Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T17:49:33.915Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Pleistocene and Holocene ice-wedge activity on the Blackstone Plateau, central Yukon, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2018

Mike Grinter ,
Denis Lacelle ,
Natalia Baranova ,
Sarah Murseli  and
Ian D. Clark
Mike Grinter
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, 120 University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada
Denis Lacelle*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa, 60 University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada
Natalia Baranova
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, 120 University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada
Sarah Murseli
Affiliation:
Andre E. Lalonde AMS Laboratory, Advanced Research Complex, 25 Templeton, University of Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada
Ian D. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, 120 University, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada
*
*Corresponding author at: Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. E-mail address: dlacelle@uottawa.ca (D. Lacelle).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Ice-wedge activity can be used to reconstruct past environmental conditions. We investigated the moisture source and timing of ice-wedge formation on the Blackstone Plateau. A section of permafrost exposed ice wedges that developed at two distinct depths: the first set formed syngenetically and penetrated alluvial silts from the top of permafrost; the second set, truncated by an erosional or thaw contact, was found solely in icy muddy gravels (>3.1 m depth). The δ18O and D-excess records of the ice wedges suggest that they formed from freezing of snow meltwater whose isotopic composition evolved during meltout. The 14CDOC results suggest that climate was favorable to ice-wedge growth between 32,000–30,000 and 14,000–12,500 cal yr BP, but there was likely a hiatus during the last glacial maximum due to climate being too dry. During the early to mid-Holocene, ice wedges were inactive as a result of warmer and wetter climate. Ice wedge re-initiated around 6360 cal yr BP, with a peak in activity between 3980 and 920 cal yr BP, a period characterized by cool and moist climate. Overall, timing of ice-wedge activity was broadly consistent with the climate and vegetation evolution in the western Arctic.

Keywords

Ground icePermafrostCryostratigraphyRadiocarbon datingDOC datingArctic
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , January 2019 , pp. 179 - 193
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2018 

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

REFERENCES

Ala-aho, P., Tetzlaff, D., McNamara, J.P., Laudon, H., Kormos, P., Soulsby, C., 2017. Modeling the isotopic evolution of snowpack and snowmelt: testing a spatially distributed parsimonious approach. Water Resources Research 53, 5813–5830.Google Scholar
Baranova, N., 2017. Evaluating groundwater in a permafrost watershed using seasonal geochemical and isotope dicharge trends, Ogilvie River, Yukon. Master’s thesis, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada.Google Scholar
Bengtsson, L., Enell, M., 1986. Chemical analysis. in: Berglund, B.E. (Ed.), Handbook of Holocene Palaeoecology and Palaeohydrology. Wiley, Chichester, pp. 423–445.Google Scholar
Boereboom, T., Samyn, D., Meyer, H., Tison, J.-L., 2013. Stable isotope and gas properties of two climatically contrasting (Pleistocene and Holocene) ice wedges from Cape Mamontov Klyk, Laptev Sea, northern Siberia. The Cryosphere 7, 31–46.Google Scholar
Briner, J.P., Kaufman, D.S., Manley, W.F., Finkel, R.C., Caffee, M.W., 2005. Cosmogenic exposure dating of late Pleistocene moraine stabilization in Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 1108–1120.Google Scholar
Bronk Ramsey, C., 2009. Bayesian Analysis of Radiocarbon Dates. Radiocarbon 51, 337–360.Google Scholar
Burn, C.R., 1990. Implications for palaeoenvironmental reconstruction of recent ice‐wedge development at Mayo, Yukon territory. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 1, 3–14.Google Scholar
Burn, C.R., 1997. Cryostratigraphy, paleogeography, and climate change during the early Holocene warm interval, western Arctic coast, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 34, 912–925.Google Scholar
Burn, C.R., Michel, F.A., Smith, M.W., 1986. Stratigraphic, isotopic, and mineralogical evidence for an early Holocene thaw unconformity at Mayo, Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 23, 794–803.Google Scholar
Canada, E., 2010). Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010 Station Data (accessed February 23, 2016). http://climate.weather.gc.ca.Google Scholar
Christiansen, H.H., 2005. Thermal regime of ice-wedge cracking in Adventdalen, Svalbard. Permafrost and Periglacial Process 16, 87–98.Google Scholar
Christiansen, H.H., Matsuoka, N., Watanabe, T., 2016. Progress in understanding the dynamics, internal structure and palaeoenvironmental potential of ice wedges and sand wedges. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 27, 365–376.Google Scholar
Clark, I.D., Lauriol, B., Marschner, M., Sabourin, N., Chauret, Y., Desrochers, A., 2004. Endostromatolites from permafrost karst, Yukon, Canada: paleoclimatic proxies for the Holocene hypsithermal. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 41, 387–399.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.Google Scholar
Crann, C.A., Murseli, S., St-Jean, G., Zhao, X., Clark, I.D., Kieser, W.E., 2017. First status report on radiocarbon sample preparation techniques at the A.E. Lalonde AMS Laboratory (Ottawa, Canada). Radiocarbon 59, 695–704.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W., 1964. Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16, 436–468.Google Scholar
Duk-Rodkin, A., Barendregt, R.W., Froese, D.G., Weber, F., Enkin, R., Rod Smith, I., Zazula, G.D., Waters, P., Klassen, R., 2004. Timing and extent of plio-pleistocene glaciations in north-western canada and east-central alaska. Developments in Quaternary Science 2, 313–345.Google Scholar
Duk-Rodkin, A., Barendregt, R.W., Tarnocai, C., Phillips, F.M., 1996. Late Tertiary to late Quaternary record in the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada: stratigraphy, paleosols, paleomagnetism, and chlorine - 36. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 33, 875–895.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., 2005. Late quaternary vegetation history of northern North America based on pollen, macrofossil and faunal remains. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire 59, 211–262.Google Scholar
Feng, X., Taylor, S., Renshaw, C.E., Kirchner, J.W., 2002. Isotopic evolution of snowmelt 1. A physically based one-dimensional model. Water Resources Research 38, 35–1–35–8.Google Scholar
Fortier, D., Allard, M., 2005. Frost-cracking conditions, Bylot Island, eastern Canadian Arctic archipelago. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 16, 145–161.Google Scholar
French, H., Guglielmin, M., 2000. Frozen ground phenomena in the vicinity of Terra Nova Bay, Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica: a preliminary report. Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography 82, 513–526.Google Scholar
French, H., Shur, Y., 2010. The principles of cryostratigraphy. Earth-Science Reviews 101, 190–206.Google Scholar
French, H.M., 2013. The Periglacial Environment. 3rd ed. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK Google Scholar
Fritz, M., Wetterich, S., Schirrmeister, L., Meyer, H., Lantuit, H., Preusser, F., Pollard, W.H., 2012. Eastern Beringia and beyond: Late Wisconsinan and Holocene landscape dynamics along the Yukon Coastal Plain, Canada. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 319–320, 28–45.Google Scholar
Fritz, M., Wolter, J., Rudaya, N., Palagushkina, O., Nazarova, L., Obu, J., Rethemeyer, J., Lantuit, H., Wetterich, S., 2015. Holocene ice-wedge polygon development in northern Yukon permafrost peatlands (Canada). Quaternary Science Review 147, 279–297.Google Scholar
Gorham, E., Lehman, C., Dyke, A., Janssens, J., Dyke, L., 2007. Temporal and spatial aspects of peatland initiation following deglaciation in North America. Quaternary Science Review 26, 300–311. doi: 10.1016/j.quascirev.2006.08.008 Google Scholar
Green, L.H., 1972. Geology of Nash Creek, Larsen Creek, and Dawson Area Maps. Geological Survey of Canada, Memoir 364. Ottawa.Google Scholar
Guthrie, R.D., 2006. New carbon dates link climatic change with human colonization and Pleistocene extinctions. Nature 441, 207–209.Google Scholar
Harington, C.R., Cinq-Mars, J., 1995. Radiocarbon dates on saiga antelope (Saiga tatarica) fossils from Yukon and the Northwest Territories. Arctic 48, 1–7.Google Scholar
Harry, D.G., French, H.M., Pollard, W.H., 1985. Ice wedges and permafrost conditions near King Point. Beaufort Sea coast, Yukon Territory. Current Research part A, Geological Survey of Canada, paper 85-1A, p. 111–116.Google Scholar
Harry, D.G., Gozdzik, J.S., 1988. Ice wedges: growth, thaw transformation, and palaeoenvironmental significance. Journal of Quaternary Science 3, 39–55.Google Scholar
Heiri, O., Lotter, A.F., Lemcke, G., 2001. Loss on ignition as a method for estimating organic and carbonate content in sediments: reproducibility and comparability of results. Journal of Paleolimnology 25, 101–110.Google Scholar
Hughes, O.L., Rutter, N.W., Clague, J.J., 1989. Yukon Territory (Quaternary stratigraphy and history, Cordilleran Ice Sheet). In: Fulton, R.J. (Ed.), Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland. Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, pp. 58–62.Google Scholar
International Atomic Energy Association/World Meteorological Organization (IAEA/WMO). 2015. Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation. The GNIP Database (accessed October 10, 2015). http://www.iaea.org/water.Google Scholar
Jasechko, S., 2016. Late-Pleistocene precipitation d18O interpolated across the global landmass. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 17, 3274–3288.Google Scholar
Jasechko, S., Lechler, A., Pausata, F.S.R., Fawcett, P.J., Gleeson, T., Cendon, D.I., Galewsky, J., et al., 2015. Late-glacial to late-Holocene shifts in global precipitation δ18O. Climate of the Past 11, 1375–1393.Google Scholar
Jouzel, J., Souchez, R.A., 1982. Melting- refreezing at the glacier sole and the isotopic composition of the ice. Journal of Glaciology 28, 35–42.Google Scholar
Kaufman, D.S., Axford, Y.L., Henderson, A.C.G., Mckay, N.P., Oswald, W.W., Saenger, C., Anderson, R.S., et al., 2016. Holocene climate changes in eastern Beringia (NW North America): a systematic review of multi-proxy evidence. Quaternary Science Reviews 147, 312–339.Google Scholar
Kojima, S., 1996. Ecosystem types of Boreal forest in the North Klondike River Valley, Yukon Territory, Canada, and their productivity potentials. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 39, 265–281.Google Scholar
Kotler, E., Burn, C.R., 2000. Cryostratigraphy of the Klondike “muck” deposits, west-central Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 37, 849–861.Google Scholar
Lacelle, D., 2011. On the δ18O, δD and D-excess relations in meteoric precipitation and during equilibrium freezing: theoretical approach and field examples. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 22, 13–25.Google Scholar
Lacelle, D., Lauriol, B., Clark, I.D., Cardyn, R., Zdanowicz, C., 2007. Nature and origin of a Pleistocene-age massive ground-ice body exposed in the Chapman Lake moraine complex, central Yukon Territory, Canada. Quaternary Research 68, 249–260.Google Scholar
Lachenbruch, A.H., 1962. Mechanics of thermal contraction cracks and ice-wedge polygons in permafrost. Geological Society of America, Special Papers 70, 1–66.Google Scholar
Lachniet, M.S., Lawson, D.E., Sloat, A.R., 2012. Revised 14C dating of ice wedge growth in interior Alaska (USA) to MIS 2 reveals cold paleoclimate and carbon recycling in ancient permafrost terrain. Quaternary Research 78, 217–225.Google Scholar
Lang, S.Q., McIntyre, C.P., Bernasconi, S.M., Früh-Green, G.L., Voss, B.M., Eglinton, T.I., Wacker, L., 2016. Rapid 14C Analysis of dissolved organic carbon in non-saline waters. Radiocarbon 58, 505–515.Google Scholar
Laskar, J., Robutel, P., Joutel, F., Gastineau, M., Correia, a. C.M., Levrard, B., 2004. A long-term numerical solution for the insolation quantities of the Earth. Astronomy and Astrophysics 428, 261–285.Google Scholar
Lauriol, B., Duchesne, C., Clark, I.D., 1995. Systematique du remplissage en eau des fentes de gel: les resultats d’une etude oxygène-18 et deuterium. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 6, 47–55.Google Scholar
Laxton, N.F., Burn, C.R., Smith, C.A.S., 1996. Productivity of loessal grasslands in the Kluane Lake region, Yukon Territory, and the Beringian “Production Paradox. Arctic 49, 129–140.Google Scholar
Lee, J., Feng, X., Faiia, A.M., Posmentier, E.S., Kirchner, J.W., Osterhuber, R., Taylor, S., 2010. Isotopic evolution of a seasonal snowcover and its melt by isotopic exchange between liquid water and ice. Chemical Geology 270, 126–134.Google Scholar
Lee, J., Feng, X., Posmentier, E.S., Faiia, A.M., Taylor, S., 2009. Stable isotopic exchange rate constant between snow and liquid water. Chemical Geology 260, 57–62.Google Scholar
Lis, G., Wassenaar, L.I., Hendry, M.J., 2008. High-precision laser ppectroscopy D/H and 18O/16O Measurements of microliter natural water samples. Analytical Chemistry 80, 287–293.Google Scholar
MacDonald, G.M., Beilman, D.W., Kremenetski, K.V., Sheng, Y., Smith, L.C., Velichko, A.A., 2006. Rapid early development of circumarctic peatlands and atmospheric CH4and CO2variations. Science 314, 285–288.Google Scholar
Mackay, J.R., 1974. Ice-wedge cracks, Garry Island, Northwest Territories. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 11, 1366–1383.Google Scholar
Mackay, J.R., 1983. Oxygen isotope variations in permafrost, Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula area, Northwest Territories. Current Research, Part B, Geological Survey of Canada Paper 83-1B, 67–74.Google Scholar
Mackay, J.R., 1989. Ice-wedge cracks, western Arctic coast. Canadian Geographer 33, 365–368.Google Scholar
Mackay, J.R., 1992. The frequency of ice-wedge cracking (1967–1987) at Garry Island, western Arctic coast. Canadian Journal of Earth Science 29, 236–248.Google Scholar
Mackay, J.R., 2000. Thermally induced movements in ice-wedge polygons, western arctic coast: a long-term study. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 54, 41.Google Scholar
Meyer, H., Opel, T., Laepple, T., Dereviagin, A.Y., Hoffmann, K., Werner, M., 2015. Long-term winter warming trend in the Siberian Arctic during the mid- to late Holocene. Nature Geoscience 8, 122–125.Google Scholar
Meyer, H., Schirrmeister, L., Andreev, A.A., Wagner, D., Hubberten, H.W., Yoshikawa, K., Bobrov, A., et al., 2010. Lateglacial and Holocene isotopic and environmental history of northern coastal Alaska:results from a buried ice-wedge system at Barrow. Quaternary Science Reviews 29, 3720–3735.Google Scholar
O’Neil, J., 1968. Hydrogen and Oxygen isotope fractionation between ice and water. Journal of Physical Chemistry 72, 3683–3684.Google Scholar
Opel, T., Laepple, T., Meyer, H., Dereviagin, A.Y., Wetterich, S., 2017. Northeast Siberian ice wedges confirm Arctic winter warming over the past two millennia. Holocene 27, 1789–1796.Google Scholar
Plug, L.J., Werner, B.T., 2008. Modelling of ice-wedge networks. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 19, 63–69.Google Scholar
Pollard, W.H., French, H.M., 1980. A first approximation of the volume of ground ice, Richards Island, Pleistocene Mackenzie delta, Northwest Territories, Canada. Canadian Geotechnical Journal 17, 509–516.Google Scholar
Popp, S., Diekmann, B., Meyer, H., Siegert, C., Syromyatnikov, I., Hubberten, H.W., 2006. Palaeoclimate signals as inferred from stable-isotope composition of ground ice in the verkhoyansk foreland, Central Yakutia. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 17, 119–132.Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J.W., Blackwell, P.G., Ramsey, C.B., Buck, C.E., et al., 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curves 0–50,000 Years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55, 1869–1887.Google Scholar
Shumskii, P.A., 1964. Principles of structural glaciology. Translated from the Russian by D. Kraus, Dover Publications, New York.Google Scholar
Sokratov, S.A., Golubev, V.N., 2009. Snow isotopic content change by sublimation. Journal of Glaciology 55, 823–828.Google Scholar
St-Jean, G., 2003. Automated quantitative and isotopic (13C) analysis of dissolved inorganic carbon and dissolved organic carbon in continuous-flow using a total organic carbon analyser. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 17, 419–428.Google Scholar
St-Jean, G., Kieser, W.E., Crann, C.A., Murseli, S., 2017. Semi-automated equipment for CO2 purification and graphitization at the A.E. Lalonde AMS Laboratory (Ottawa, Canada). Radiocarbon 59, 941–956.Google Scholar
St-Jean, M., Lauriol, B., Clark, I.D., Lacelle, D., Zdanowicz, C., 2011. Investigation of ice-wedge infilling processes using stable oxygen and hydrogen isotopes, crystallography and occluded gases (O2, N2, Ar). Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 22, 49–64.Google Scholar
Stroeven, A.P., Fabel, D., Codilean, A.T., Kleman, J., Clague, J.J., Miguens-Rodriguez, M., Xu, S., 2010. Investigating the glacial history of the northern sector of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet with cosmogenic10Be concentrations in quartz. Quaternary Sciience Reviews 29, 3630–3643.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Polach, H.A., 1977. Radiocarbon. Radiocarbon 19, 355–363.Google Scholar
Suzuoki, T., Kumura, T., 1973. D/H and 18O/16O fractionation in ice-water systems. Mass Spectroscopy 21, 229–233.Google Scholar
Tarnocai, C., 1987. Quaternary soils. In: Morrison, S.R., Smith, C.A. (Eds.), Guidebook to Quaternary Research in the Yukon. International Union for Quaternary Research, XII Congress, Ottawa, pp. 16–21.Google Scholar
Taylor, S., Feng, X., Kirchner, J.W., Osterhuber, R., Klaue, B., Renshaw, C.E., 2001. Isotopic evolution of a seasonal snowpack and its melt. Water Resources Research 37, 759–769.Google Scholar
Taylor, S., Feng, X., Renshaw, C.E., Kirchner, J.W., 2002. Isotopic evolution of snowmelt 2. Verification and parameterization of a one-dimensional model using laboratory experiments. Water Resources Research 38, 36–1–36–8.Google Scholar
Ulrich, M., Grosse, G., Strauss, J., Schirrmeister, L., 2014. Quantifying Wedge-ice volumes in Yedoma and thermokarst basin deposits. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 25, 151–161.Google Scholar
Van Everdingen, R., 2005. Multi-language Glossary of Permafrost and Related Ground-Ice Terms. National Snow and Ice Data Center and World Data Center for Glaciology, Boulder.Google Scholar
Vasil’chuk, Y.K., 2013. syngenetic ice wedges: cyclical formation, radiocarbon age and stable isotope records by Yurij K. Vasil’chuk, Moscow University Press, Moscow, 2006. 404 pp. ISBN 5-211-05212-9. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 24, 82–93.Google Scholar
Vasil’chuk, Y.K., Kim, J.C., Vasil’chuk, A.C., 2004. AMS 14C dating and stable isotope plots of Late Pleistocene ice-wedge ice. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms 223–224, 650–654.Google Scholar
Vasil’chuk, Y.K., Papesch, W., Rank, D., Sulerzhitsky, L.D., Vasil’chuk, A.C., Budantseva, N.A., Chizhova, J.N., 2005. Oxygen-isotope and deuterium diagrams for ice wedge near Vorkuta: first 14C-dated plots for northern Europe. Doklady Earth Sciences 401, 221–225.Google Scholar
Vasil’chuk, Y.K., Van Der Plicht, J., Jungner, H., Sonninen, E., Vasil’chuk, A.C., 2000. First direct dating of Late Pleistocene ice-wedges by AMS. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 179, 237–242.Google Scholar
Vasil’chuk, Y.K., Vasil’chuk, A.C., 2017. Validity of radiocarbon ages of Siberian yedoma. GeoResJ 13, 83–95.Google Scholar
Vasil’chuk, Y.K., Zaitsev, V.N., Vasil’chuk, A.C., 2006. A 14C-dating and oxygen-isotope diagram of a Holocene-reformed ice wedge on the Chara River (Transbaikal region). Doklady Earth Sciences 407, 265–270.Google Scholar
Vernon, P., Hughes, O., 1966. Surficial geology, Dawson, Larsen Creek and Nash Creek map-areas. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin136, 25pp.Google Scholar
Viau, A.E., Gajewski, K., 2009. Reconstructing millennial-scale, regional paleoclimates of boreal Canada during the holocene. Journal of Climate 22, 316–330.Google Scholar
Walter, K.M., Edwards, M.E., Grosse, G., Zimov, S.A., Chapin, F.S., 2007. Thermokarst Lakes as a Source of Atmospheric CH4 During the Last Deglaciation. Science 318, 633–636.Google Scholar
Washburn, A.L., 1980. Permafrost features as evidence of climatic change. Earth-Science Reviews 15, 327–402.Google Scholar
Zhou, Y., Guo, H., Lu, H., Mao, R., Zheng, H., Wang, J., 2015. Analytical methods and application of stable isotopes in dissolved organic carbon and inorganic carbon in groundwater. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 29, 1827–1835.Google Scholar