Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-v9fdk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-01T21:16:50.743Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Wisconsinan glaciation and postglacial relative sea-level change on western Banks Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Thomas R. Lakeman  and
John H. England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The study revises the maximum extent of the northwest Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) in the western Canadian Arctic Archipelago (CAA) during the last glaciation and documents subsequent ice sheet retreat and glacioisostatic adjustments across western Banks Island. New geomorphological mapping and maximum-limiting radiocarbon ages indicate that the northwest LIS inundated western Banks Island after ~ 31 14C ka BP and reached a terminal ice margin west of the present coastline. The onset of deglaciation and the age of the marine limit (22–40 m asl) are unresolved. Ice sheet retreat across western Banks Island was characterized by the withdrawal of a thin, cold-based ice margin that reached the central interior of the island by ~ 14 cal ka BP. The elevation of the marine limit is greater than previously recognized and consistent with greater glacioisostatic crustal unloading by a more expansive LIS. These results complement emerging bathymetric observations from the Arctic Ocean, which indicate glacial erosion during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to depths of up to 450 m.

Keywords

Laurentide Ice SheetLast Glacial MaximumRelative sea levelPaleo-ice streamsPaleoclimateBanks IslandCanadian Arctic ArchipelagoArctic OceanBeringia
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 80 , Issue 1 , July 2013 , pp. 99 - 112
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

Adamiec, G., Aitken, M.J., (1998). Dose-rate conversion factors update. Ancient TL 16, 37–50.Google Scholar
Aitken, M.J., (1998). An Introduction to Optical Dating: The Dating of Quaternary Sediments by the Use of Photo-Stimulated Luminescence. Oxford Science Publication, .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, J.T., (1970). A geomorphic study of postglacial uplift with particular reference to Arctic Canada. Special Publication Institute of British Geographers, London, England.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Peltier, W.R., (1989). Quaternary geodynamics in Canada. Fulton, R.J. Quaternary Geology of Greenland and Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Canada 541–572.Google Scholar
Antonov, J., Levitus, S., Boyer, T.P., (2005). Thermosteric sea-level rise, 1955–2003. Geophysical Research Letters 32, L1260210.1029/2005GL023112.Google Scholar
Bateman, M.D., Catt, J.A., (1996). An Absolute chronology for the raised beach deposits at Sewerby, E. Yorkshire, UK. Journal of Quaternary Science 11, 389–395.10.1002/(SICI)1099-1417(199609/10)11:5<389::AID-JQS260>3.0.CO;2-K.Google Scholar
Bell, T., Batterson, M.J., Liverman, D.G.E., Shaw, J., (2003). A new late-glacial sea-level record for St. George's Bay, Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 40, 1053–1070.10.1139/e03-024.Google Scholar
Bradley, R.S., England, J.H., (2008). The Younger Dryas and the sea of ancient ice. Quaternary Research 70, 1–10.10.1016/j.yqres.2008.03.002.Google Scholar
Clark, P.U., Dyke, A.S., Shakun, J.D., Carlson, A.E., Clark, J., Wohlfarth, B., Mitrovica, J.X., Hostetler, S.W., McCabe, A.M., (2009). The Last Glacial Maximum. Science 325, 710–714.10.1126/science.1172873.Google Scholar
Coulthard, R.D., (2012). Personal communication. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.Google Scholar
Coulthard, R.D., Furze, M.F.A., Pienkowski, A.J., Nixon, F.C., England, J.H., (2010). New marine ΔR values for Arctic Canada. Quaternary Geochronology 5, 419–434.10.1016/j.quageo.2010.03.002.Google Scholar
Darby, D., Jakobsson, M., Polyak, L., (2005). Icebreaker expedition collects key Arctic sea floor and ice data. EOS Transactions, American Geophysical Union 86, 549–556.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., (1983). Quaternary geology of Somerset Island, District of Franklin. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 404.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., (1984). Quaternary geology of Boothia Peninsula and northern District of Keewatin, Central Canadian Arctic. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 407.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., (1987). A reinterpretation of glacial and marine limits around the northwestern Laurentide Ice Sheet. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 24, 591–601.10.1139/e87-058.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., (2004). An outline of North American deglaciation with emphasis on central and northern Canada. Ehlers, J. Extent and Chronology of Quaternary Glaciation. Elsevier, .Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Peltier, W.R., (2000). Forms, response times and variability of relative sea-level curves, glaciated North America. Geomorphology 32, 315–333.10.1016/S0169-555X(99)00102-6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Prest, V.K., (1987). Late Wisconsinan and Holocene history of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 41, 237–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Morris, T.S., Green, D.E.C., England, J., (1992). Quaternary geology of Prince of Wales Island, Arctic Canada. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 433.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Dale, J.E., McNeely, R.N., (1996). Marine molluscs as indicators of environmental change in glaciated North America and Greenland during the last 18,000 years. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 50, 125–184.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Andrews, J.T., Clark, P.U., England, J.H., Miller, G.H., Shaw, J., Veillette, J.J., (2002). The Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 9–31.10.1016/S0277-3791(01)00095-6.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Moore, A., Robertson, L., (2003). Deglaciation of North America. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 1574.Google Scholar
Engels, J.L., Edwards, M.H., Polyak, L., Johnson, P.D., (2008). Seafloor evidence for ice shelf flow across the Alaska–Beaufort margin of the Arctic Ocean. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 33, 1047–1063.10.1002/esp1601.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
England, J.H., Furze, M.F.A., (2008). New evidence from the western Canadian Arctic Archipelago for the resubmergence of Bering Strait. Quaternary Research 70, 60–67.10.1016/j.yqres.2008.03.001.Google Scholar
England, J.H., Furze, M.F.A., (2010). Personal communication. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.Google Scholar
England, J.H., Furze, M.F.A., (2011). The Viscount Melville Sound Ice Shelf of the NW Laurentide Ice Sheet: a story befitting the seminal contributions of Art Dyke. 41st International Arctic Workshop, Université du Québec à Montreal, Montréal, Canada, March 2–4, 2011.Google Scholar
England, J.H., Atkinson, H., Bednarski, J., Dyke, A.S., Hodgson, D.A., O'Cofaigh, C., (2006). The Innuitian Ice Sheet: configuration, dynamics and chronology. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 689–703.10.1016/j.quascirev.2005.08.007.Google Scholar
England, J.H., Furze, M.F.A., Doupé, J.P., (2009). Revision of the NW Laurentide Ice Sheet: implications for paleoclimate, the northeast extremity of Beringia, and Arctic Ocean sedimentation. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 1573–1596.10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.04.006.Google Scholar
French, H.M., (1972). The proglacial drainage of northwest Banks Island. The Musk-Ox 10, 26–31.Google Scholar
Fyles, J.G., (1962). Physiography. Thorsteinsson, R., Tozer, E.T., Banks, Victoria, Island, Stefansson Arctic Archipelago. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 330 8–17.Google Scholar
Hanson, M., (2003). Late Quaternary Glaciation, Relative Sea Level History and Recent Coastal Submergence of Northeast Melville Island, Nunavut. M.Sc. thesis. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Google Scholar
Harington, C.R., (2005). The eastern limit of Beringia: mammoth remains from Banks and Melville islands, Northwest Territories. Arctic 58, 361–369.Google Scholar
Hobbs, W.H., (1945). The boundary of the latest glaciation in Arctic Canada. Science 101, 549–551.10.1126/science.101.2631.549.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hodgson, D.A., (1994). Episodic ice streams and ice shelves during retreat of the northwesternmost sector of the late Wisconsinan Laurentide Ice Sheet over the central Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Boreas 23, 14–28.10.1111/j.1502-3885.1994.tb00582.x.Google Scholar
Hodgson, D.A., Vincent, J.-S., (1984). A 10,000 yr B.P. extensive ice shelf over Viscount Melville Sound, Arctic Canada. Quaternary Research 22, 18–30.10.1016/0033-5894(84)90003-6.Google Scholar
Hodgson, D.A., Taylor, R.B., Fyles, J.G., (1994). Late Quaternary sea level changes on Brock and Prince Patrick islands, western Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 48, 69–84.Google Scholar
Jakobsson, M., (1999). First high-resolution chirp sonar profiles from the central Arctic Ocean reveal erosion of the Lomonosov Ridge sediments. Marine Geology 158, 111–123.10.1016/S0025-3227(98)00186-8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jakobsson, M., Gardner, J.V., Vogt, P., Mayer, L.A., Armstrong, A., Backman, J., Brennan, R., Calder, B., Hall, J.K., Kraft, B., (2005). Multibeam bathymetric and sediment profiler evidence for ice grounding on the Chukchi Borderland, Arctic Ocean. Quaternary Research 63, 150–160.10.1016/j.yqres.2004.12.004.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jakobsson, M., Macnab, R., Mayer, L., Anderson, R., Edwards, M., Hatzky, J., Schenke, H.W., Johnson, P., (2008a). An improved bathymetric portrayal of the Arctic Ocean: implications for ocean modeling and geological, geophysical and oceanographic analyses. Geophysical Research Letters 35, L0760210.1029/2008GL033520.Google Scholar
Jakobsson, M., Polyak, L., Edwards, M., Kleman, J., Coakley, B., (2008b). Glacial geomorphology of the Central Arctic Ocean: the Chukchi Borderland and the Lomonosov Ridge. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 33, 526–545.10.1002/esp.1667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jakobsson, M., Nilsson, J., O'Regan, M., Backman, J., Löwemark, L., Dowdeswell, J.A., Mayer, L., Polyak, L., Colleoni, F., Anderson, L.G., Björk, G., Darby, D., Eriksson, B., Hanslik, D., Hell, B., Marcussen, C., Sellén, E., Wallin, Å., (2010). An Arctic Ocean ice shelf during MIS 6 constrained by new geophysical and geological data. Quaternary Science Reviews 25–26, 3505–3517.10.1016/j.quascirev.2010.03.015.Google Scholar
Jenness, J.L., (1952). Problem of glaciation in the western islands of Arctic Canada. Bulletin Geological Society of America 63, 939–952.10.1130/0016-7606(1952) 63[939:POGITW]2.0.CO;2.Google Scholar
Kaufman, D.S., (2004). Holocene thermal maximum in the western Arctic (0–180°W). Quaternary Science Reviews 23, 529–560.doi:10.1016j.quascirev.2003.09.007.Google Scholar
Kristoffersen, Y., Coakley, B., Jokat, W., Edwards, M., Brekke, H., Gjengedal, J., (2004). Seabed erosion on the Lomonosov Ridge, central Arctic Ocean: a tale of deep draft icebergs in the Eurasia Basin and the influence of Atlantic water inflow on iceberg motion?. Paleoceanography 19, PA300610.1029/2003PA000985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lajeunesse, P., Hanson, M., (2008). Field observations of recent transgression on northern and eastern Melville Island, western Canadian High Arctic. Geomorphology 101, 618–630.10.1016/j.geomorph.2008.03.002.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lakeman, T.R., England, J.H., (2012). Paleoglaciological insights from the age and morphology of the Jesse moraine belt, western Canadian Arctic. Quaternary Science Reviews 47, 82–100.10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.04.018.Google Scholar
MacLean, B., Blasco, S., Bennett, R., Lakeman, T., Hughes-Clarke, J., (2012). Geological history of Amundsen Gulf over the last ~ 19,000 years: ameliorating climate transition from glacial to interglacial conditions.Abstract #650. International Polar Year 2012 Conference, Montreal, PQ, April 22–27, 2012.Google Scholar
MacPhee, R.D.E., (2007). Mammoths in the insular Nearctic? Some constraints on the existence of a Pleistocene megafaunal refugium in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Quaternary International 169–170, 29–38.10.1016/j.quaint.2006.08.007.Google Scholar
Manning, T.H., (1956). Narrative of a second Defence Research Board expedition to Banks Island, with notes on the country and its history. Arctic 9, 2–77.Google Scholar
Marsh, R.E., Prestwich, W.V., Rink, W.J., Brennan, B.J., (2002). Monte Carlo determinations of the beta dose rate to tooth enamel. Radiation Measurements 35, 609–616.10.1016/S1350-4487(02)00065-3.Google Scholar
Miall, A.D., (1979). Mesozoic and Tertiary geology of Banks Island, Arctic Canada: the history of an unstable craton margin. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir.387.Google Scholar
Murray, A.S., Wintle, A.G., (2000). Luminescence dating of quartz using an improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose protocol. Radiation Measurements 32, 57–73.10.1016/S1350-4487(99)00253-X.Google Scholar
Nixon, F.C., (2012). The glacial, sea level, and sea ice histories of Melville and Eglinton islands, western Canadian High Arctic: Last Glacial Maximum to present. Ph.D. thesis. University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R., Fairbanks, R.G., (2006). Global glacial ice volume and Last Glacial Maximum duration from an extended Barbados sea level record. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, 3322–3337.10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.04.010.Google Scholar
Polyak, L., Edwards, M.H., Coakley, B.J., Jakobsson, M., (2001). Ice shelves in the Pleistocene Arctic Ocean inferred from glaciogenic deep-sea bedforms. Nature 410, 453–457.10.1038/35068536.Google Scholar
Polyak, L., Curry, W.B., Darby, D.A., Bischof, J., Cronin, T.M., (2004). Contrasting glacial/interglacial regimes in the western Arctic Ocean as exemplified by a sedimentary record from the Mendeleev Ridge. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 203, 73–93.10.1016/S0031-0182(03)00661-8.Google Scholar
Polyak, L., Darby, D., Bischof, J., Jakobsson, M., (2007). Stratigraphic constraints on late Pleistocene glacial erosion and deglaciation of the Chukchi margin, Arctic Ocean. Quaternary Research 67, 234–245.10.1016/j.yqres.2006.08.001.Google Scholar
Polyak, L., Bischof, J., Ortiz, J.D., Darby, D.A., Channell, J.E.T., Xuan, C., Kaufman, D.S., Løvlie, R., Schneider, D.A., Eberl, D.D., Adler, R.E., Council, E.A., (2009). Late Quaternary stratigraphy and sedimentation patterns in the western Arctic Ocean. Global and Planetary Change 68, 5–17.10.1016/j.gloplacha.2009.03.014.Google Scholar
Poore, R.Z., Osterman, L., Curry, W.B., Phillips, R.L., (1999). Late Pleistocene and Holocene meltwater events in the western Arctic Ocean. Geology 27, 759–762.10.1130/0091-7613(1999)027<0759:LPAHME>2.3.CO;2.Google Scholar
Porsild, A.E., (1950). A biological exploration of Banks and Victoria Islands. Arctic 3, 45–54.Google Scholar
Prest, V.K., (1969). Retreat of Wisconsin and Recent ice in North America. Geological Survey of Canada Map 1257A, scale 1:5,000,000. Google Scholar
Scott, D.B., Schell, T., St.-Onge, G., Rochon, A., Blasco, S., (2009). Foraminiferal assemblage changes over the last 15,000 years on the Mackenzie–Beaufort sea slope and Amundsen Gulf, Canada: implications for past sea ice conditions. Paleoceanography 24, PA221910.1029/2007PA001575.Google Scholar
Shaw, J., Forbes, D.L., (1995). The postglacial relative sea-level lowstand in Newfoundland. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 32, 1308–1330.10.1139/e95-107.Google Scholar
Siddall, M., Milne, G.A., (2012). Understanding sea-level change is impossible without both insights from paleo studies and working across disciplines. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 315–316, 2–3.10.1016/j.epsl.2011.10.023.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stea, R.R., Fader, G., Scott, D.B., Wu, P., (2001). Glaciation and relative sea-level change in Maritime Canada. Retelle, M.J., Weddle, T.K. Deglacial History and Relative Sea-Level Changes, Northern New England and Adjacent Canada. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 351 35–50.Google Scholar
Stokes, C.R., Clark, C.D., Darby, D.A., Hodgson, D.A., (2005). Late Pleistocene ice export events into the Arctic Ocean from the M'Clure Strait Ice Stream, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Global and Planetary Change 49, 139–162.10.1016/j.gloplacha.2005.06.001.Google Scholar
Stokes, C.R., Clark, C.D., Winsborrow, M.C.M., (2006). Subglacial bedform evidence for a major palaeo-ice stream and its retreat phases in Amundsen Gulf, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Journal of Quaternary Science 21, 399–412.10.1002/jqs.991.Google Scholar
Stokes, C.R., Clark, C.D., Storrar, R., (2009). Major changes in ice stream dynamics during deglaciation of the north-western margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Quaternary Science Reviews 28, 721–738.10.1016/j.quascirev.2008.07.019.Google Scholar
Tarasov, L., Peltier, W.R., (2004). A geophysically constrained large ensemble analysis of the deglacial history of the North American ice-sheet complex. Quaternary Science Reviews 23, 359–388.10.1016/j.quascirev.2003.08.004.Google Scholar
Tarasov, L., Dyke, A.S., Neal, R.M., Peltier, W.R., (2012). A data-calibrated distribution of deglacial chronologies for the North American ice complex from glaciological modeling. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 315–316, 30–40.10.1016/j.epsl.2011.09.010.Google Scholar
Vincent, J.-S., (1982). The quaternary history of Banks Island, NWT, Canada. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 36, 209–232.Google Scholar
Vincent, J.-S., (1983). La géologie du Quaternaire et la géomorphologie de l'Île Banks, Arctique Canadien. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 405.Google Scholar
Vincent, J.-S., (1984). Quaternary stratigraphy of the western Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Fulton, R.J. Quaternary Stratigraphy of Canada — a Canadian Contribution to IGCP Project 24. Geological Survey of Canada Paper, 84–10 87–100.Google Scholar
Vincent, J.-S., Morris, W.A., Occhietti, S., (1984). Glacial and nonglacial sediments of Matuyama paleomagnetic age on Banks Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Geology 12, 139–142.10.1130/0091-7613(1984) 12<139:GANSOM>2.0.CO;2.Google Scholar
Vogt, P.R., Crane, K., Sundvor, E., (1994). Deep Pleistocene iceberg plowmarks on the Yermak Plateau: sidescan and 3.5 kHz evidence for thick calving ice fronts and a possible marine ice sheet in the Arctic Ocean. Geology 22, 403–406.10.1130/0091-7613(1994)022<0403:DPIPOT>2.3.CO;2.Google Scholar
Washburn, A.L., (1947). Reconnaissance geology of portions of Victoria Island and adjacent regions, Arctic Canada. Geological Society of America, Memoir 22.Google Scholar
Wilson, J.T., Falconer, G., Mathews, W.H., Prest, V.K., (1958). Glacial Map of Canada. Geological Association of Canada, scale 1:5,000,000. Google Scholar