scholarly journals Surficial geology constraints on Laurentide Ice Sheet reconstruction in the southern Northwest Territories

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
G W Hagedorn ◽  
R C Paulen ◽  
I R Smith ◽  
M Ross ◽  
C M Neudorf ◽  
...  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
I R Smith ◽  
R C Paulen ◽  
G W Hagedorn

The northeastern Cameron Hills comprise a Cretaceous bedrock upland, rising >550 m above the regional boreal plains. It was inundated by the Laurentide Ice Sheet and includes much of a prominent 60 by 20 km southwest-oriented mega-scale glacial lineation field, formed in thick till. Subsequent ice flow on northeast Cameron Hills occurred north to south, and a series of lobate and ice-thrust moraines suggest glacial surging. Rotational bedrock slumps cover the eastern and northern flanks of Cameron Hills, and extensive alluvial fan deposits draining from these slopes blanket the surrounding topography. The Cameron River formed as a glacial spillway, draining southwest across the upland before turning north and draining into Tathlina Lake. An expansive raised delta and glaciolacustrine sediment cover extending up to ~295 m above sea level, south of Tathlina Lake, records impoundment of an ice-marginal lake between the northeastward-retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet and Cameron Hills.


2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 445-457 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan M Bednarski ◽  
I Rod Smith

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.


2007 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandra Duk-Rodkin ◽  
Owen L. Hughes

ABSTRACT The Mackenzie Mountains were glaciated repeatedly by large valley glaciers that emanated from the Backbone Ranges, and by much smaller valley glaciers that emanated from peaks in the Canyon Ranges. During the Late Wisconsinan the Laurentide Ice Sheet reached its all-time maximum position. The ice sheet pressed against the Canyon Ranges and moved up major valleys causing the diversion of mountain waters and organizing a complex meltwater system that drained across mountain interfluve areas towards the northwest. Two ages of moraines deposited by montane glaciers occur widely in the Mackenzie Mountains. Near the mountain front certain of the older moraines have been truncated by the Laurentide Ice Sheet, and others have been incised by meltwater streams emanating from the Laurentide ice margin, indicating that these older moraines predate the maximum Laurentide advance. Locally, certain of the younger montane moraines breach moraines and other ice marginal features of the Laurentide maximum, indicating that the younger montane glaciation post-dated the Laurentide maximum. Some large montane glaciers extended out from the mountains to merge with the retreating Laurentide Ice Sheet. There are several localities that display the age relationships between montane and Laurentide glaciations such as Dark Rock Creek, Durkan-Lukas Valley, Little Bear River and Katherine Creek. The older of the local montane glaciations is correlated tentatively with Reid Glaciation (lllinoian?) of central Yukon, and the younger with the Late Wisconsinan McConnell Glaciation. The Laurentide Glaciation is correlated with Hungry Creek Glaciation of Bonnet Plume Depression, which probably culminated about 30,000 years ago or somewhat later.


2007 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arthur S. Dyke

ABSTRACT Lowther and Griffith islands, in the centre of Parry Channel, were overrun by the Laurentide Ice Sheet early in the last glaciation. Northeastward Laurentide ice flow persisted across at least Lowther Island until early Holocene déglaciation. Well constrained postglacial emergence curves for the islands confirm a southward dip of raised shorelines, contrary to the dip expected from the ice load configuration. This and previously reported incongruities may indicate regionally extensive tectonic complications of postglacial rebound aligned with major structural elements in the central Canadian Arctic Islands.


2008 ◽  
Vol 45 (5) ◽  
pp. 593-610 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan M. Bednarski

The Laurentide Ice Sheet reached the Canadian Cordillera during the last glacial maximum in northeastern British Columbia and adjacent Northwest Territories and all regional drainage to unglaciated areas in the north was dammed by the ice. Converging ice-flow patterns near the mountain front suggest that the Laurentide Ice Sheet likely coalesced with the Cordilleran Ice Sheet during the last glaciation. With deglaciation, the ice masses separated, but earlier ice retreat in the south meant that meltwater pooled between the mountain front and the Laurentide margin. The level of the flooding was controlled by persistent ice cover on the southern Franklin Mountains. Glacial Lake Liard formed when the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated east of the southern Liard Range and, at its maximum extent, may have impounded water at least as far south as the Fort Nelson River. Deglaciation of the plains was marked by local variations in ice flow caused by a thin ice sheet becoming more affected by the topography and forming lobes in places. These lobes caused diversions in local drainage readily traced by abandoned meltwater channels. Radiocarbon ages from adjacent areas suggest the relative chronology of deglaciation presented here occurred between 13 and 11 ka BP.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel E. Kelley ◽  
Brent Ward ◽  
Jason Briner ◽  
Martin Ross ◽  
Philippe Normandeau ◽  
...  

<p>The Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition provides a useful natural laboratory for examining the behavior of a mid- to high-latitude ice sheet during a period of climatically driven ice sheet thinning and retreat. While the timing and pattern of Pleistocene recession of the LIS are well-constrained along the southern and eastern margins, there is limited chronology constraining the ice margin retreat along the northwestern margin. Here we present new cosmogenic <sup>10</sup>Be exposure ages retreat of the western margin of the LIS during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Sampling was performed along three transects located between the northern shore of Great Slave Lake and Lac de Gras. Each of the transects is oriented parallel to the inferred ice retreat direction in an attempt to capture a regional rate of retreat. Our new <sup>10</sup>Be cosmogenic exposure ages from the southeastern Northwest Territories demonstrate that regional deglaciation occurred around 11,000 years ago. The population of ages broadly overlaps, indicating that either the retreat occurred within the resolution of our chronology or that the ice sheet experienced widespread stagnation and rapid down-wasting. These ages, not corrected for changes in atmospheric depth due to isostatic rebound, are older than minimum limiting radiocarbon constraints by ~1000 years, indicating that existing LIS reconstructions may underestimate the timing and pace of ice margin recession for this sector. Constraining the timing of the recession of the northwest sector of the LIS has the potential to inform our understanding about the damming of large proglacial lakes, such as Glacial Lake McConnell. The ages from our southern transect, collected from elevated bedrock hills, indicate LIS retreat from through the McConnell basin occurred after 12,000 years ago, and thus constitute maximum limiting constraints on the expansion of Glacial Lake McConnell southeastward into the present-day Great Slave Lake basin. Our chronology, combined with other emerging cosmogenic exposure ages constraining LIS deglaciation indicates retreat of the ice margin over 100s of kilometres during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, exhibiting no evidence of a significant readvance during the Younger Dryas stadial.</p>


1991 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-291 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Andrews ◽  
L. W. Evans ◽  
K. M. Williams ◽  
W. M. Briggs ◽  
A. J. T. Jull ◽  
...  

1990 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 921-935 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Andrews ◽  
L. W. Evans ◽  
K. M. Williams ◽  
W. M. Briggs ◽  
A. J. T. Jull ◽  
...  

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