Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-02T19:32:44.899Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Growth rate of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and sea Level Lowering (with Emphasis on the 115,000 BP Sea Level Low)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

J.T. Andrews  and
M.A.W. Mahaffy
J.T. Andrews
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Department of the Geological Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
M.A.W. Mahaffy
Affiliation:
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research and Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A physically plausible three-dimensional numerical ice flow model is used to examine the rate at which the Laurentide Ice Sheet could spread and thicken using as input likely values for the rate of fall of snowline and the amount of net mass balance over the growing ice sheet. This provides then both a test of the hypothesis of “instantaneous glacierization” and of the suggested rapid fall of world sea level to between −20 and −70 m below present at 115,000 BP. Two experiments are described: The first terminated after 10,050 years of model run with ice sheets centered over Labrador-Ungava and Baffin Island with a total volume of 3.0 × 106 km3 of ice, whereas the second was completed after 10,000 years and resulted in a significantly larger ice sheet (still with two main centers) with a volume of 7.78 × 106 km3 of ice. This latter figure is equivalent to the mass required to lower world sea level by 19.4 m. Our results indicate that large ice sheets can develop in about 10,000 years under optimum conditions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 6 , Issue 2 , June 1976 , pp. 167 - 183
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

Adam, D.P., (1975). Ice Ages and the thermal equilibrium of the earth. II. Quaternary Research 5 161–172.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, J.T., (1973). The Wisconsin Laurentide ice sheet: dispersal centers, problems of rates of retreat, and climatic implications. Arctic & Alpine Research 5 185–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, J.T., (1974). Cainozoic glaciations and crustal movements of the arctic. Ives, J.D., Barry, R.G. Arctic and Alpine Environments Methuen London 277–318.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Barry, R.G., Bradley, R.S., Miller, G.H., Williams, L.D., (1972). Past and present glaciological responses to climate in eastern Baffin Island. Quaternary Research 2 303–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, J.T., (1975). The Laurentide Ice Sheet: Problems of the Mode and Speed of Inception WMO/IAMAP Symposium on Long-term Climatic Fluctuations. Norwich WMO No. 421 87–96.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Funder, S., Hjort, C., Imbrie, J., (1974). Comparison of the glacial chronology of eastern Baffin Island, East Greenland, and the Camp Century accumulation record. Geology 2 355–358.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Miller, G.H., (1972). Maps of the present glaciation limits and lowest equilibrium line altitude for north and south Baffin Island. Arctic & Alpine Research 4 45–60.Google Scholar
Barry, R.G., (1966). Meteorological aspects of the glacial history of Labrador-Ungawa with special reference to atmospheric vapour transport. Geographical Bulletin 8 319–340.Google Scholar
Barry, R.G., Ives, J.D., Andrews, J.T., (1971). A discussion of atmospheric circulation during the last ice age. Quaternary Research 1 415–418.Google Scholar
Bloom, A.L., (1971). Glacial eustatic and isostatic controls of sea level since the last glaciation. Turekian, K.K. The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages Yale University Press New Haven, Conn 355–380.Google Scholar
Bloom, A.L., Broecker, W.S., Chappell, J.M.A., Matthews, R.K., Mesolella, K.J., (1974). Quaternary sea level fluctuations on a tectonic coast: new 230Th/234U dates from the Huon Peninsula, New Guinea. Quaternary Research 4 185–205.Google Scholar
Bradley, R.S., (1973). Recent freezing level changes and climatic deterioration in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Nature (London) 243 398–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, R.S., Miller, G.H., (1972). Recent climatic change and increased glacierization in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Nature (London) 237 385–387.Google Scholar
Bird, J.B., (1953). The glaciation of central Keewatin, Northwest Territories, Canada. American Journal Science 251 215–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brinkmann, W.A.R., Barry, R.G., (1972). Paleoclimatological aspects of the synoptic climatology of Keewatin, Northwest Territories, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 11 77–91.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., Donk, J.V., (1970). Insolation changes, ice volumes, and the SO18 record in deep-sea cores. Review of Geophysics and Space Physics 8 169–198.Google Scholar
Calder, N., (1975). The Weather Machine. Viking Press New York .Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W., Johnsen, S.J., Clausen, H.B., Langway, C.C. Jr., (1971). Climatic record revealed by the Camp Century ice core. Turekian, K.K. The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages Yale University Press New Haven, Conn 37–70.Google Scholar
Dreimanis, A., Goldthwait, R.P., (1973). Wisconsin Glaciation in the Huron, Erie, and Ontario lobes. Black, R.F., Goldthwait, R.P., Williman, H.B. The Wisconsian Stage Geological Society American, Memoir 136 71–106.Google Scholar
Fairbridge, R.W., (1972). Climatology of a glacial cycle. Quaternary Research 2 283–302.Google Scholar
Flohn, H., (1974). Background of a geophysical model of the initiaiton of the next glaciation. Quaternary Research 4 385–404.Google Scholar
Hare, F.K., Hay, J.E., (1971). Anomalies in large-scale annual water balance over northern North America. Canadian Geographer 15 79–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hattersley-Smith, G., (1974). Present arctic ice cover. Ives, J.D., Barry, R.G. Arctic and Alpine Environments Methuen London 195–223.Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M., (1973). Sea level history in Beringia during the past 250,000 years. Quaternary Research 3 520–540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ives, J.D., (1957). Glaciation of the Torngat Mountains, northern Labrador. Arctic 10 67–87.Google Scholar
Ives, J.D., (1958). Glacial geomorphology of the Torngat Mountains, northern Labrador. Geographical Bulletin 12 47–75.Google Scholar
Ives, J.D., (1962). Indications of recent extensive glacierization in northcentral Baffin Island, N.W.T.. Journal of Glaciology 4 197–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ives, J.D., (1974). Biological refugia and the nunatak hypothesis. Ives, J.D., Barry, R.G. Arctic and Alpine Environments Methuen London 605–636.Google Scholar
Ives, J.D., Andrews, J.T., Barry, R.G., (1975). Growth and decay of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and comparisons with Fennoscandia. Naturwissenschaften 62 118–125.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamb, H.H., (1966). The Changing Climate. Methuen London .Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H., (1974). Atmospheric circulation during the onset and maximum development of the Wisconsin/Würm ice age. Herman, Y. Marine Geology and Oceanography of the Arctic Seas Springer-Verlag New York 349–358.Google Scholar
Lamb, H.H., Woodroffe, A., (1970). Atmospheric circulation during the last Ice Age. Quaternary Research 1 29–58.Google Scholar
Loewe, F., (1971). Considerations on the origins of the Quaternary Ice Sheet of North America. Arctic & Alpine Research 3 331–344.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mahaffy, M.A.W., (1974). A Three-Dimensional Numerical Method for Computing the Load Distribution of Ice Sheets with Time. M.Sc. thesis University of Colorado Boulder .Google Scholar
Mahaffy, M.A.W., (1976). A numerical three-dimensional ice flow model. Journal of Geophysics Research 81 1059–1066.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mangion, S., Matthews, R.K., (1974). Sea level dynamics at the end of the last interglacial: inferences from 125,000 year old reef, Barbados, West Indies. American Geological Society, Abstracts 6 855.Google Scholar
Miller, G.H., Bradley, R.S., Andrews, J.T., (1975). The glaciation level and lowest equilibrium line altitude in the High Canadian Arctic: maps and climatic interpretation. Arctic & Alpine Research 7 155–168.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, G.H., Dyke, A.S., (1974). Proposed extent of late Wisconsin Laurentide ice on eastern Baffin Island. Geology 2 125–130.Google Scholar
Mörner, M.A., Rikard, D., (1974). Quantitative analysis of eustatic changes and climatic cycles. Les méthods quantitatives d'étude des variations du climat au cours du Pléistocène C.N.R.S France, Gif-sur-Yvette 143–153No. 219.Google Scholar
Prest, V.K., (1970). Quaternary geology in Canada. Geology and Economic Minerals of Canada. 5th ed. Geology Survey of Canada, Economic Geology, Report 1 675–764Ottawa.Google Scholar
Richmond, G.M., (1972). Appraisal of the future climate of the Holocene in the Rocky Mountains. Quaternary Research 2 315–322.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shackleton, N.J., Opdyke, N.D., (1973). Oxygen isotope and paleomagnetic stratigraphy of equatorial Pacific core V28-238: Oxygen isotope temperatures and ice volumes on a 105 year and 106 year scale. Quaternary Research 3 39–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skinner, R.G., (1973). Quaternary stratigraphy of the Moose River Basin, Ontario. Geological Survey of Canada Bulletin 225.Google Scholar
Stearns, H.T., (1974). Submerged shorelines and shelves in the Hawaiin islands and a revision of some of the eustatic emerged shorelines. Bulletin of the Geological Society America 85 795–804.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steinen, R.P., Harrison, R.S., Matthews, R.K., (1973). Eustatic lowstand of sea level between 125,000 and 105,000 years BP: evidence from the subsurface of Barbados, West Indies. Bulletin of the Geological Society America 84 63–70.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taylor, R.S., (1956). Glacial geology of north-central Keewatin, N.W.T., Canada. Bulletin of the Geological Society America 67 943–956.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terasmae, J., Webber, P.J., Andrews, J.T., (1966). A study of late Quaternary plant-bearing beds in north-central Baffin Island, Canada. Arctic 19 296–318.Google Scholar
Weertman, J., (1964). Rate of growth or shrinkage of non-equilibrium ice sheets. Journal of Glaciology 5 145–158.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, L.D., (1975a). Computed Effects of Solar Radiation Charges upon Summer Snow Cover in Northern Canada. WMO/IAMAP Symposium on Climatic Fluctuations WMO No. 421 287–292Norwich, England.Google Scholar
Williams, L.D., (1975b). The variation of corrie elevation and equilibrium line altitude with aspect in eastern Baffin Island. Arctic & Alpine Research 7 2 169–181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, J., (1975). The influence of snow cover on the atmospheric circulation and its role in climatic change: an analysis based on results from the NCAR global circulation model. Journal of Applied Meteorology 14 137–152.Google Scholar
Wright, C., (1975). Lichen-Free Areas as Indicators of Recent Extensive Glacierization in North-Central Baffin Island, N.W.T., Canada. M.A. thesis University of Colorado Boulder .Google Scholar