Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-27T02:50:58.804Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Glacial lake deltas in New England record continuous, not delayed, postglacial rebound

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Roger LeBaron Hooke  and
John Charles Ridge
Roger LeBaron Hooke*
Affiliation:
School of Earth and Climate Sciences and Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, USA
John Charles Ridge
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author. E-mail address:rogerhooke@gmail.com (R.L. Hooke).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Deltas formed in Lake Hitchcock, a glacial lake that developed in the Connecticut River Valley, New England, between ∼18.3 and 12.5 ka. The heights of topset/foreset contacts of these deltas presently increase northward, linearly, at rate of ∼0.9 m/km. Others have interpreted this as indicating that isostatic rebound did not begin until after the lake drained, several kiloyears after glacial retreat began. However, (non-elastic) adjustment of Earth's lithosphere to changing loads is known to occur on time scales of years. Late-glacial shoreline features elsewhere in New England also increase in elevation with distance from the LGM margin at ∼0.9 m/km, suggesting that this is a result of fundamental properties of the crust and mantle, and independent of the history of glacier retreat. On the basis of a numerical model of flexure of the lithosphere beneath a circular load, we suggest that deflection of the lithosphere is remarkably linear in a zone 50–200 km wide between the retreating ice margin and a forebulge, and that initial rebound of this zone is spatially quite uniform for some kiloyears before differential rebound starts. Thus, lake shorelines, formed over a period of some centuries during deglaciation would, today, rise linearly northward.

Keywords

Lake HitchcockDelayed reboundCrustal flexureGlacial isostasyLate Wisconsinan
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 85 , Issue 3 , May 2016 , pp. 399 - 408
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Antevs, E. (1928). The last glaciation, with special reference to the ice sheet in northeastern North America. American Geographical Society Research Series 17, 292 ppGoogle Scholar
Balco, G., Belknap, D.F., Kelley, J.T.(1998). Glacioisostasy and lake-level change, Moosehead Lake, Maine. Quaternary Research 49, 157–170.Google Scholar
Balco, G., Stone, J., Porter, S., Caffee, M.(2002). Cosmogenic-nuclide ages for New England coastal moraines, Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 2127–2135.Google Scholar
Balco, G., Briner, J., Finkel, R.C., Rayburn, J.A., Ridge, J.C., Schaefer, J.M.(2009). Regional beryllium-10 production rate calibration for late-glacial northeastern North America. Quaternary Geochronology 4, 93–107.Google Scholar
Brotchie, J.F., Silvester, R.(1969). On crustal flexure. Journal of Geophysical Research 74, 22 5240–5252.Google Scholar
Clark, J.A. (1976a). )Greenland's rapid postglacial emergence: a result of ice-water gravitational attraction. Geology 4, 5 310–312.Google Scholar
Clark, J.A. (1976b). )Greenland's rapid postglacial emergence: a result of ice-water gravitational attraction: reply. Geology 4, 8 453–454.Google Scholar
Dubois, V.M., Daigneault, R.-A., Roy, M.(2015). Ice flow chronology and ice retreat pattern in the Outaouais region, southwestern Quebec (Canada). Northeastern Section, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Bretton Woods, NH vol. 47, (3)Google Scholar
Farrell, W.E., Clark, J.A.(1976). On post glacial sea level. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society 46, 647–667.Google Scholar
Flint, R.F. (1933). Late Pleistocene sequence in the Connecticut River Valley. Geological Society of America Bulletin 44, 965–988.Google Scholar
Groen, J., Clark, J.A., Koteff, C.(1986). Glacio-isostatic uplift of proglacial Lake Hitchcock. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 18, 20 Google Scholar
Kaufmann, G., Amelung, F.(2000). Reservoir-induced deformation and continental rheology in vicinity of Lake Mead, Nevada. Journal of Geophysical Research 105, B7 16,341–16,358.Google Scholar
Kirby, J.F., Swain, C.J.(2009). A reassessment of spectral Te estimation in continental interiors: the case of North America. Journal of Geophysical Research 114, B8 10.1029/2009JB006356 B08401Google Scholar
Koteff, C. (1982). Deglacial history of glacial lake Nashua, east-central Massachusetts.Larson, G.J., Stone, B.D. Late Wisconsinan Glaciation of New England. Kendall/Hunt Publishing, Dubuque, Iowa.129–143.Google Scholar
Koteff, C., Larsen, F.D.(1989). Postglacial uplift in western New England: geologic evidence for delayed rebound.Gregerson, S., Basham, P.W. Earthquakes at North Atlantic Passive Margins: Neotectonic and Postglacial Rebound. Kluwer Academic, Amsterdam.105–123.Google Scholar
Koteff, C., Robinson, G.R., Goldsmith, R., Thompson, W.B.(1993). Delayed postglacial uplift and synglacial sea levels in coastal central New England. Quaternary Research 40, 46–54.Google Scholar
Lambeck, K., Rouby, H., Purcell, A., Sun, Y., Sambridge, M.(2014). Sea level and global ice volumes from the last glacial maximum to the Holocene. PNAS 111, 43 15296–15303. 10.1073/pnas.1411762111Google Scholar
Leduc, E., Daigneault, R.-A.(2015). Ice flow history and deglaciation pattern in the Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean area (Quebec, Canada). Northeastern Section, Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Bretton Woods, NH vol. 47, (3)Google Scholar
Le Meur, E., Huybrechts, P.(1996). A comparison of different ways of dealing with isostasy: examples from modeling the Antarctic ice sheet during the last glacial cycle. Annals of Glaciology 23, 309–317.Google Scholar
Lewis, C.F.M., Blasco, S.M., Gareau, P.L.(2005). Glacial isostatic adjustment of the Laurentian Great Lakes basin: using the empirical record of strandline deformation for reconstruction of the early Holocene paleo-lakes and discovery of a hydrological closed basin phase. G"ographie physique et Quaternaire 59, 2"3 187–210.Google Scholar
Lewis, C.F.M., Todd, B.J., Forbes, D.L., Nielsen, E., Thorliefson, L.H.(2000). Architecture, age, and lithology of sediments in Lake Winnipeg: seismostratigraphy, long-core lithostratigraphy, and basin evolution.pp. 127"188Todd, B.J., Lewis, C.F.M., Forbes, D.L., Thorliefson, L.H., Nielsen, E. 1996 Lake Winnipeg Project: Cruise Report and Scientific ResultsGeological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Open File Report 3070, 342 ppGoogle Scholar
McConnell jr., R.K. (1968). Viscosity of the mantle from relaxation time spectra of isostatic adjustment. Journal of Geophysical Research 73, 22 7089–7105.Google Scholar
Mitrovica, J.X., Tamisiea, M.E., Davis, J.L., Milne, G.A.(2001). Recent mass balance of polar ice sheets inferred from patterns of global sea-level change. Nature 409, 1026–1029.Google Scholar
Mooney, W.D., Kaban, M.K.(2010). The North American upper mantle: density, composition, and structure. Journal of Geophysical Research 115, 10.1029/2010JB000866 B12424Google Scholar
Nienhouse, E. (undated ms). Glacial Lake Hitchcock: a counter hypothesis. Research Project under direction of Clark, Dr. J., 15 pp.Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R. (1998). Postglacial variations in the level of the sea: implications for climate dynamics and solid-earth geophysics. Reviews of Geophysics 36, 603–689.Google Scholar
Rayburn, J.A. (2004). Deglaciation of the Champlain Valley New York and Vermont and its Possible Effects on North Atlantic Climate Change.PhD dissertationState University of New York at Binghamton, 158 ppGoogle Scholar
Rayburn, J.A., Knuepfer, P.L.K., Franzi, D.A.(2005). A series of large, Late Wisconsinan meltwater floods through the Champlain and Hudson Valleys, New York State, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, 2410–2419.Google Scholar
Ridge, J.C. (1990). Surficial geologic map of the Walpole, N.H. (7.5 x 15 minute) Quadrangle: New Hampshire Geological Survey. Open-File Report, 2 sheets and explanation. (last technical revision in GIS format 2011). Google Scholar
Ridge, J.C. (1999). Surficial Geologic Map of the Bellows Falls Quadrangle (7.5 x 15-minutes), Cheshire and Sullivan Counties, N.H. and Windham and Windsor Counties, Vt.: New Hampshire State Geological Survey Open-file Report. 2 map sheets. (last technical revision in GIS format 2011). Google Scholar
Ridge, J.C. (2001). Surficial Geologic Map of part of the Springfield Quadrangle (7.5 x 15-minutes), Sullivan County, N.H. and Windsor County, Vt.: New Hampshire State Geological Survey Open-file Report, 3 map sheets. (last technical revision in GIS format 2011).Google Scholar
Ridge, J.C. (2004). The Quaternary glaciation of western New England with correlations to surrounding areas.Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P. L. Quaternary Glaciations"extent and Chronology, Part II: North America. Elsevier, Amsterdam.163–193.Developments in Quaternary Science 2bGoogle Scholar
Ridge, J.C., Balco, G., Bayless, R.L., Beck, C.C., Carter, L.B., Dean, J.L., Voytek, E.B., Wei, J.H.(2012). The new North American varve chronology: a precise record of southeastern Laurentide ice sheet deglaciation and climate, 18.2"12.5 kyr BP, and correlations with Greenland ice core records. American Journal of Science 312, 685–722.Google Scholar
Sella, G.F., Stein, S., Dixon, T.H., Craymer, M., James, T.S., Mazzotti, S., Dokka, R.K.(2007). Observation of glacial isostatic adjustment in "stable" North America with GPS. Geophysical Research Letters 34, 10.1029/2006GL027081 L02306Google Scholar
Stone, J.R., Ashley, G.M.(1995). Timing and mechanisms of glacial Lake Hitchcock drainage. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 27, 1 85 Google Scholar
Stone, J.R., Lewis, R.S., Ridge, J.C.(2015). Glacial Lake Hitchcock and the Sea.State Geological and Natural History Survey of Connecticut Guidebook no. 1057 ppGoogle Scholar
Tapscott, C. (1976). Greenland's rapid postglacial emergence: a result of ice-water gravitational attraction: comment. Geology 4, 8 452 Google Scholar
Tesauro, M., Kaban, M.K., Cloetingh, A.P.I.(2012). Global strength and elastic thickness of the lithosphere. Global and Planetary Change 90"91, 51–57.Google Scholar
Walcott, R.I. (1970). Flexural rigidity, thickness, and viscosity of the lithosphere. Journal of Geophysical Research 75, 20 3941–3954.Google Scholar
Zen, E-an, Goldsmith, R., Ratcliffe, N.M., Robinson, P., Stanley, R.S., Hatch, N.L., Shride, A.F., Weed, E.G.A., Wones, D.R.(1983). Bedrock Geologic Map of Massachusetts.U.S Geological SurveyGoogle Scholar