Neoglacial Lake Alsek

1982 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 94-117 ◽  
Author(s):  
John J. Clague ◽  
V. N. Rampton

Lowell Glacier, a large valley glacier in the St. Elias Mountains of southwestern Yukon Territory, advanced across Alsek Valley and blocked south-flowing Alsek River many times during the Neoglacial interval. The resulting lake, termed Neoglacial Lake Alsek, extended east of the front of the St. Elias Mountains and inundated parts of Dezadeash Valley that presently are populated. Lake Alsek, at its maximum, was about 200 m deep at the glacier dam and over 100 km long. Staircase flights of beaches, wave-cut benches, layers of driftwood, and thin lacustrine sediments provide evidence of the former lake. Giant dunes and flood terraces on the floor of Alsek Valley indicate that the lake emptied catastrophically when the Lowell Glacier dam failed.Several phases of Lake Alsek have been identified. Each was preceded and followed by intervals during which the lake was empty and the present southward drainage pattern in Alsek Valley prevailed. Historical records, radiocarbon and tree-ring dates on driftwood, and radiocarbon dates on buried soils separating lacustrine units indicate that Lake Alsek extended into Dezadeash Valley sometime between A.D. 1848 and 1891, between A.D. 1736 and 1832, twice between 250 and 500 years ago, and at least once between 800 and 2900 years ago. In addition, a small lake may have existed in Alsek Valley after 1891, but before 1917, although the evidence for this is equivocal. During each ponding phase, Lake Alsek may have emptied and filled repeatedly, perhaps on a regular cycle, as is common for some existing glacier-dammed lakes.Lowell Glacier, during a future surge, might again block Alsek River and form a new lake. However, populated areas in Dezadeash Valley probably would not be inundated because Lowell Glacier has thinned and receded somewhat since Lake Alsek last extended beyond the St. Elias Mountains in the nineteenth century.

1980 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 1454-1461 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf W. Mathewes ◽  
John A. Westgate

Ash-grade Bridge River tephra, identified as such on the basis of shard habit, modal mineralogy, and composition of ilmenite, occurs in sedimentary cores from three lakes located to the south of the previously documented plume and necessitates a significant enlargement of the fallout area of that tephra in southwestern British Columbia.These new, more southerly occurrences are probably equivalent to the ~2350 year old Bridge River tephra, although it can be argued from the evidence at hand that the 14C dates and biotite-rich nature support relationship to a slightly earlier Bridge River event.Large differences exist in the 14C age of sediments immediately adjacent to the Bridge River tephra at these three lake sites; maximum ages of 3950 ± 170 years BP (GX-5549) and 3750 ± 210 years BP (I-10041) were obtained at Phair and Fishblue lakes, respectively, whereas the corresponding age at Horseshoe Lake is only 2685 ± 180 years BP (GX-5757). The two older dates are considered to be significantly affected by old carbon contamination for the bedrock locally consists of calcareous sedimentary rocks and the lacustrine sediments are very calcareous. The 14C date from Horseshoe Lake, which occurs in an area of igneous rocks, appears to be only slightly too old relative to the ~2350 year old Bridge River tephra.Well-dated tephra beds, therefore, can be very useful in assessing the magnitude of old carbon errors associated with radiocarbon dates based on limnic sediments. Calcareous gyttja deposits beneath Bridge River tephra within the study area exhibit old carbon errors of the order of 1350–1550 years.


2006 ◽  
Vol 85 (3) ◽  
pp. 197-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Kaiser ◽  
A. Barthelmes ◽  
S. Czakó Pap ◽  
A. Hilgers ◽  
W. Janke ◽  
...  

AbstractA new site with Lateglacial palaeosols covered by 0.8 - 2.4 m thick aeolian sands is presented. The buried soils were subjected to multidisciplinary analyses (pedology, micromorphology, geochronology, dendrology, palynology, macrofossils). The buried soil cover comprises a catena from relatively dry (’Nano’-Podzol, Arenosol) via moist (Histic Gleysol, Gleysol) to wet conditions (Histosol). Dry soils are similar to the so-called Usselo soil, as described from sites in NW Europe and central Poland. The buried soil surface covers ca. 3.4 km2. Pollen analyses date this surface into the late Allerød. Due to a possible contamination by younger carbon, radiocarbon dates are too young. OSL dates indicate that the covering by aeolian sands most probably occurred during the Younger Dryas. Botanical analyses enables the reconstruction of a vegetation pattern typical for the late Allerød. Large wooden remains of pine and birch were recorded.


1973 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 697-759 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. R. Harington ◽  
F. V. Clulow

Remains of thirteen species of mammals are reported from Pleistocene deposits at Gold Run Creek near Dawson, Yukon Territory. Eight of the thirteen species are extinct and two are no longer living in the Yukon. The most common elements of the fauna are Equus (Asinus) lambei (Yukon wild ass), and Bison crassicornis (large-horned bison). Taxidea (badger) and Bison alaskensis (Alaskan bison) are reported for the first time from the Yukon Pleistocene. A kiang-like horse is also reported from deposits at Gold Run Creek.These mammals may have inhabited a cool grassland or open parkland during late Wisconsin time. Bison crassicornis and mammoth bone from deposits at Gold Run Creek have yielded radiocarbon dates of 22 200 ± 1400 yr B.P. and 32 250 ± 1750 yr B.P. respectively. Bison alaskensis is evidently older than the remainder of the fauna as bone from the specimen yielded a radiocarbon date of over 39 900 yr B.P.


1977 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 2824-2857 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. H. Miller ◽  
J. T. Andrews ◽  
S. K. Short

A study of the stratigraphic sequence (14C and amino acid age control), marine bivalve faunal changes, and palynology of buried soils and organic-rich sediment collected from the Clyde Foreland Formation in the extensive cliff sections of the Clyde foreland, eastern Baffin Island, N.W.T., suggests the following last interglacial – Foxe (last glaciation) glacial – present interglacial sequence.(1) Cape Christian Member (ca. 130 000 years BP?)Consists of the Sledgepointer till overlain by the Cape Christian marine sediments. In situ molluscan fauna, collected from the marine sediments, contain a moderately warm bivalve assemblage. A well-developed soil that formed on the marine sediments (Cape Christian soil) contains an interglacial pollen assemblage dominated by dwarf birch. U-series dates of > 115 000 and ca. 130 000 years BP on molluscs from the Cape Christian marine sediments suggest that they were deposited during the last interglaciation, here termed the Cape Christian Interglaciation. The development of a subarctic pollen assemblage in the Cape Christian soil has not been duplicated during the present interglaciation, suggesting higher summer temperatures and perhaps a duration well in excess of 10 000 years for the last interglaciation.(2) Kuvinilk MemberConsists of fossiliferous marine sediments, locally divided by the Clyde till into upper and lower units. The Clyde till was deposited by the earliest and most extensive advance of the Foxe (last) Glaciation. Kuvinilk marine sediments both under- and overlying the Clyde till contain the pecten Chlamys islandicus, indicating that the outlet glacier advanced into a subarctic marine environment. Amino acid ratios from in situ pelecypod shells abovę and below the Clyde till are not statistically different, but contrast markedly with ratios obtained from the same species in the Cape Christian Member. Organic horizons within the Kuvinilk marine sediments contain a relatively rich pollen assemblage, although 'absolute' counts are low.(3) Kogalu Member (> 35 00014C years BP)Sediments of the Kogalu Member unconformably overlie those of the Kuvinilk Member, but are of a similar character. The dominant sediments are marine in origin, but in places are divided into upper and lower units by the Ayr Lake till. Amino acid ratios from in situ shells above and below the Ayr Lake till are indistinguishable, but substantially less than those in the Kuvinilk Member, suggesting the two members are separated by a considerable time interval. Radiocarbon dates on shells in the Kogalu marine sediments range from 33 000 to 47 700 years BP, but these may be only minimum estimates. The sea transgressed to a maximum level 70–80 m asl, coincident with the glacial maximum. Subarctic marine fauna of interstadial–interglacial character occur within the Kogalu marine sediments.(4) Eglinton Member (10 000 years BP to present)A major unconformity exists between the Kogalu and Eglinton Members. Ravenscraig marine sediments were deposited during an early Holocene marine transgression–regression cycle; the oldest dates on these sediments are ca. 10 000 years BP. Locally a vegetation mat occurs at the base or within the Ravenscraig unit. Pollen from these beds is sparse, but indicates a terrestrial vegetation assemblage as diverse as that of today. There is no evidence that Laurentide Ice reached the foreland during the last 30 000 years. Eolian sands that overlie a soil developed on the marine sediments record a late Holocene climatic deterioration. Pollen in organic-rich sediments at the base of, and within, the eolian sands record a vegetation shift in response to climatic change.


2022 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 103289
Author(s):  
Nicholas V. Kessler ◽  
Matthew C. Guebard ◽  
Gregory W.L. Hodgins ◽  
Lucas Hoedl

Author(s):  
Glenn Patrick Juday ◽  
Valerie Barber

The two most important life functions that organisms carry out to persist in the environment are reproduction and growth. In this chapter we examine the role of climate and climate variability as controlling factors in the growth of one of the most important and productive of the North American boreal forest tree species, white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss). Because the relationship between climate and tree growth is so close, tree-ring properties have been used successfully for many years as a proxy to reconstruct past climates. Our recent reconstruction of nineteenth- century summer temperatures at Fairbanks based on white spruce tree-ring characteristics (Barber et al. in press) reveals a fundamental pattern of quasi-decadal climate variability. The values in this reconstruction of nineteenth-century Fairbanks summer temperatures are surprisingly warm compared to values in much of the published paleoclimatic literature for boreal North America. In this chapter we compare our temperature reconstructions with ring-width records in northern and south-central Alaska to see whether tree-growth signals in the nineteenth century in those regions are consistent with tree-ring characteristics in and near Bonanza Creek (BNZ) LTER (25 km southwest of Fairbanks) that suggest warm temperatures during the mid-nineteenth century. We also present a conceptual model of key limiting events in white spruce reproduction and compare it to a 39-year record of seed fall at BNZ. Finally, we derive a radial growth pattern index from white spruce at nine stands across Interior Alaska that matches recent major seed crop events in the BNZ monitoring period, and we identify dates after 1800 when major seed crops of white spruce, which are infrequent, may have been produced. The boreal region is characterized by a broad zone of forest with a continuous distribution across Eurasia and North America, amounting to about 17% of the earth’s land surface area (Bonan et al. 1992). The boreal region is often conceived of as a zone of relatively homogenous climate, but in fact a surprising diversity of climates are present. During the long days of summer, continental interior locations under persistent high-pressure systems experience hot weather that can promote extensive forest fires frequently exceeding 100 kilohectares (K ha). Summer daily maximum temperatures are cooled to a considerable degree in maritime portions of the boreal region affected by air masses that originate over the North Atlantic, North Pacific, or Arctic Oceans.


Societies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reynolds ◽  
Liston

This paper examines the role of the victim through the prism of prosecutor in the first third of the nineteenth century when England did not have a public prosecutor or national police force and most crimes were prosecuted in the courts by the victim. The selection of cases is drawn from a larger investigation of female offenders punished by transportation to New South Wales, Australia. The cases demonstrate the diversity of victims, the power they held as prosecutors and highlight the process from apprehension to conviction. Historical records of regional English Assizes and Sessions were investigated to identify the victim and record the prosecution process.


Radiocarbon ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. iii-iii
Author(s):  
Ajt Jull ◽  
Hans E Suess

Timothy Weiler Linick died on June 4th, 1989. He was a dedicated researcher, and an important part of the NSF Accelerator Facility for Radioisotope Analysis at the University of Arizona. He will be remembered for his care and attention to details, especially in the calculation and reporting of radiocarbon dates. He made important contributions to the fields of oceanography and tree-ring calibration of the 14C time scale.


Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 933-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina P Panyushkina ◽  
Steven W Leavitt ◽  
Alex Wiedenhoeft ◽  
Sarah Noggle ◽  
Brandon Curry ◽  
...  

The abrupt millennial-scale changes associated with the Younger Dryas (YD) event (“chronozone”) near the dawn of the Holocene are at least hemispheric, if not global, in extent. Evidence for the YD cold excursion is abundant in Europe but fairly meager in central North America. We are engaged in an investigation of high-resolution environmental changes in mid-North America over several millennia (about 10,000 to 14,000 BP) during the Late Glacial–Early Holocene transition, including the YD interval. Several sites containing logs or stumps have been identified and we are in the process of initial sampling or re-sampling them for this project. Here, we report on a site in central Illinois containing a deposit of logs initially thought to be of YD age preserved in alluvial sands. The assemblage of wood represents hardwood (angiosperm) trees, and the ring-width characteristics are favorable to developing formal tree-ring chronologies. However, 4 new radiocarbon dates indicate deposition of wood may have taken place over at least 8000 14C yr (6000–14,000 BP). This complicates the effort to develop a single floating chronology of several hundred years at this site, but it may provide wood from a restricted region over a long period of time from which to develop a sequence of floating chronologies, the timing of deposition and preservation of which could be related to paleoclimatic events and conditions.


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