scholarly journals Ice flow and late glacial lakes of the Fraser Glaciation, central British Columbia

1997 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Plouffe
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
Ice Flow

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.

scholarly journals Glacial Stratigraphy of the Bulkley River Region: A Depositional Framework for the Late Pleistocene in Central British Columbia*

2006 ◽  
Vol 58 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 217-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Stumpf ◽  
Bruce E. Broster ◽  
Victor M. Levson
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Glacial Sediments ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Local Erosion ◽  
River Region ◽  
Flow Directions ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

Abstract A depositional framework for late Pleistocene sediments in central British Columbia was developed from the composite stratigraphy of glacial sediments found in the Bulkley River region. Nonglacial deposits correlated to the Olympia Nonglacial Interval, are overlain in succession by sub-till, ice-advance sediments, Late Wisconsinan (Fraser Glaciation) till, and late-glacial sediments. Due to local erosion and depositional variability, some of the units are not continuous throughout the region and differ locally in their thickness and complexity. At the onset of the Fraser Glaciation, ice advance was marked by rising base levels in rivers, lake ponding, and ice marginal subaqueous deposition. Physiography and glacier dynamics influenced the position of drainage outlets, direction of water flow, and ponding. The region was completely ice covered during this glaciation and ice-flow directions were variable, being dominantly influenced by the migrating position of ice divides. Deglaciation was marked by the widespread deposition of fine-grained sediments in proglacial lakes and glaciofluvial sands and gravels at locations with unrestricted drainage.

Late-glacial lakes in the Thompson Basin, British Columbia: paleogeography and evolution

2004 ◽  
Vol 41 (11) ◽  
pp. 1367-1383 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy F Johnsen ◽  
Tracy A Brennand
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
River System ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Dam Failure ◽  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Lake Basin ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
Positioning Systems

During the decay of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet 10 000 – 13 000 BP, glacial lakes developed within valleys that dissect the Interior Plateau of British Columbia. In this paper, we (1) illustrate a procedure for assessing paleo water planes that has general application, (2) document lake paleogeography and evolution in the Thompson Valley, (3) provide new data on the glacio-isostatic response of the central Cordillera, and (4) present new evidence of its late-glacial environment. We employ geomorphology and sedimentology, digital elevation models, and new technologies (differential global positioning systems, ground penetrating radar, and geographic information systems) to refine paleogeographic reconstructions of glacial lakes. Glacial Lake Thompson and Glacial Lake Deadman were ribbon-shaped (width to length ratio ≈ 3:100), deep (>>140 to ~50 m) lakes that contained significant water volumes (84–24 km3). They lengthened to the west and their water level lowered as ice decayed. Final ice dam failure resulted in an ~20 km3 jökulhlaup that eroded bedforms and deposited flood eddy bars within the lake basin, travelled ~250 km along the Fraser River system, and may have deposited exotic mud offshore between 10 190 and 11 940 BP. Glacio-isostatic tilts of water planes are among the highest in the world (1.7–1.8 m km–1). Their orientations suggest that ice sheet loads were greater or longer- lived to the north-northwest of the study area, lending support to the notion of an ice divide centred on the Fraser Plateau.

Late Pleistocene history and geomorphology, southwestern Vancouver Island, British Columbia

1979 ◽  
Vol 16 (9) ◽  
pp. 1645-1657 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neville F. Alley ◽  
Steven C. Chatwin
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Continental Shelf ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
Small Lakes ◽  
Strait Of Georgia ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
Juan De Fuca ◽  
Juan De Fuca Strait

The major Pleistocene deposits and landforms on southwestern Vancouver Island are the result of the Late Wisconsin (Fraser) Glaciation. Cordilleran glaciers formed in the Vancouver Island Mountains and in the Coast Mountains had advanced down Strait of Georgia to southeastern Vancouver Island after 19 000 years BP. The ice split into the Puget and Juan de Fuca lobes, the latter damming small lakes along the southwestern coastal slope of the island. During the maximum of the glaciation (Vashon Stade), southern Vancouver Island lay completely under the cover of an ice-sheet which flowed in a south-southwesterly direction across Juan de Fuca Strait, eventually terminating on the edge of the continental shelf. Deglaciation was by downwasting during which ice thinned into major valleys and the strait. Most upland areas were free of ice down to an elevation of 400 m by before 13 000 years BP. A possible glacier standstill and (or) resurgence occurred along Juan de Fuca Strait and in some interior upland valleys before deglaciation was complete. Glacial lakes occupied major valleys during later stages of deglaciation.

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.

Late Deglaciation of the Central Labrador Coast and Its Implications for the Age of Glacial Lakes Naskaupi and McLean and for Prehistory

1990 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 296-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter U. Clark ◽  
William W. Fitzhugh
Keyword(s):  
Sea Level ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
Central Coast ◽  
Relative Sea Level ◽  
Level Curves

AbstractThe age of the marine limit and associated deglaciation has been estimated from relative sea-level curves for the Hopedale and Nain areas of the central Labrador coast as approximately 7600 ± 200 and 8500 ± 200 yr ago, respectively. These ages indicate that the ice margin remained on the coast for up to 3000 yr longer than previously estimated. Because the central coast is due east of glacial lakes Naskaupi and McLean, the earliest the lakes could have formed was <8500 ± 200 yr ago, with their largest phases being fully established only after 7600 ± 200 yr ago. This suggests that the age of the lakes, and associated deglaciation of the central Labrador-Ungava region, is younger by at least 1500 yr than previously estimated. A late-glacial marine-based ice mass in Ungava Bay that dammed the lakes collapsed ca. 7000 yr ago. Within this time frame, therefore, the glacial lakes only existed for <500 yr. The persistence of the Laurentide Ice Sheet margin on the central Labrador coast until 7600 yr ago probably restricted the northward movement of early prehistoric people into northern Labrador.

Late Pleistocene stratigraphy and chronology of lower Chehalis River valley, southwestern British Columbia: evidence for a restricted Coquitlam Stade

2004 ◽  
Vol 41 (7) ◽  
pp. 881-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brent C Ward ◽  
Bruce Thomson
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Glacial Lakes ◽  
Coast Mountains ◽  
Source Areas ◽  
Definitive Evidence

Sediments in lower Chehalis valley span middle Wisconsin (Olympia nonglacial interval) to Holocene time. Sediments are divided into six units with chronological control provided by 14 new radiocarbon ages. Fluvial gravel spans the transition from the late Olympia nonglacial interval to the early Fraser Glaciation. Glaciolacustrine sedimentation represents the first definitive glacial activity in the valley and indicates that Vashon ice in the Fraser Lowland blocked the mouth of the Chehalis valley at ca. 18–17 ka BP. Ice then flowed down the Chehalis valley. The Chehalis valley deglaciated while ice persisted in the Fraser Lowland, forming another lake. After this lake drained, terraces and fans formed. This style of glaciation–deglaciation is typical of many watersheds peripheral to the Fraser Lowland in that local valley ice was slightly out of phase with ice in the lowland. This resulted in glacial lakes forming during both advance and retreat phases. However, in contrast to watersheds in the northwestern Fraser Lowland, no definitive evidence of a Coquitlam ice advance was found within the Chehalis valley. Although glaciers in the area were likely active and advancing, data from the Chehalis valley indicates that they were not as extensive as previously thought. Since ice source areas in the northeastern Fraser Lowland are in the leeward area of the Coast Mountains, it is suggested that lower precipitation resulted in limited glacier activity there during the Coquitlam Stade.

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