Former southwesterly ice flows in the Abitibi–Timiskaming region: implications for the configuration of the late Wisconsinan ice sheet

1986 ◽  
Vol 23 (11) ◽  
pp. 1724-1741 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. J. Veillette
Keyword(s):  
Flow Direction ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Almost Everywhere ◽  
Ice Flows ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

Measurements at some 300 cross-striated sites in the Abitibi–Timiskaming area of Quebec and Ontario revealed two former directions of ice flow: an older west-southwest one (230–270°) in the extreme western part of the area, and a younger, widespread south-southwest one (180–220°) in the region west of the Harricana – Lake McConnell glaciofluvial complex. These sets of older striae, whether one or both on the same outcrop, are almost everywhere crossed by marks of a younger ubiquitous flow to the south-southeast (130–170°). On the basis of striae directions measured below an older till and of three dates obtained from intertill (below the surficial till) nonglacial sediments in the Timmins and Matheson areas in Ontario and the Selbaie mine area in Quebec, the oldest west-southwest (230–270°) striae are tentatively associated with the west-southwest flow that deposited this lowermost till in early to mid-Wisconsinan time or earlier.The Harricana – Lake McConnell glaciofluvial system extends from James Bay to the vicinity of North Bay Ontario and probably continues farther south to the Lake Simcoe area. It is strictly an interlobate deglaciation feature and does not result from the converging flows of two coalescing glaciers. At the last glacial maximum the dominant ice-flow direction in the area was probably toward the southwest, across the space occupied by this glaciofluvial system, confirming the flow lines shown by most models of the late Wisconsinan ice sheet. Because none of the cross-striated outcrops showing marks of the former south-southwest (180–220°) and of the last south-southeast (130–170°) movements show evidence of differential weathering and because glacial transport was due to the former southwest movement at several locations, it is proposed that the cross-striations result from the same ice mass subjected to (1) a general change in flow direction from the southwest to the southeast and (2) a complete scission that led ultimately to the deposition of the Harricana – Lake McConnell glaciofluvial system in the interlobate position.

scholarly journals Towards a GIS assessment of numerical ice-sheet model performance using geomorphological data

2007 ◽  
Vol 53 (180) ◽  
pp. 71-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jacob Napieralski ◽  
Alun Hubbard ◽  
Yingkui Li ◽  
Jon Harbor ◽  
Arjen P. Stroeven ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Direction ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Model Performance ◽  
Initial Step ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Flow Models ◽  
Flow Directions ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Basal Flow ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractA major difficulty in assimilating geomorphological information with ice-sheet models is the lack of a consistent methodology to systematically compare model output and field data. As an initial step in establishing a quantitative comparison methodology, automated proximity and conformity analysis (APCA) and automated flow direction analysis (AFDA) have been developed to assess the level of correspondence between modelled ice extent and ice-marginal features such as end moraines, as well as between modelled basal flow directions and palaeo-flow direction indicators, such as glacial lineations. To illustrate the potential of such an approach, an ensemble suite of 40 numerical simulations of the Fennoscandian ice sheet were compared to end moraines of the Last Glacial Maximum and the Younger Dryas and to glacial lineations in northern Sweden using APCA and AFDA. Model experiments evaluated in this manner were ranked according to level of correspondence. Such an approach holds considerable promise for optimizing the parameter space and coherence of ice-flow models by automated, quantitative assessment of multiple ensemble experiments against a database of geological or glaciological evidence.

scholarly journals Site information and initial results from deep ice drilling on Law Dome, Antarctica

1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (143) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.I. Morgan ◽  
C.W. Wookey ◽  
J. Li ◽  
T.D. van Ommen ◽  
W. Skinner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
High Accumulation ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Basal Ice ◽  
Inland Ice ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Initial Results ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractThe aim of deep ice drilling on Law Dome, Antarctica, has been to exploit the special characteristics of Law Dome summit, i.e. low temperature and high accumulation near an ice divide, to obtain a high-resolution ice core for climatic/environmental studies of the Holocene and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Drilling was completed in February 1993, when basal ice containing small fragments of rock was reached at a depth of 1196 m. Accurate ice dating, obtained by counting annual layers revealed by fine-detail δ18О, peroxide and electrical-conductivity measurements, is continuous down to 399 m, corresponding to a date of AD 1304. Sulphate concentration measurements, made around depths where conductivity tracing indicates volcanic fallout, allow confirmation of the dating (for Agung in 1963 and Tambora in 1815) or estimates of the eruption date from the ice dating (for the Kuwae, Vanuatu, eruption ~1457). The lower part of the core is dated by extrapolating the layer-counting using a simple model of the ice flow. At the LGM, ice-fabric measurements show a large decrease (250 to 14 mm2) in crystal size and a narrow maximum in c-axis vertically. The main zone of strong single-pole fabrics however, is located higher up in a broad zone around 900 m. Oxygen-isotope (δ18O) measurements show Holocene ice down to 1113 m, the LGM at 1133 m and warm (δ18O) about the same as Holocene) ice near the base of the ice sheet. The LGM/Holocene δ18O shift of 7.0‰, only ~1‰ larger than for Vostok, indicates that Law Dome remained an independent ice cap and was not overridden by the inland ice sheet in the Glacial.

scholarly journals Objective Reconstructions of the Late Wisconsinan Laurentide Ice Sheet and the Significance of Deformable Beds

2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Fisher ◽  
N. Reeh ◽  
K. Langley
Keyword(s):  
Yield Stress ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Hudson Bay ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Surface Slopes ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

ABSTRACT A three dimensional steady state plastic ice model; the present surface topography (on a 50 km grid); a recent concensus of the Late Wisconsinan maximum margin (PREST, 1984); and a simple map of ice yield stress are used to model the Laurentide Ice Sheet. A multi-domed, asymmetric reconstruction is computed without prior assumptions about flow lines. The effects of possible deforming beds are modelled by using the very low yield stress values suggested by MATHEWS (1974). Because of low yield stress (deforming beds) the model generates thin ice on the Prairies, Great Lakes area and, in one case, over Hudson Bay. Introduction of low yield stress (deformabie) regions also produces low surface slopes and abrupt ice flow direction changes. In certain circumstances large ice streams are generated along the boundaries between normal yield stress (non-deformable beds) and low yield stress ice (deformabie beds). Computer models are discussed in reference to the geologically-based reconstructions of SHILTS (1980) and DYKE ef al. (1982).

Coalescence of late Wisconsinan Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets east of the Rocky Mountain Foothills in the Dawson Creek region, northeast British Columbia, Canada

2016 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 409-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adrian Scott Hickin ◽  
Olav B. Lian ◽  
Victor M. Levson
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Rocky Mountain ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Oxygen Isotope Stage ◽  
Digital Elevation ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet ◽  
River Valleys

Geomorphic, stratigraphic and geochronological evidence from northeast British Columbia (Canada) indicates that, during the late Wisconsinan (approximately equivalent to marine oxygen isotope stage [MIS] 2), a major lobe of western-sourced ice coalesced with the northeastern-sourced Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS). High-resolution digital elevation models reveal a continuous 75 km-long field of streamlined landforms that indicate the ice flow direction of a major northeast-flowing lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS) or a montane glacier (>200 km wide) was deflected to a north-northwest trajectory as it coalesced with the retreating LIS. The streamlined landforms are composed of till containing clasts of eastern provenance that imply that the LIS reached its maximum extent before the western-sourced ice flow crossed the area. Since the LIS only reached this region in the late Wisconsinan, the CIS/montane ice responsible for the streamlined landforms must have occupied the area after the LIS withdrew. Stratigraphy from the Murray and Pine river valleys supports a late Wisconsinan age for the surface landforms and records two glacial events separated by a non-glacial interval that was dated to be of middle Wisconsinan (MIS 3) age.

The Magnitude and Proximate Cause of Ice-Sheet Growth Since 35,000 yr B.P.

2001 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isaac J. Winograd
Keyword(s):  
North Atlantic ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Proximate Cause ◽  
Ice Volume ◽  
The North ◽  
Data Compilation ◽  
Sst Warming ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

AbstractThe magnitude of late Wisconsinan (post-35,000 yr B.P.) ice-sheet growth in the Northern Hemisphere is not well known. Ice volume at ∼35,000 yr B.P. may have been as little as 20% or as much as 70% of the volume present at the last glacial maximum (LGM). A conservative evaluation of glacial–geologic, sea level, and benthic δ18O data indicates that ice volume at ∼35,000 yr B.P. was approximately 50% of that extant at the LGM (∼20,000 yr B.P.); that is, it doubled in about 15,000 yr. On the basis of literature for the North Atlantic and a sea-surface temperature (SST) data compilation, it appears that this rapid growth may have been forced by low-to-mid-latitude SST warming in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, with attendant increased moisture transport to high latitudes. The SST ice-sheet growth notion also explains the apparent synchroneity of late Wisconsinan mountain glaciation in both hemispheres.

Late Wisconsinan buildup and wastage of the Innuitian Ice Sheet across southern Ellesmere Island, Nunavut

2004 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H England ◽  
Nigel Atkinson ◽  
Arthur S Dyke ◽  
David JA Evans ◽  
Marek Zreda
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Subsequent Removal ◽  
Baffin Bay ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Global Sea Level ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

During the Late Wisconsinan, a precursor of the Prince of Wales Icefield, southern Ellesmere Island, formed a prodigious ice divide of the Innuitian Ice Sheet. Initial buildup occurred after 19 ka BP, when the icefield advanced west (inland) across Makinson Inlet from margins similar to present. Subsequent reversal of flow to the east required ice divide migration to the west onto a plateau that is largely ice-free today. From this divide, a trunk glacier flowed eastward through Makinson Inlet to join the Smith Sound Ice Stream en route to nothern Baffin Bay. Westward flow from this divide filled Baumann Fiord, depositing a granite dispersal train that extends a further 600 km across the archipelago to the polar continental shelf. Deglaciation of most of Makinson Inlet occurred catastrophically at ~9.3 ka BP, forming a calving bay that thinned the Innuitian divide, thereby triggering deglaciation of most of Baumann Fiord by 8.5 ka BP. Ninety 14C dates on Holocene shells and driftwood constrain deglacial isochrones and postglacial emergence curves on opposite sides of the former Innuitian divide. Isobases drawn on the 8 ka BP shoreline rise northwest towards Eureka Sound, the axis of maximum former ice thickness. Ice margins on Ellesmere Island were similar to present from ~50–19 ka BP (spanning marine isotope stages 3 and 2). However, significant regional variation in ice extent during this interval is recorded by ice rafting from the Laurentide Ice Sheet into Baffin Bay. Later buildup of the Innuitian Ice Sheet occurred during the low global sea level that defines the last glacial maximum (18 ka BP). We also suggest that the Innuitian Ice Sheet was influenced by the buttressing and subsequent removal of the Greenland Ice Sheet along eastern Ellesmere Island.

Reconstruction of ice flow across the Bunger Hills, East Antarctica

1997 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Augustinus ◽  
Damian B. Gore ◽  
Michelle R. Leishman ◽  
Dan Zwartz ◽  
Eric A. Colhoun
Keyword(s):  
Flow Direction ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Coastal Areas ◽  
East Antarctica ◽  
Late Cenozoic ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
North East ◽  
The North ◽  
Free Region ◽  
The Cross

In the Bunger Hills, mapping of glacial drift sheets and examination of striae patterns and other palaeo-ice flow direction indicators show that the largely ice-free region records the imprint of ice sheet expansion(s) during the late Cenozoic. In particular, ice moulded features and striae in southern Bunger Hills suggest formation during at least two episodes of ice sheet expansion, although whether they were formed during separate events or merely different phases of the same expansion of the ice sheet is not able to be discerned at present. The older event relates to thin ice with flow constrained by the topography, whilst the younger event relates to regional expansion of thick ice across the area. Discrimination of the order of emplacement of the cross-cutting striae patterns is possible at a number of sites. Palaeo-ice flow indicators confirm that ice sheet expansion over southern Bunger Hills was purely from the southern and eastern margins, although minor advances of the north-east flowing Edisto Glacier onto coastal areas occurred following retreat of the last extensive ice sheet phase.

scholarly journals Site information and initial results from deep ice drilling on Law Dome, Antarctica

1997 ◽  
Vol 43 (143) ◽  
pp. 3-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
V.I. Morgan ◽  
C.W. Wookey ◽  
J. Li ◽  
T.D. van Ommen ◽  
W. Skinner ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Core ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
High Accumulation ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Basal Ice ◽  
Inland Ice ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
Initial Results ◽  
The Last Glacial

Abstract The aim of deep ice drilling on Law Dome, Antarctica, has been to exploit the special characteristics of Law Dome summit, i.e. low temperature and high accumulation near an ice divide, to obtain a high-resolution ice core for climatic/environmental studies of the Holocene and the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Drilling was completed in February 1993, when basal ice containing small fragments of rock was reached at a depth of 1196 m. Accurate ice dating, obtained by counting annual layers revealed by fine-detail δ18 О, peroxide and electrical-conductivity measurements, is continuous down to 399 m, corresponding to a date of AD 1304. Sulphate concentration measurements, made around depths where conductivity tracing indicates volcanic fallout, allow confirmation of the dating (for Agung in 1963 and Tambora in 1815) or estimates of the eruption date from the ice dating (for the Kuwae, Vanuatu, eruption ~1457). The lower part of the core is dated by extrapolating the layer-counting using a simple model of the ice flow. At the LGM, ice-fabric measurements show a large decrease (250 to 14 mm2) in crystal size and a narrow maximum in c-axis vertically. The main zone of strong single-pole fabrics however, is located higher up in a broad zone around 900 m. Oxygen-isotope (δ18O) measurements show Holocene ice down to 1113 m, the LGM at 1133 m and warm (δ18O) about the same as Holocene) ice near the base of the ice sheet. The LGM/Holocene δ18O shift of 7.0‰, only ~1‰ larger than for Vostok, indicates that Law Dome remained an independent ice cap and was not overridden by the inland ice sheet in the Glacial.

Late Wisconsinan glaciation and postglacial relative sea-level change on western Banks Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

2014 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Lakeman ◽  
John H. England
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Canadian Arctic ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Canadian Arctic Archipelago ◽  
Geomorphological Mapping ◽  
Banks Island ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
The Last Glacial Maximum ◽  
The Last Glacial

The study revises the maximum extent of the northwest Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) in the western Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) during the last glaciation and documents subsequent ice sheet retreat and glacioisostatic adjustments across western Banks Island. New geomorphological mapping and maximum-limiting radiocarbon ages indicate that the northwest LIS inundated western Banks Island after ~ 31 14C ka BP and reached a terminal ice margin west of the present coastline. The onset of deglaciation and the age of the marine limit (22–40 m asl) are unresolved. Ice sheet retreat across western Banks Island was characterized by the withdrawal of a thin, cold-based ice margin that reached the central interior of the island by ~ 14 cal ka BP. The elevation of the marine limit is greater than previously recognized and consistent with greater glacioisostatic crustal unloading by a more expansive LIS. These results complement emerging bathymetric observations from the Arctic Ocean, which indicate glacial erosion during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to depths of up to 450 m.

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