Early Holocene dune activity linked with final destruction of Glacial Lake Minong, eastern Upper Michigan, USA

The early Holocene final drainage of glacial Lake Minong is documented by 21 OSL ages on quartz sand from parabolic dunes and littoral terraces and one radiocarbon age from a lake sediment core adjacent to mapped paleoshorelines in interior eastern Upper Michigan. We employ a simple model wherein lake-level decline exposes unvegetated littoral sediment to deflation, resulting in dune building. Dunes formed subsequent to lake-level decline prior to stabilization by vegetation and provide minimum ages for lake-level decline. Optical ages range from 10.3 to 7.7 ka; 15 ages on dunes adjacent to the lowest Lake Minong shoreline suggest final water-level decline ∼ 9.1 ka. The clustering of optical ages from vertically separated dunes on both sides of the Nadoway–Gros Cap Barrier around 8.8 ka and a basal radiocarbon date behind the barrier (8120 ± 40 14C yr BP [9.1 cal ka BP]) support the hypothesis that the barrier was breached and the final lake-level drop to the Houghton Low occurred coincident with (1) high meltwater flux into the Superior basin and (2) an abrupt, negative shift in oxygen isotope values in Lake Huron.

Climatic Influences of Deglacial Drainage Changes in Southern Canada at 10 to 8 ka Suggested by Pollen Evidence

ABSTRACT Enhanced meltwater discharge from proglacial lakes Agassiz and Barlow-Ojibway at about 9.6 to 8.3 ka BP. created cold localized climates over downstream water bodies, specifically Lake Minong and Mattawa phase lakes in the Great Lakes and Goldthwait Sea in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The cooling effect of the meltwater drainage suppressed summer warming of the surface lake waters, reduced the growing season and thus altered the vegetation composition in the surrounding land areas. The vegetation responded in different ways as evidenced by five variants from the normal pollen succession.The pollen anomalies are most pronounced where the effect of increased meltwater discharge had a strong influence, such as within or along the margins of Lake Agassiz, Mattawa phase lakes, and the Goldthwait Sea, or in their lee areas, especially where these water bodies intersected ecotonal boundaries. Climatic effects were minimal or non-existent where the water surface areas were restricted such as the channelized drainage routes of the Ottawa and St. Lawrence rivers. Diversion of Lakes Agassiz and Barlow-Ojibway drainage to Hudson Bay after about 8.4 ka BP reinstated summer warming of the surface water in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence system bringing the 9.6-8.3 ka cool period to a close.

A post-Lake Minong transgressive event on the north shore of Lake Superior, Ontario: possible evidence of Lake Agassiz inflow

Modification of an ice-contact delta built on the margin of Lake Minong (9500 BP) is ascribed to a transgressive event. Reworking of fluvial sediments by wave action and the infilling of the lower end of a distributary valley demonstrate a post-Minong transgression and reoccupation of the lower portion of the delta. Estimated to be in the order of 18 m, this water-level oscillation may represent evidence of one of several catastrophic discharges of Lake Agassiz into the Superior basin, proposed to have occurred between 9.5 and 8.0 ka BP.

Stratigraphical Studies on the Shoreline Displacement of Lake Superior

Shoreline displacement in the Lake Superior basin was followed, independently of morphological data, by studying sediments of small lake basins at different elevations in the vicinity of Sault Ste. Marie, Wawa, and Marathon, Ontario. Emergence of small lakes, resulting from water level changes in the main basin, is documented in bottom sediments, and can be dated by radiocarbon and pollen analyses. The new stratigraphical findings were correlated with the earlier established morphological shorelines, and thus the Late Wisconsinan and Holocene history of lake levels was worked out.High post-Main Algonquin glacial lakes formed the highest shorelines along the east shore from Sault Ste. Marie up to Alona Bay between approximately 11 000 and over 10 100 B.P. Contemporaneously a series of Post-Duluth glacial lakes occupied the western Superior basin, subsequent to Glacial Lake Duluth. As the ice retreated to the north shore at 9500 B.P., Lake Minong came into existence. Its level was apparently controlled by a threshold higher than the present at Sault Ste. Marie. The water level of Lake Superior fell to the low water Houghton stage by 8000 B.P. The transgression which resulted in the Nipissing Great Lakes reached the Superior basin about 7000 B.P. and culminated 5500 B.P. Land uplift on the east shore of Lake Superior was very rapid immediately after the deglaciation, followed by decreasing rates up to the present, and there are all indications that the process has been continuous.

GLACIAL FEATURES OF THE QUETICO-NIPIGON AREA, ONTARIO

The surficial deposits, ice movements, and glacial lakes are described within an area of 25 000 square miles in northwestern Ontario. Field studies and subsequent interpretation of aerial photographs suggest the existence of two major and one minor ice mass during late Wisconsin glaciation. Movements by the various ice masses are shown and correlated. The extent of several glacial lakes and their drainage channels are described. A reconstruction of the sequence of events, based on morphological features, allows a tentative correlation of Glacial Lake Agassiz in the west with Glacial Lake Minong stages in the Superior basin. A radiocarbon date of 9 380 ± 150 years B.P. (GSC No. 287) was obtained from wood buried in a post-Minong beach.