scholarly journals Till Stratigraphy and Late Wisconsinan Deglaciation of Southern Maine: A Review

2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woodrow B. Thompson ◽  
Harold W. Borns Jr.
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
New Hampshire ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ocean Floor ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Marine Transgression ◽  
Coastal Lowland ◽  
Southern New England ◽  
Clay Deposits ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

ABSTRACT At least two glaciations are recorded by the till stratigraphy of southern Maine. A more deeply weathered lower till is tentatively correlated with the early Wisconsinan (or older) Nash Stream Till in New Hampshire and its inferred equivalents in southern New England and Québec. The Laurentide Ice Sheet flowed south-southeastward across southern Maine in late Wisconsinan time and deposited the upper till. By about 14,000 years ago the ice sheet started to recede from the Maine coast, and the high peaks of the Mahoosuc Range emerged as nunataks in western Maine. Marine transgression accompanied déglaciation of lowland areas of southern Maine, with deposition of end moraines, deltas, and subaqueous outwash along the active ice margin, while thick clay deposits of the Presumpscot Formation accumulated on the ocean floor. The ice margin retreated quickly, reaching the marine limit in central Maine by 13,000 yr BP. The Pineo Ridge moraine system in eastern Maine, formerly thought to represent a major readvance, is reinterpreted as a glacial stillstand near the marine limit. Deglaciation inland from the marine limit in eastern and southwestern Maine occurred by recession of an active ice margin in some areas, and elsewhere by stagnation and downwasting of ice that was separated from the active ice sheet. Southern Maine was ice-free by 12,000 yr BP. but marine submergence persisted until about 11,000 years ago in the southwestern coastal lowland.

Age of the Berlin moraine complex, New Hampshire, USA, and implications for ice sheet dynamics and climate during Termination 1

2019 ◽  
Vol 94 ◽  
pp. 80-93
Author(s):  
Gordon R.M. Bromley ◽  
Brenda L. Hall ◽  
Woodrow B. Thompson ◽  
Thomas V. Lowell
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
New Hampshire ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Atmospheric Temperature ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
White Mountains ◽  
Southern New England ◽  
Ice Sheet Dynamics ◽  
St Lawrence River

AbstractAt its late Pleistocene maximum, the Laurentide Ice Sheet was the largest ice mass on Earth and a key player in the modulation of global climate and sea level. At the same time, this temperate ice sheet was itself sensitive to climate, and high-magnitude fluctuations in ice extent, reconstructed from relict glacial deposits, reflect past changes in atmospheric temperature. Here, we present a cosmogenic 10Be surface-exposure chronology for the Berlin moraines in the White Mountains of northern New Hampshire, USA, which supports the model that deglaciation of New England was interrupted by a pronounced advance of ice during the Bølling-Allerød. Together with recalculated 10Be ages from the southern New England coast, the expanded White Mountains moraine chronology also brackets the timing of ice sheet retreat in this sector of the Laurentide. In conjunction with existing chronological data, the moraine ages presented here suggest that deglaciation was widespread during Heinrich Stadial 1 event (~18–14.7 ka) despite apparently cold marine conditions in the adjacent North Atlantic. As part of the White Mountains moraine system, the Berlin chronology also places a new terrestrial constraint on the former glacial configuration during the marine incursion of the St. Lawrence River valley north of the White Mountains.

scholarly journals Pre-Late Wisconsinan age for part of the glaciolacustrine stratigraphy, lower Peabody valley, northern White Mountains, Gorham, New Hampshire

2002 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian K. Fowler
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
New Hampshire ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
River Valley ◽  
White Mountains ◽  
Southern New England ◽  
Stratigraphic Position ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

Abstract Interbedded till and glaciolacustrine deposits in the lower Peabody River Valley near Gorham, New Hampshire suggest multiple glacial advances occurred in the northern White Mountains. Previous workers disagreed on whether these advances were local or regional in nature, but thought they all occurred during the recessional phase of the Late Wisconsinan ice sheet. New stratigraphic and geomorphic reconnaissance, however, shows that a thick and regionally extensive till overlies this stratigraphy and that this till was emplaced by the last full-glacial episode to affect the region, the Late Wisconsinan glaciation. The stratigraphic position of this till makes the age of the underlying till and glaciolacustrine deposits pre-Late Wisconsinan and much older than previously assumed. This change in age assignment for part of the Peabody Valley stratigraphy supports the extension of the Illinoian-Late Wisconsinan "two-till" stratigraphy of central and southern New England into the region north of the White Mountain Highlands.

Late glacial fluctuations of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in the White Mountains of Maine and New Hampshire, U.S.A.

2015 ◽  
Vol 83 (3) ◽  
pp. 522-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon R.M. Bromley ◽  
Brenda L. Hall ◽  
Woodrow B. Thompson ◽  
Michael R. Kaplan ◽  
Juan Luis Garcia ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
New Hampshire ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Late Glacial ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
White Mountains ◽  
Northern New England ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Ice Sheet Dynamics ◽  
Complex Relationships

Prominent moraines deposited by the Laurentide Ice Sheet in northern New England document readvances, or stillstands, of the ice margin during overall deglaciation. However, until now, the paucity of direct chronologies over much of the region has precluded meaningful assessment of the mechanisms that drove these events, or of the complex relationships between ice-sheet dynamics and climate. As a step towards addressing this problem, we present a cosmogenic 10Be surface-exposure chronology from the Androscoggin moraine complex, located in the White Mountains of western Maine and northern New Hampshire, as well as four recalculated ages from the nearby Littleton–Bethlehem moraine. Seven internally consistent 10Be ages from the Androscoggin terminal moraines indicate that advance culminated ~ 13.2 ± 0.8 ka, in close agreement with the mean age of the neighboring Littleton–Bethlehem complex. Together, these two datasets indicate stabilization or advance of the ice-sheet margin in northern New England, at ~ 14–13 ka, during the Allerød/Greenland Interstadial I.

scholarly journals Deglaciation of the northwestern White Mountains, New Hampshire

2002 ◽  
Vol 53 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Woodrow B. Thompson ◽  
Brian K. Fowler ◽  
Christopher C. Dorion
Keyword(s):  
New England ◽  
New Hampshire ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
White Mountains ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Drainage Channels ◽  
Connecticut Valley ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Climatic Cooling ◽  
Original Interpretation

Abstract The mode of deglaciation in the northwestern White Mountains of New Hampshire has been controversial since the mid 1800's. Early workers believed that active ice deposited the Bethlehem Moraine complex in the Ammonoosuc River basin during recession of the last ice sheet. In the 1930's this deglaciation model was replaced by the concept of widespread simultaneous stagnation and downwastage of Late Wisconsinan ice. The present authors reexamined the Bethlehem Moraine complex and support the original interpretation of a series of moraines deposited by active ice. We found other moraine clusters of similar age to the northeast in the Johns River and Israel River basins. Ice-marginal deposits that probably correlate with the Bethlehem Moraine also occur west of Littleton. The Bethlehem Moraine complex and equivalent deposits in adjacent areas were formed by readvance and oscillatory retreat of the Connecticut Valley lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. This event is called the Littleton-Bethlehem Readvance. Throughout the study area, sequences of glaciolacustrine deposits and meltwater drainage channels indicate progressive northward recession of the glacier margin. Radiocarbon dates from nearby New England and Québec suggest that the ice sheet withdrew from this part of the White Mountains between about 12 500 and 12 000 14 C yr BP. We attribute the Littleton- Bethlehem Readvance to a brief climatic cooling during Older Dyas time, close to 12,000 BP.

Absence of Glaciation in Illinois during Marine Isotope Stages 3 through 5

1996 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Brandon Curry ◽  
Milan J. Pavich
Keyword(s):  
Oxygen Isotope ◽  
Late Stage ◽  
Lake Michigan ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Argillic Horizon ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Lake Michigan Lobe

A10Be inventory and14C ages of material from a core from northernmost Illinois support previous interpretations that this area was ice free from ca. 155,000 to 25,000 yr ago. During much of this period, from about 155,000 to 55,000 yr ago, 10Be accumulated in the argillic horizon of the Sangamon Geosol. Wisconsinan loess, containing inherited 10Be, was deposited above the Sangamon Geosol from ca. 55,000 to 25,000 yr ago and was subsequently buried by late Wisconsinan till deposited by the Lake Michigan Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The Sangamonian interglacial stage has been correlated narrowly to marine oxygen isotope substage 5e; our data indicate instead that the Sangamon Geosol developed during late stage 6, all of stages 5 and 4, and early stage 3.

Pleistocene stratigraphy, paleopedology, and paleoecology of a multiple till sequence exposed on the Little Bear River, Western District of Mackenzie, N.W.T., Canada

1993 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 851-866 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. L. Hughes ◽  
C. Tarnocai ◽  
C. E. Schweger
Keyword(s):  
Transition Zone ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Canadian Shield ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Spruce Forest ◽  
River Section ◽  
Valley Glacier ◽  
Bear River ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

The Little Bear River section lies in a transition zone between Mackenzie Lowland and Canyon Ranges of Mackenzie Mountains. Within the transition zone, the maximum extent of the Laurentide ice sheet overlaps the former extent of montane glaciers that emanated from the higher parts of Canyon Ranges or from the still higher Backbone Ranges to the southwest. Five montane tills, each with a paleosol developed in its upper part, indicate five separate glaciations during each of which a valley glacier emanating from the headwaters of Little Bear River extended eastward into the transition zone. The uppermost of the montane tills is overlain by boulder gravel containing rocks of Canadian Shield origin deposited by the Laurentide ice sheet.Solum and B horizon depths, red colours, and lack of leaching and cryoturbation indicate that although each successive interglacial interval was cooler than the preceding one, even the last of the intervals was warmer than the Holocene. Climatic conditions during one of the intervals inferred from the paleobotanic data, particularly spruce forest development, are consistent with conditions inferred from the associated paleosol.The uppermost of the montane tills is thought to correlate with till of Reid (Illinoian) age in central Yukon. The paleosol developed on that till is, accordingly, thought to correlate with the Diversion Creek paleosol developed on drift of Reid age. The Laurentide boulder gravel is assigned to a stade of Hungry Creek Glaciation of Late Wisconsinan age. The Laurentide ice sheet reached its apparent all-time western limit during the Hungry Creek Glaciation maximum.

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).

Genesis of carbonate till in the lee sides of Precambrian Shield uplands, Hemlo area, Ontario

1987 ◽  
Vol 24 (10) ◽  
pp. 2004-2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen R. Hicock
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Glacial Maximum ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
The South ◽  
Precambrian Shield ◽  
Basal Zone ◽  
Compressive Flow ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Basal Till

Near Hemlo, Ontario, highly calcareous till is confined to areas located downglacier from Precambrian uplands, at least 150 km from the Paleozoic–Precambrian boundary. It comprises subglacial meltout till between lodgment tills, and the calcareous package overlies noncalcareous basal till (not studied) and underlies noncalcareous supraglacial meltout till. The tills can be distinguished by textural, carbonate, and clast compositions. Glaciotectonic deformations, stone fabrics and striae, and stone provenance from the tills, as well as erosional and depositional landforms, indicate that ice advanced to the south–southwest across bedrock contacts and over Precambrian uplands.Deposition of all five tills can be explained with one glacial event. As the Late Wisconsinan margin of the Laurentide ice sheet advanced against uplands about 20 km northeast of Hemlo it experienced compressive flow while depositing the non calcareous basal till. Upshearing of stoss-side local debris high into the ice also occurred as englacial ice overrode the slowed basal zone. Once over the upland, englacial ice assumed extending flow, and downshearing of distal debris, which was deposited as calcareous lodgment till on the lee sides of uplands. After the glacial maximum, the glacier ceased internal movement and subglacial meltout till was laid down. A late reactivation of the ice deposited the upper lodgment till and final stagnation formed the supraglacial meltout till.

Late Tertiary to late Quaternary record in the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada: stratigraphy, paleosols, paleomagnetism, and chlorine - 36

1996 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 875-895 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Duk-Rodkin ◽  
R. W. Barendregt ◽  
C. Tarnocai ◽  
F. M. Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Late Quaternary ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Unconsolidated Sediments ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Late Tertiary ◽  
Mackenzie Mountains ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Stratigraphic Succession

A stratigraphic sequence of unconsolidated sediments ranging in age from Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene is recorded in the Canyon Ranges of the Mackenzie Mountains. Three of the sections (Katherine Creek, Little Bear River, and Inlin Brook) expose bedrock and Tertiary gravel overlain by colluvium and a multiple till sequence of montane origin, separated by paleosols and capped by a till of Laurentide origin. The sections are correlated on the basis of lithology, paleosol development, paleomagnetism, and chlorine dating of surface boulder erratics. A formal stratigraphic nomenclature is proposed for the deposits of this region. The sequence of glacial tills separated by paleosols reflects a long record of glacial–interglacial cycles. Soil properties from the oldest paleosol to modern soil show a general decrease in the degree of soil development, suggesting a progressive deterioration of interglacial climatic conditions. A normal–reverse–normal sequence of remanent magnetization was determined within the stratigraphic succession and assigned to the Gauss–Matuyama–Brunhes chrons, respectively. A Gauss age was assigned to the basal colluvium, an early Matuyama age (including Olduvai) to the first two tills, and a Brunhes age to the last three tills. Laurentide deposits are of Late Wisconsinan age and are restricted to the uppermost part of the stratigraphic succession. Chlorine dates for surface boulders place the all-time limit of the Laurentide Ice Sheet at about 30 ka. The Late Wisconsinan Laurentide Ice Sheet was the only continental ice to reach the Mackenzie and Richardson mountains of the northern Cordillera.

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