scholarly journals The observed postglacial recovery of Québec and Nouveau-Québec Since 12,000 BP

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 389-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Andrews ◽  
K. Tyler

Radiocarbon dated relative sea levels, the tilts of proglacial lake shorelines and raised marine shorelines, the directions of the tilt of these features, and postglacial delevelling are used to construct six isobase maps showing relative sea level movements over the last 12,000, 10,000, 8000, 4000, and 2000 years, No map has more than 30 control points and usually there are only 12 "good" points controlling the isobase patterns. Each map shows the relationship of the isobases to the current ice sheet extent. Along the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, the maximum postglacial emergence has been quite uniform with the 240 to 200 m isobase always close to the ice margin. Along the northeastern margin of the ice sheet, the postglacial emergence at the retreating ice edge was closer to 100 m. Equidistant diagrams are drawn along planes southeast from southern Hudson Bay and eastward from Southampton Island. If these diagrams are compared on a Shoreline Relation Diagram, the two profiles appear similar and compare moderately well with a theoretical SR Diagram published in 1969. The isobases show a major uplift center located around the area of James Bay and southern Hudson Bay where a maximum emergence of nearly 300 m occured in the last 7500 years. High marine limits southwest of Ungava Bay need to be dated because if they date close to 8000 BP as we suggest, then more emergence is suggested for the region southwest of Ungava Bay than we currently allow for.

1983 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Andrews ◽  
W. W. Shilts ◽  
G. H. Miller

AbstractThe stratigraphic record in the James and Hudson Bay Lowlands indicates that the sequence of glacial events at the geographical center of the 12.6 × 106 km2 Laurentide Ice Sheet may have been more complex than hitherto imagined. Isoleucine epimerization ratios of in situ and transported shells recovered from till and associated marine and fluvial sediments cluster into at least 4 discrete groups. Two alternative explanations of the data are offered, of which we strongly favor the first. Hypothesis 1: Setting the age of the “last interglacial” marine incursion, the Bell Sea, at 130,000 yr B.P. results in a long-term average diagenetic temperature for the lowlands of +0.6°C. Using this temperature enables us to predict the age of shells intermediate in age between the “last interglaciation” and the incursion of the Tyrrell Sea 8000 yr ago. Between these two interglacial marine inundations, Hudson Bay is predicted to have been free of ice along its southern shore about 35,000, 75,000, and 105,000 yr ago based on amino acid ratios from shells occurring as erratics in several superimposed tills and fluvial sediments. These results suggest (1) that traditional concepts of ice-sheet build-up and decay must be reexamined; (2) that “high” sea levels may have occurred during the Wisconsin Glaciation; and (3) that a critical reappraisal is required of the open ocean δ18O record as a simple indicator of global ice volume. An alternative, Hypothesis 2, is also examined. It is based on the assumption that the 35,000-yr-old deposits calculated on the basis of Hypothesis 1 date from the “last interglaciation”; this, in effect, indicates that the Missinaibi Formation, commonly accepted as sediments of the “last interglaciation,” are about 500,000 yr old and that the effective diagenetic temperature in the lowlands during approximately the last 130,000 yr has been close to −6°C. We argue for rejection of this alternative hypothesis.


2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Fisher ◽  
N. Reeh ◽  
K. Langley

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).


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4555-4577
Author(s):  
Ilkka S. O. Matero ◽  
Lauren J. Gregoire ◽  
Ruza F. Ivanovic

Abstract. Simulating the demise of the Laurentide Ice Sheet covering Hudson Bay in the Early Holocene (10–7 ka) is important for understanding the role of accelerated changes in ice sheet topography and melt in the 8.2 ka event, a century long cooling of the Northern Hemisphere by several degrees. Freshwater released from the ice sheet through a surface mass balance instability (known as the saddle collapse) has been suggested as a major forcing for the 8.2 ka event, but the temporal evolution of this pulse has not been constrained. Dynamical ice loss and marine interactions could have significantly accelerated the ice sheet demise, but simulating such processes requires computationally expensive models that are difficult to configure and are often impractical for simulating past ice sheets. Here, we developed an ice sheet model setup for studying the Laurentide Ice Sheet's Hudson Bay saddle collapse and the associated meltwater pulse in unprecedented detail using the BISICLES ice sheet model, an efficient marine ice sheet model of the latest generation which is capable of refinement to kilometre-scale resolutions and higher-order ice flow physics. The setup draws on previous efforts to model the deglaciation of the North American Ice Sheet for initialising the ice sheet temperature, recent ice sheet reconstructions for developing the topography of the region and ice sheet, and output from a general circulation model for a representation of the climatic forcing. The modelled deglaciation is in agreement with the reconstructed extent of the ice sheet, and the associated meltwater pulse has realistic timing. Furthermore, the peak magnitude of the modelled meltwater equivalent (0.07–0.13 Sv) is compatible with geological estimates of freshwater discharge through the Hudson Strait. The results demonstrate that while improved representations of the glacial dynamics and marine interactions are key for correctly simulating the pattern of Early Holocene ice sheet retreat, surface mass balance introduces by far the most uncertainty. The new model configuration presented here provides future opportunities to quantify the range of plausible amplitudes and durations of a Hudson Bay ice saddle collapse meltwater pulse and its role in forcing the 8.2 ka event.


2001 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 390-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Gutteridge ◽  
A. Hoti ◽  
H. R. Hurst

Durres (at various times in the past known as Epidamnos, Dyrrachium and Dyrrachion) lies on the Adriatic coast of Albania, c.35 km west of Tirana. The town has been continuously occupied, in some form or other, at least since the Archaic Greek period. Today it presents itself to the modern traveller arriving across the Adriatic as a busy and rapidly changing port. The relationship of the town with the sea has shaped its urban dynamic in ways which, as yet, are imperfectly understood. Modern Durres lies at the S tip of a peninsula c.10 km in length. The land to the northwest of the town is hilly, and this terrain extends as far as the ancient remains known as Porto Romano, c.7 km north of the town. The land northeast of the town is flat and low-lying, currently arable farmland criss-crossed by small irrigation canals (fig. 1). It was drained and reclaimed from marshland under the Communist régime. The overall impression of the topography around Durres (fig. 2) is that the area of high ground had once been an island, detached from the mainland or joined only by a sandbar, and that this relationship has fluctuated over time as a result of small seismic shifts, rising sea levels, and other factors. Any understanding of the town over time has to be placed against as accurate as possible an understanding of these and other features of what is a rapidly changing environment.


1990 ◽  
Vol 92 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.W Josenhans ◽  
J Zevenhuizen

1967 ◽  
Vol 104 (4) ◽  
pp. 344-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. F. Penny ◽  
J. A. Catt

AbstractMacrofabric (stone orientation) and microfabric studies of the four tills exposed in the coastal areas of East Yorkshire indicate that the regional direction of ice movement during both the Saale and Weichsel Glaciations was from north-east to south-west. The Saale (Basement) Till was considerably modified by the advance of ice during the Weichsel Glaciation; in particular, the stones in the Basement were reorientated so that their long axes now lie at right angles to the direction of movement of the Weichsel ice sheet. The fabrics of the three Weichsel tills (Drab, Purple and Hessle) are alike, and it is suggested that all three were deposited from one composite ice sheet. The relationship of vertical joints in the Basement and Drab Tills to directions of ice movement is discussed; those in the Basement possibly originated as ac tension joints inherited from the parent ice, whereas some of those in the Drab are probably conjugate shear joints formed during post-depositional deformation of the till.


2014 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 185-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen M. Simon ◽  
Thomas S. James ◽  
Donald L. Forbes ◽  
Alice M. Telka ◽  
Arthur S. Dyke ◽  
...  

AbstractThirty-six new and previously published radiocarbon dates constrain the relative sea-level history of Arviat on the west coast of Hudson Bay. As a result of glacial isostatic adjustment (GIA) following deglaciation, sea level fell rapidly from a high-stand of nearly 170 m elevation just after 8000 cal yr BP to 60 m elevation by the mid Holocene (~ 5200 cal yr BP). The rate of sea-level fall decreased in the mid and late Holocene, with sea level falling 30 m since 3000 cal yr BP. Several late Holocene sea-level measurements are interpreted to originate from the upper end of the tidal range and place tight constraints on sea level. A preliminary measurement of present-day vertical land motion obtained by repeat Global Positioning System (GPS) occupations indicates ongoing crustal uplift at Arviat of 9.3 ± 1.5 mm/yr, in close agreement with the crustal uplift rate inferred from the inferred sea-level curve. Predictions of numerical GIA models indicate that the new sea-level curve is best fit by a Laurentide Ice Sheet reconstruction with a last glacial maximum peak thickness of ~ 3.4 km. This is a 30–35% thickness reduction of the ICE-5G ice-sheet history west of Hudson Bay.


2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 113-136 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor K. Prest

ABSTRACTThis paper deals with the evolution of ideas concerning the configuration of flow patterns of the great inland ice sheets east of the Cordillera. The interpretations of overall extent of Laurentide ice have changed little in a century (except in the Arctic) but the manner of growth, centres of outflow, and ice-flow patterns, remain somewhat controversial. Present geological data however, clearly favour the notion of multiple centres of ice flow. The first map of the extent of the North American ice cover was published in 1881. A multi-domed concept of the ice sheet was illustrated in an 1894 sketch-map of radial flow from dispersal areas east and west of Hudson Bay. The first large format glacial map of North America was published in 1913. The binary concept of the ice sheet was in vogue until 1943 when a single centre in Hudson Bay was proposed, based on the westward growth of ice from Labrador/Québec. This Hudson dome concept persisted but was not illustrated until 1977. By this time it was evident from dispersal studies that the single dome concept was not viable. Dispersal studies clearly indicate long-continued westward ice flow from Québec into and across southern Hudson Bay, as well as eastward flow from Keewatin into the northern part of the bay. Computer-type modelling of the Laurentide ice sheet(s) further indicates their complex nature. The distribution of two indicator erratics from the Proterozoicage Belcher Island Fold Belt Group help constrain ice flow models. These erratics have been dispersed widely to the west, southwest and south by the Labrador Sector of more than one Laurentide ice sheet. They are abundant across the Paleozoic terrain of the Hudson-James Bay lowland, but decrease in abundance across the adjoining Archean upland. Similar erratics are common in northern Manitoba in the zone of confluence between Labrador and Keewatin Sector ice. Scattered occurences across the Prairies occur within the realm of south-flowing Keewatin ice. As these erratics are not known, and presumably not present, in Keewatin, they indicate redirection and deposition by Keewatin ice following one or more older advances of Labrador ice. The distribution of indicator erratics thus test our concepts of ice sheet growth.


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