplement also speculates as to why the advance in western New York State may not have been obvious in the extensive research published for the St. Lawrence Valley.

scholarly journals Supplemental Material: Evidence for a late glacial advance near the beginning of the Younger Dryas in western New York State: An event postdating the record for local Laurentide ice sheet recession

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.A. Young ◽  
et al.
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
New York State ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
York State ◽  
Supplemental File ◽  
Glacial Tills ◽  
Material Evidence ◽  
Extended Discussion ◽  
Glacial Advance

An extended discussion relating to the identification of glacial tills at the critical sites in this investigation is provided as a Supplemental File to eliminate any concerns that the exposures might be landslide debris as opposed to primary glacial till. The supplement also speculates as to why the advance in western New York State may not have been obvious in the extensive research published for the St. Lawrence Valley.

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