Paleomagnetism of tills and associated paleosols in southwestern Alberta and northern Montana: evidence for Late Pliocene–Early Pleistocene glaciations

1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 555-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. T. Cioppa ◽  
E. T. Karlstrom ◽  
E. Irving ◽  
R. W. Barendregt
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Pleistocene Glaciations ◽  
Glacial Deposits ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Carbonate Cement ◽  
Paleomagnetic Study ◽  
Normal Polarity ◽  
Reversed Polarity ◽  
Initial Deposition

Sequences of pre-Wisconsinan till and intercalated paleosols were sampled for paleomagnetic study. The tills were deposited during successive glaciations and the paleosols formed during interglacial intervals. Paleoargillic horizons of the paleosols and the carbonate cement (calcrete) found in some till–paleosol units generally yielded excellent data. Magnetizations of paleosols probably were acquired during the formation of the paleosols rather than during initial deposition of the tills in which they were developed. At Mokowan Butte (Alberta), the lowest paleosol has normal polarity, two of the middle tills have reversed polarity, and the uppermost till–paleosol unit has normal polarity. At Saint Mary Ridge (Montana), three of the lower tills have reversed polarity, and the upper two till–paleosol units have normal polarity. At Two Medicine Ridge (Montana), the lowest three tills are reversed, but the paleoargillic horizon on the uppermost (fourth) till is normal. Magnetostratigraphic correlation indicates that at least six glacial and six interglacial episodes are represented in the Kennedy Drift. The upper normal polarity units are interpreted as having been developed during the Brunhes Normal Chron, the underlying reversed polarity sediments during the Matuyama Reversed Chron, and the lowest normal polarity unit at Mokowan Butte during the Gauss Normal Chron. The oldest glaciations here extend into the Pliocene (2600 ka), making these sediments among the oldest glacial deposits in North America. Alternatively, the lowest normally magnetized paleosol at Mokowan Butte may have formed during either the Jaramillo or the Olduvai subchrons, although this is considered less likely.

Stratigraphy and paleomagnetism of Late Pliocene and Pleistocene sediments in the Wellsch Valley and Swift Current Creek areas, southwestern Saskatchewan, Canada

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (12) ◽  
pp. 1347-1361 ◽  
Author(s):  
R W Barendregt ◽  
E Irving ◽  
E A Christiansen ◽  
E K Sauer ◽  
B T Schreiner
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Magnetic Polarity ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Western Canada ◽  
Marked Contrast ◽  
Glacial Deposits ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Matuyama Chron ◽  
Reversed Polarity

The Late Pliocene and Pleistocene are represented in southern Saskatchewan by sequences of preglacial, glacial, and nonglacial deposits. These have been studied in surface exposures and bore cores and have been subdivided and correlated on the basis of their lithologies. In this study, new observations of magnetic polarity are presented. They reveal a lower preglacial sequence (Empress Group) with reversed polarity, and an upper normally magnetized sequence which contains glacial deposits of pre-Illinoian, Illinoian, and Wisconsinan age and which are correlative with the Saskatoon and Sutherland groups of central Saskatchewan. The reversed preglacial sequence is referred to the Matuyama Zone (Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene: 2.58-0.78 Ma) and the normal glacial sequence to the Brunhes Zone (Middle to Late Pleistocene and Holocene: 0.78 Ma to present). In southern Saskatchewan there is no evidence of glaciation during the Late Pliocene and Early Pleistocene (Matuyama Chron) which is in marked contrast with parts of the Cordilleran region of western Canada where glaciations occur throughout this time.

Paleomagnetic evidence for multiple Late Pliocene - Early Pleistocene glaciations in the Klondike area, Yukon Territory

2000 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 863-877 ◽  
Author(s):  
D G Froese ◽  
R W Barendregt ◽  
R J Enkin ◽  
J Baker
Keyword(s):  
Yukon Territory ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Pleistocene Glaciations ◽  
Glacial Sediments ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Matuyama Chron ◽  
Normal Polarity ◽  
Ice Wedge ◽  
Brunhes Chron ◽  
Cordilleran Ice Sheet

The Late Pliocene - Early Pleistocene terraces of the Klondike area provide a conformal record of sedimentation which marks the transition from preglacial to glacial conditions, and is one of the most complete records of glaciation and interglaciation in the northern Cordillera. Preglacial sedimentation is recorded in the Lower White Channel gravel that contains a reverse-normal polarity sequence. A re-aggradation of the nonglaciated valleys of the goldfields in response to Late Pliocene cooling is recorded by the Upper White Channel gravel, which is characterized by a dominant normal polarity with a lower reversal likely associated with the first ice-wedge casts. Klondike gravel interfingers with Upper White Channel and is normally magnetized, indicating an equivalent magnetostratigraphic unit. This glaciofluvial gravel provides evidence of extra-basinal clasts, marking a major reorganization of drainage associated with the first advance of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet in western Yukon Territory correlated with the Gauss chron (>2.58 Ma). An intermediate terrace in Klondike valley is overlain by 8 m of fluvial and glaciofluvial gravel named the Midnight Dome gravel. This gravel is mantled by 15 m of loess and hillslope deposits, named the Midnight Dome loess, which preserve at least three interglacial pollen assemblages, and a reverse-normal-reverse-normal polarity sequence assigned to the late Matuyama chron, including Jaramillo subchron (1.07-0.99 Ma), and early Brunhes chron (<0.78 Ma). The oldest glaciations here, based on the preferred interpretation, extend well into the Pliocene (>2.58 Ma) making these among the oldest glacial sediments in North America.

Davis Creek silt, an Early Pleistocene or Late Pliocene deposit in the Cypress Hills of Saskatchewan

1989 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 192-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Vreeken ◽  
R. W. Klassen ◽  
R. W. Barendregt
Keyword(s):  
Volcanic Ash ◽  
Magnetic Polarity ◽  
Polarity Reversal ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
The South ◽  
Glacial Deposits ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Weathering Zone ◽  
Magnetic Polarity Reversal

Davis Creek silt is the informal name for a previously unreported loess and its reworked detritus encountered at several locations to the south of the east and centre blocks of the Cypress Hills. This unit intervenes between a pediment with an estimated age of 10 Ma and Late Wisconsinan glacial deposits. Because the unit has reversed magnetization, it is older than 788 ka, the astronomical age of the Matuyama–Brunhes magnetic polarity reversal. The unit also contains an undated volcanic ash from the Pearlette ash family that could represent the Mesa Falls (1.27 Ma) or the Huckleberry Ridge (2.02 Ma) ash bed. Davis Creek silt overlies an oxidized weathering zone and contains large secondary carbonate nodules near its truncated top that were, in places, reworked into a lag deposit or stone line before accumulation of the glacial overburden. At one location Davis Creek silt is separated from this overburden by a unit of cryoturbated gravelly loam with remnants of a reddish-yellow paleosolic B horizon.

Reconstruction of environmental and climatic change during the late Pliocene and early Pleistocene in northwestern North America based on a new drill core from paleo-Lake Idaho

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederik Allstädt ◽  
Andreas Koutsodendris ◽  
Erwin Appel ◽  
Wolfgang Rösler ◽  
Alexander Prokopenko ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Northern Hemisphere ◽  
Moisture Transport ◽  
Snake River Plain ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Snake River ◽  
Depth Interval ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
River Plain ◽  
Northwestern North America

&lt;p&gt;The Pliocene to early Pleistocene yields a close analogy to near-future climate, with atmospheric &lt;em&gt;p&lt;/em&gt;CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt; between pre-industrial and anthropogenically perturbed levels as they may be reached in few decades. A sedimentary archive that is well suited to study Plio-Pleistocene climate dynamics in the terrestrial realm has recently become available through the ICDP-sponsored HOTSPOT project on the evolution of the Snake River Plain (Idaho, USA). At the Mountain Home site, HOTSPOT drilling has yielded the MHAFB11 core that comprises 635 m of fine-grained lacustrine sediments (Shervais et al. 2013). Based on the yet available paleomagnetic age control, these sediments span from the late Pliocene to the early Pleistocene, which makes them the first archive in continental North America that covers this time interval at one site. Based on their geographic position, the sediments from paleo-Lake Idaho can contribute to a better understanding of climate variability across the Plio-Pleistocene transition in western North America, notably with respect to the hypothesis that enhanced moisture transport into the higher latitudes of North America from ~2.7 Ma onwards allowed the initiation of Northern Hemisphere glaciation (Haug et al., 2005).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To gain insight into the paleoclimatic evolution of northwestern North America during the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene, we have palynologically analyzed 131 samples from the 732&amp;#8211;439 m depth interval (corresponding to an age of ~2.8 to ~2 Ma) of the MHAFB11 core. The obtained palynological dataset, which has a mean temporal resolution of ~7 ka, documents that a &lt;em&gt;Pinus&lt;/em&gt;-dominated coniferous forest biome prevailed in the catchment area of paleo-Lake Idaho throughout the study interval. However, percentages of pollen from conifer taxa decrease in the latest Pliocene before reaching consistently lower values in the early Pleistocene at ~2.4 Ma. In contrast, pollen taxa representing an open vegetation (e.g., &lt;em&gt;Artemisia&lt;/em&gt;, Asteraceae) and deciduous trees (e.g., &lt;em&gt;Quercus&lt;/em&gt;, &lt;em&gt;Betula&lt;/em&gt; and &lt;em&gt;Alnus&lt;/em&gt;) become increasingly abundant in the early Pleistocene (at ~2.4 Ma). We interpret this vegetation shift to an open mixed conifer/deciduous forest to be caused by wetter climate conditions. This interpretation is supported by quantitative climate estimates, which show a gradual increase in mean annual precipitation in the early Pleistocene. This trend towards wetter conditions supports the notion that enhanced moisture transport to northern North America from the subarctic Pacific Ocean contributed to the onset of Northern Hemisphere glaciation at ~2.7 Ma (Haug et al., 2005).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;References:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Haug, G.H., Ganopolski, A., Sigman, D.M., Rosell-Mele, A., Swann, G.E., Tiedemann, R., Jaccard, S.L., Bollmann, J., Maslin, M.A., Leng, M.J. and Eglinton, G., 2005. North Pacific seasonality and the glaciation of North America 2.7 million years ago. &lt;em&gt;Nature&lt;/em&gt;, 433, 821-825.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Shervais, J.W., Schmitt, D.R., Nielson, D., Evans, J.P., Christiansen, E.H., Morgan, L.A., Shanks, P. W.C., Prokopenko, A.A., Lachmar, T., Liberty, L.M., Blackwell, D.D., Glen, J.M., Champion, D., Potter, K.E., Kessler, J., 2013. First Results from HOTSPOT: The Snake River Plain Scientific Drilling Project, Idaho, U.S.A. &lt;em&gt;Scientific&lt;/em&gt; &lt;em&gt;Drilling,&lt;/em&gt; 3, 36-45.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;#160;&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Chronological implications of the paleomagnetic record of the Late Cenozoic volcanic activity along the Moravia-Silesia border (NE Bohemian Massif)

2012 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 423-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimír Cajz ◽  
Petr Schnabl ◽  
Zoltan Pécskay ◽  
Zuzana Skácelová ◽  
Daniela Venhodová ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Bohemian Massif ◽  
Multidisciplinary Approach ◽  
Field Survey ◽  
Volcanic Field ◽  
Late Cenozoic ◽  
Paleomagnetic Study ◽  
Normal Polarity ◽  
Reversed Polarity ◽  
Scoria Cones ◽  
Age Determinations

Abstract This paper presents the results of a paleomagnetic study carried out on Plio-Pleistocene Cenozoic basalts from the NE part of the Bohemian Massif. Paleomagnetic data were supplemented by 27 newly obtained K/Ar age determinations. Lavas and volcaniclastics from 6 volcanoes were sampled. The declination and inclination values of paleomagnetic vectors vary in the ranges of 130 to 174 and -85 to -68° for reversed polarity (Pleistocene); or 345 to 350° and around 62° for normal polarity (Pliocene). Volcanological evaluation and compilation of older geophysical data from field survey served as the basis for the interpretation of these results. The Pleistocene volcanic stage consists of two volcanic phases, fairly closely spaced in time. Four volcanoes constitute the Bruntál Volcanic Field; two others are located 20 km to the E and 65 km to the NW, respectively. The volcanoes are defined as monogenetic ones, producing scoria cones and lavas. Exceptionally, the largest volcano shows a possibility of remobilization during the youngest volcanic phase, suggested by paleomagnetic properties. The oldest one (4.3-3.3 Ma), Břidličná Volcano, was simultaneously active with the Lutynia Volcano (Poland) which produced the Zálesí lava relic (normal polarity). Three other volcanoes of the volcanic field are younger and reversely polarized. The Velký Roudný Volcano was active during the Gelasian (2.6-2.1 Ma) and possibly could have been reactivated during the youngest (Calabrian, 1.8-1.1 Ma) phase which gave birth to the Venušina sopka and Uhlířský vrch volcanoes. The reliability of all available K-Ar data was evaluated using a multidisciplinary approach.

scholarly journals Snapshots of the Greenland ice sheet configuration in the Pliocene to early Pleistocene

2011 ◽  
Vol 57 (205) ◽  
pp. 871-880 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne M. Solgaard ◽  
Niels Reeh ◽  
Peter Japsen ◽  
Tove Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Flow Model ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Pleistocene Glaciations ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Climate Reconstructions

AbstractThe geometry of the ice sheets during the Pliocene to early Pleistocene is not well constrained. Here we apply an ice-flow model in the study of the Greenland ice sheet (GIS) during three extreme intervals of this period constrained by geological observations and climate reconstructions. We study the extent of the GIS during the Mid-Pliocene Warmth (3.3–3.0 Ma), its advance across the continental shelf during the late Pliocene to early Pleistocene glaciations (3.0–2.4 Ma) as implied by offshore geological studies, and the transition from glacial to interglacial conditions around 2.4 Ma as deduced from the deposits of the Kap København Formation, North Greenland. Our experiments show that no coherent ice sheet is likely to have existed in Greenland during the Mid-Pliocene Warmth and that only local ice caps may have been present in the coastal mountains of East Greenland. Our results illustrate the variability of the GIS during the Pliocene to early Pleistocene and underline the importance of including independent estimates of the GIS in studies of climate during this period. We conclude that the GIS did not exist throughout the Pliocene to early Pleistocene, and that it melted during interglacials even during the late Pliocene climate deterioration.

Changes in the extent of North American ice sheets during the late Cenozoic

1998 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 504-509 ◽  
Author(s):  
René W Barendregt ◽  
Edward Irving
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
North American ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Age ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Pleistocene Glaciations ◽  
Late Cenozoic ◽  
Ice Volume

Magnetostratigraphy indicates that Early Pleistocene glaciations in North America, instead of forming one continuous ice mass from Atlantic to Pacific as they did in the Late Pleistocene, were characterized by eastern and western ice masses separated by a 2000 km wide north-south ice-free corridor down the centre of the continent. We argue, therefore, that the area covered by ice during periods of glaciation, and hence probably ice volume, in North America was considerably less in the first 2 Ma of the late Cenozoic than it was in the last 0.7 Ma. This is consistent with delta 18O records of ocean cores indicating the ice volumes were much less in the earlier than in the later part of the Cenozoic Ice Age.

scholarly journals Evidence for early glaciation of southeastern Beringia

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-226
Author(s):  
Rodney Arthur Savidge
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Pleistocene Glaciations ◽  
Late Pliocene ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Northwestern North America ◽  
Working Hypotheses ◽  
Minimal Research ◽  
Red Bed

Between the Klondike Plateau and Yukon–Tanana highlands of Yukon and Alaska, respectively, current maps explain glaciated alpine locales and periglacial areas in terms of localized Pliocene–Pleistocene montane ice caps, alpine glaciers, and periglacial changes. However, this region’s plateau topography is populated with long undulating ridges having wide flattened tops; it contrasts with relief of other regions of northwestern North America also affected by ice caps, cryoplanation, and erosion over similar duration during the same epochs. This region has received minimal research and appears to present a new opportunity for resolving outstanding glaciological and stratigraphy issues. The glaciological history is reviewed, placing particular emphasis upon the low-elevation ridges within the “unglaciated” region, suggesting that those ridges are relict arête/cirque remnants. Sites of subalpine glacial grooving and mountaintop planing are also identified, and a conglomeratic red bed containing erratic clasts is described. All indications point to the “unglaciated” region having been glaciated before late Pliocene. Two working hypotheses are proposed: (1) The landscape once supported a range of young mountains that became glaciated then overridden and pared to a plateau by an ice sheet. (2) Following deglaciation, an extended period of paraglacial activity removed most of the former drift and excised new valleys to give the region an unglaciated appearance, which thereafter became modified into its present state by local montane/alpine glaciations, interglacial cryoplanation, periglacial gelifraction, and erosion. In addition to Pliocene–Pleistocene glaciations, a northeastward advancing Miocene ice sheet seems plausible and, on the basis of paleographic considerations and lithology, a Cretaceous glaciation evidently is also not out of the question.

Magnétochronologie des formations rocheuses du Mont Mégantic et des environs, Québec méridional

1985 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 487-497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurice K.-Seguin ◽  
B. St-Hilaire
Keyword(s):  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
The Other ◽  
Field Observations ◽  
Magnetization Component ◽  
Paleomagnetic Study ◽  
Intrusive Rocks ◽  
Normal Polarity ◽  
Reversed Polarity ◽  
Radiometric Ages ◽  
Devonian Age

A paleomagnetic study was made to elucidate the ambiguities of the radiometric ages of Mont Megantic intrusions in relation to field observations and to determine the magnetochronology of the intruded rocks. Some 179 samples (550 specimens) were collected over 58 sites, and their magnetization was cleaned by thermal and (or) alternating field treatment. The paleopoles obtained for the Compton Formation metasediments indicate an Early to Middle Devonian age and for the overlying Frontenac Formation metavolcanics indicate an age definitely different from that for the intrusive rocks. The baked contact test on the hornfels forming the contact metamorphic aureole is positive, and the magnetization component was acquired in the Early to Late Cretaceous interval. Syenite contains two components: one with normal polarity, the other with reversed polarity; their ages are Juro-Cretaceous. The gabbro contains only one magnetization component (reversed), which was acquired in the Early Cretaceous, whereas the granite bears one component with a mostly normal polarity; its intrusive age is Late Cretaceous.The paleomagnetic ages for the intrusive rocks support the multiple intrusion interpretation; it appears that the emplacement of the intrusive bodies is Juro-Late Cretaceous. [Journal Translation]

Defining a paleomagnetic polarity pattern in the Monteregian intrusives

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 1716-1725 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Foster ◽  
D. T. A. Symons
Keyword(s):  
Stability Index ◽  
Pole Position ◽  
End Points ◽  
Paleomagnetic Study ◽  
Normal Polarity ◽  
Reversed Polarity ◽  
Remanence Direction

Oka and nearby small plutons on the western end of the Monteregian Hills were sampled for paleomagnetic study at 43 sites (569 specimens). Every specimen was AF step demagnetized in 4 kA/m increments to 20 or 24 kA/m. Consistent remanence directions were found for 36 sites (452 specimens). Use of a stability index to select only those specimens with the best defined end points does not improve the site statistics. The Oka, Brilund, Carillon, and Ile Cadieux plutons have statistically similar mean remanence direction populations which are different from the Ste. Dorothée sill direction. Except for one Carillon site, all site mean directions are normally polarized, whereas all nine plutons, except for Mt. Johnson, from the middle and eastern end of the Monteregian Hills are reversely polarized. Normally and reversely polarized plutons give statistically similar but antiparallel pole positions, giving a combined pole position of 169.0°W, 72.4°N (δp = 2.8°, δm = 3.7°), which is consistent with the 120 ± 4 Ma radiometric age. The polarity pattern evidence suggests that Oka and adjacent plutons were emplaced rapidly during one normal polarity interval, and that the Monteregian Hills plutons were emplaced progressively from west to east during two normal and two reversed polarity intervals lasting ~ 2 Ma. This leads to some speculations on the plume and rift modes of emplacement.

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