The Late Wisconsinan deglacial history of the east-central Taseko Lakes area, British Columbia

1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (11) ◽  
pp. 1509-1520 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Huntley ◽  
Bruce E. Broster
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Phase Iii ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
East Central ◽  
Valley Fill ◽  
Drainage Patterns ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet

Late Wisconsinan Fraser Glaciation retreat-phase deposits and landforms in the east-central Taseko Lakes area, British Columbia, are used to demonstrate a four-phase model of deglaciation. During phase I, at the onset of ice retreat, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet occupied much of the study area, blocking southward drainage of Fraser River. Phase II was marked by the deglaciation of uplands and plateaux. Meltwater drainage patterns were controlled by stagnating glaciers confined to valleys. Phase III commenced as remnant ice in the Fraser Valley downwasted to between 850 and 760 m elevation. At this time, interlobate glacial lakes formed in hanging valleys east of Fraser River. Drainage of glacial lakes occurred subglacially, and was accompanied by disintegration of remnant ice and an increase in mass movements in valleys. These events were followed by decreased sedimentation rates, reflecting lower meltwater volumes and exhaustion of unstable glacial debris during phase IV. Postglaciation valley fill was subject to fluvial degradation and terracing as modern drainage patterns became established.

Quaternary stratigraphy and history, Williams Lake, British Columbia

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-158 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Clague
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Stream Channels ◽  
Valley Fill ◽  
Braided Streams ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet ◽  
Sand And Gravel

Thick valley-fill sediments in the vicinity of Williams Lake, British Columbia, provide a detailed record of the late Quaternary history of an area near the centre of the former Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Stratigraphic units assigned to the late Wisconsinan Fraser Glaciation, the preceding (penultimate) glaciation, and the present interglaciation are described. Especially noteworthy are (1) thick units of sand and gravel deposited by braided streams, perhaps during periods of ice-sheet growth; and (2) complex glaciolacustrine sediments that accumulated in ice-dammed lakes during periods of deglaciation.Glaciers from the Coast and Cariboo mountains coalesced and flowed north over central British Columbia during late Wisconsinan time. Fraser Glaciation advance sediments and older Pleistocene deposits were partially removed by this ice sheet, and the eroded remnants were mantled with till. At the end of the Fraser Glaciation, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet downwasted and retreated southward along an irregular front across the study area. Parts of the ice sheet stagnated and disintegrated into tongues confined to valleys. Sediment carried by melt streams flowing from decaying ice masses was deposited in glacial lakes, in stream channels, and on floodplains.

scholarly journals The pattern and style of deglaciation at the Late Wisconsinan Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheet limits in northeastern British Columbia

2017 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 52-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Huntley ◽  
Adrian S. Hickin ◽  
Olav B. Lian
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
Lake Formation ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet ◽  
Lake Deposits

This paper reports on the landform assemblages at the northern confluence of the Late Wisconsinan Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets with montane and piedmont glaciers in the northern Rockies and southern Mackenzie Mountains. Recent observations in northeastern British Columbia refine our knowledge of the pattern and style of ice sheet retreat, glacial lake formation, and meltwater drainage. At the onset of deglaciation, confluent Laurentide and Cordilleran terminal ice margins lay between 59°N, 124°30′W and 60°N, 125°15′W. From this terminal limit, ice sheets retreated into north-central British Columbia and Yukon Territory, with remnant Cordilleran ice and montane glaciers confined to mountain valleys and the Liard Plateau. Distinctive end moraines are not associated with the retreat of Cordilleran ice in these areas. Laurentide ice retreated northeastward from uplands and the plateaus; then separated into lobes occupying the Fort Nelson and Petitot river valleys. Ice-retreat landforms include recessional end moraines (sometimes overridden and drumlinized), hill–hole pairs, crevasse-fill deposits, De Geer-like ribbed till ridges, hummocky moraines, kames, meltwater features, and glacial lake deposits that fall within the elevation range of glacial Lake Liard and glacial Lake Fort Nelson (ca. 840–380 m). Meltwater and sediment transport into glacial lakes Fort Nelson, Liard, Nahanni, and Mackenzie was sustained by remnant ice in the Liard River and Fort Nelson River drainage basins until the end of glaciation. Optical dating of sand from stabilized parabolic dunes on the Liard Plateau indicates that proglacial conditions, lake formation, and drainage began before 13.0 ± 0.5 ka (calendar years). The Petitot, Fort Nelson, and Liard rivers all occupy spillways incised into glacial deposits and bedrock by meltwater overflow from glacial lakes Peace and Hay.

Glacial Lake Camelsfoot: a Late Wisconsinan advance stage proglacial lake in the Fraser River valley, Gang Ranch area, British Columbia

1994 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 798-807 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Huntley ◽  
Bruce E. Broster
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Lake System ◽  
Reference Sections ◽  
Lithostratigraphic Units ◽  
Proglacial Lake ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet

In the Gang Ranch area, British Columbia, interaction between the regional physiography and ice flow during the Late Wisconsinan Fraser Glaciation resulted in the formation of a proglacial lake confined to valleys of the Fraser River and its tributaries. Lithostratigraphic and geomorphic evidence suggests that ponding was initiated in the Big Bar Creek area where the Fraser River is confined to a deep canyon in the Camelsfoot Range. During ice advance, a proglacial lake system developed that progressively deepened and reached a minimum upper elevation of approximately 710 m asl prior to being overridden by ice. We propose that this system be formally named "Glacial Lake Camelsfoot." A composite stratotype, comprising lithostratigraphic units associated with Glacial Lake Camelsfoot, is described from eight reference sections along Fraser River, Churn, and Lone Cabin creeks in the Gang Ranch area. Additional geomorphic evidence indicates that at the Fraser Glaciation maximum, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet in the study area ranged from 600 to 2000 m in thickness.

scholarly journals Quaternary Stratigraphy and History, Quesnel, British Columbia

2007 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 279-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Clague
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Drainage System ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
Quaternary Stratigraphy ◽  
Valley Fills ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Sand And Gravel

ABSTRACT Thick Quaternary sediments at Quesnel, British Columbia, provide a record of the late Quaternary history of an area near the centre of the former Cordilieran Ice Sheet. These sediments, in part, fill stream valleys that were cut sometime prior to the Late Wisconsinan Fraser Glaciation. Of special note are (1) fluvial or glaciofluvial sand and gravel deposited by aggrading streams, perhaps in part during early Fraser time; (2) thick glaciolacustrine mud, sand, and diamicton laid down later as glaciers advanced across central British Columbia; and (3) glaciolacustrine sediments similar to (2), but deposited in an ice-dammed lake at the end of the Fraser Glaciation. The stratigraphy is punctuated by colluvial deposits that are products of landslides from valley walls at various times during the late Quaternary; this process continues to the present. During the Fraser Glaciation, glaciers from the Coast and Cariboo Mountains coalesced and flowed north over central British Columbia. Fraser Glaciation advance sediments and older Pleistocene deposits were partially removed by this ice sheet and the eroded remnants mantled with till. At the end of this glaciation, the Cordilieran Ice Sheet downwasted and receded southward along an irregular front across the study area. Large amounts of sediment were deposited in glacial lakes dammed by the southward-retreating ice. With complete déglaciation of the interior, glacial lakes drained and the present drainage system was established. At first, valleys were partially aggraded with sand and gravel, but later, streams dissected valley fills to produce a series of terraces at successively lower levels.

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.

Late Quaternary glacial and interglacial environments of the Nechako River - Cheslatta Lake area, central British Columbia

2001 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 719-731 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Plouffe ◽  
V M Levson
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Lake Area ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
Quaternary Stratigraphy ◽  
History Of ◽  
Quaternary History

The Quaternary stratigraphy of the Nechako River – Cheslatta Lake area of central British Columbia is described and interpreted to reconstruct the late Quaternary history of the region. Exposures of glacial and nonglacial sediments deposited prior to the last glaciation (Fraser) are limited to three sites. Pollen assemblages from pre-Fraser nonglacial sediments at two of these sites reveal forested conditions around 39 000 BP. During the advance phase of the Fraser Glaciation, glacial lakes were ponded when trunk glaciers blocked some tributary valleys. Early in the glaciation, the drainage was free in easterly draining valleys. Subsequently, the easterly drainage was blocked either locally by sediments and ice or as a result of impoundment of the Fraser River and its tributaries east of the study area. Ice generally moved east and northeast from accumulation zones in the Coast Mountains. Ice flow was influenced by topography. Major late-glacial lakes developed in the Nechako River valley and the Knewstubb Lake region because potential drainage routes were blocked by ice.

Laurentide and montane glaciation along the Rocky Mountain Foothills of northeastern British Columbia

2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan M Bednarski ◽  
I Rod Smith
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Cosmogenic Dating ◽  
Surficial Geology ◽  
Continental Divide ◽  
Mountain Front ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet

Mapping the surficial geology of the Trutch map area (NTS 94G) provides new data on the timing of continental and montane glaciations along the Foothills of northeastern British Columbia. Striated surfaces on mountain crests were dated to the Late Wisconsinan substage by cosmogenic dating. The striations were produced by eastward-flowing ice emanating from the region of the Continental Divide. This ice was thick enough to cross the main ranges and overtop the Rocky Mountain Foothill summits at 2000 m above sea level (asl). It is argued here that such a flow, unhindered by topography, could only have been produced by the Cordilleran Ice Sheet and not by local cirque glaciation. During this time, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet dispersed limestone and schist erratics of western provenance onto the plains beyond the mountain front. Conversely, the Laurentide Ice Sheet did not reach its western limit in the Foothills until after Cordilleran ice retreated from the area. During its maximum, the Laurentide ice penetrated the mountain valleys up to 17 km west of the mountain front, and deposited crystalline erratics from the Canadian Shield as high as 1588 m asl along the Foothills. In some valleys a smaller montane advance followed the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.

scholarly journals Polyphase Glacigenic Deformation of Advance Glaciofluvial Sediments, Near Big Creek, British Colombia

2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-219 ◽  
Author(s):  
David H. Huntley ◽  
Bruce E. Broster
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Brittle Failure ◽  
Lateral Extension ◽  
Polyphase Deformation ◽  
Deformation Structures ◽  
Vertical Extension ◽  
British Colombia ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet ◽  
Sheet Deformation

ABSTRACT Deformation structures were observed in glaciofluvial sediments near Big Creek, central British Columbia. These sediments record a sequence of polyphase deformation resulting from the advance and retreat of the Late Wisconsinan (Fraser Glaciation) Cordilleran Ice Sheet. Deformation is attributed to ductile then brittle failure resulting from: (a) horizontal compression and loading as ice advanced over saturated sediments; followed by (b) lateral extension then (c) compression under frozen conditions during glacier overriding; and finally (d) vertical extension during unloading upon déglaciation. Most deformation (a-c, above) appears to have occurred during the advance phase of the Fraser Glaciation.

Early Ocean Life History of Harrison River Sockeye Salmon and their Contribution to the Biodiversity of Sockeye Salmon in the Fraser River, British Columbia, Canada

2016 ◽  
Vol 145 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard J. Beamish ◽  
Chrys M. Neville ◽  
Ruston M. Sweeting ◽  
Terry D. Beacham ◽  
Joy Wade ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Life History ◽  
Sockeye Salmon ◽  
Fraser River ◽  
History Of
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