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1.
Sediments retrieved from a long core on the floor of glacial Lake Assiniboine, Saskatchewan, expose 106 couplets, consisting of thick, light coloured, silt-rich beds and thin, dark, clay-rich beds. The couplets contain sharp lower and upper contacts of the silt bed, silty and clayey laminations within both the silt and clay beds, and ice-rafted debris in the silt beds, which are features characteristic of glacial varves.Seasonal variations in runoff are reflected in grain size profiles of individual silt beds in the varves. Mean grain size maxima in the lower portion of the silt bed suggest that snow accumulation during the previous winter had been substantial and that a warm spring combined with a rapid melting rate generated significant volumes of nival meltwater runoff. Coarse laminae higher in the silty part of the couplet imply that substantial meltwater inflow was produced by summer melting of glacier ice.Vertical trends in clay bed thicknesses, silt bed thicknesses, and total couplet thicknesses were strongly influenced by the proximity of meltwater inflow channels and lake depth. These interpretations, and correlation of the core to varve exposures at the surface, formed the framework for a paleohydrological reconstruction. Close to 11,000 BP, ice dammed the outlet of glacial Lake Assiniboine and the water depth rose about 2 m yr–1. Eventually the lake became deep enough for couplets to form. Varve years 1–40 contain thick clay beds, silt beds, and couplets as a result of the proximal inflow of meltwater. A decline in silt bed and couplet thicknesses from varve years 41–85 occurred in response to ice retreat and more distal inflow. Varve deposition ceased in the shallow part of the basin probably because underflow currents from the distal source were redirected. Varve years 86–106 are distinguished by an increase in silt bed and couplet thicknesses and a decrease in clay bed thickness caused by a reduction in water depth and a return to proximal inflow. Varved sedimentation terminated when Lake Assiniboine drained through the Assiniboine valley to Lake Agassiz.  相似文献   

2.
In the western part of the Canadian Prairies, there are thousands of small, closed-basin saline lakes. Most of these lakes are ephemeral, filling with water during the spring and drying completely by late summer. Ceylon Lake, located in southern Saskatchewan, is typical of many of these shallow ephemeral lacustrine basins. The stratigraphic sequence recovered from this salt playa can be subdivided into six distinct facies types: (a) icelaid gravelly clay loam diamicton; (b) fluvial massive bedded to laminated sand; (c) lacustrine laminated calcareous clay and silt; (d) lacustrine laminated gypsiferous clay and silt; (e) lacustrine black, anoxic, nonlaminated, organic-rich mud; and (f) lacustrine salt. The crystalline salt facies, which can be up to 9 meters thick, is comprised mainly of sodium and sodium + magnesium sulfates, with smaller and more variable proportions of other sulfates, halides, carbonates, and insoluble clastic detritus.Although a variety of postdepositional processes have significantly altered the nature and stratigraphic relationships in the basin, the sediment fill does record, in a general way, the fluctuating depositional, hydrological, and geochemical conditions that existed in the basin since deglaciation. The Ceylon Lake basin originated about 15 000 years ago as meltwater from the retreating glacial ice cut a major spillway system in the drift and bedrock. The initial (early Holocene) phases of lacustrine sedimentation in Ceylon Lake occurred in a relatively deep freshwater lake. By about 6000 years B.P., the lake had become much shallower with numerous episodes of complete drying and subaerial exposure. The most recent 5000 years of deposition in the basin have been dominated by evaporite sedimentation. The composition of the soluble salts deposited during this time indicates some degree of cyclic sedimentation superimposed on an overall gradual shift from a sodium dominated brine to one of mixed sodium and magnesium.  相似文献   

3.
The varved sediment record from glacially-fed Lake Tuborg, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, shows that only three large jökulhlaups have occurred there in the last millennium: 2003, 1993, and 1960. Detailed analyses of sediment microstructure and particle size, combined with in-situ hydrometeorological and limnological process studies, allowed jökulhlaup facies identification and discrimination from deposits from other processes. Deposits from large jökulhlaups are anomalously thick, typically lack internal structure, have sharp bases, and fine upwards. The ice-dammed lake above Lake Tuborg (the source of the jökulhlaups) likely changed its drainage style in 1960, from ice-dam overtopping to ice-dam flotation and glacial tunnel enlargement by melt widening, which allowed the lake to drain completely and catastrophically. Complete drainage of ice-dammed lakes by ice-dam flotation is rare in the region is due to the pervasiveness of cold-based ice. Twentieth century warming is likely responsible for some combination of dam thinning, lake expansion and deepening, and changing the thermal regime at the base of the dam. Anomalously thick individual varves were periodically deposited beginning in the nineteenth century, and their thickness increased with time. This likely reflects a combination of increased ice dam overtopping, subaqueous slope failures, sediment availability and rising air temperature. The varve record presented here significantly correlates with a previous, shorter record from Lake Tuborg. However, generally weak correlations are found between the new varve time series, regional records of air temperature, and glacial melt from ice cores on the Agassiz Ice Cap. It is hypothesized that on short timescales, sedimentation at the coring location reflects a complex and varying integration of multiple hydroclimatic, geomorphic and limnologic influences.  相似文献   

4.
We analyzed lake sediment deposits and local hydrometric records to assess the potential for developing a high-resolution record of sediment delivery from the Rock Lake catchment, situated in the non-glacierized Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains, Canada. Rhythmic couplets of silt–clay characterized the clastic sediments recovered from the deep central basin of the lake. Contemporary sediment yield to Rock Lake (10.7 ± 1.8 Mg km−2 year−1) is comparable to other studied Canadian Cordillera lakes that have sedimentary lithologies and absence of glacier cover, but distinct rhythmic deposition is relatively unique to this basin. Spatial patterns of deposition within the lake were assessed by correlating rhythmites between multiple sediment cores and by sub-bottom, acoustic profiling. Bracketed dates for a spatially continuous sequence of eight thick rhythmites were established by correlating laminations between core samples collected more than 30 years apart. We identified a consistent pattern between the rhythmite and hydrometric data series between 1975 and 2006 and determined that specific flooding events caused by summer rainstorms are associated with each of the eight thick rhythmites. We observed a good relationship between rhythmite thickness and total flood volume that exceeded a threshold discharge. Acoustic profiling showed that the lake could be a good candidate for longer-term proxy development. We discuss how some of the methods used in this study could benefit ongoing paleoenvironmental assessments based on lacustrine rhythmite series.  相似文献   

5.
Lake Simcoe is a large lake 45 km across and in places over 30 m deep, located between Lake Huron and Lake Ontario, in the glaciated terrain of southern Ontario, Canada. Seismostratigraphic analysis of high-resolution seismic reflection profiles, together with lakebed sediment sampling and pollen study, revealed distinctive sequences in the sediments beneath Lake Simcoe, Ontario. A surface unit (Blue Sequence) of soft Holocene mud (low-amplitude surface reflection, discontinuous parallel internal reflections) lies in the deeper basins of the lake. The underlying unit (Green Sequence) is characterized by high-amplitude parallel internal reflections; basal sediments of this sequence consist of clay rhythmites with dropstones. The Green Sequence was deposited by lacustrine sedimentation in proglacial Lake Algonquin; sedimentation persisted until the basin was isolated from other glacial lakes at about 10 14C ka at the Penetang post-Algonquin phase. Subsequent erosion of the uppermost portion of the Green Sequence is attributed to wave action in a low-level early Holocene lake, possibly closed hydrologically and coeval with closed lowstands in the Huron and Georgian Bay basins. Two sequences with high-amplitude surface reflections and chaotic internal reflections (Purple and Red Sequences) lie below the Green Sequence. Northeast-southwest trending ridges, tens of metres in height, on the Red Sequence (the lowermost of these two units) are interpreted to be drumlins. An erosion surface descends into narrow valleys 50–80 m deep beneath the lake in bays to the west and south of the main lake basin. These depressions are interpreted as subglacial tunnel channels cut by rapid flows of meltwater. The sediments of Purple Sequence are interpreted as channel-fill sediments rapidly deposited during waning stages of the meltwater drainage. The Red Sequence is correlated with the Newmarket Till of the last glacial maximum identified beneath the Oak Ridges Moraine to the south.  相似文献   

6.
We use high-resolution reflection seismic data and detailed grain-size analysis of a drill core (KDP-01) from Lake Khubsugul (northern Mongolia) to provide an improved reconstruction of the glacial history of the area for the last 450 ka. Grain-size analysis of suspended sediment load in modern rivers draining into the lake and of moraine material from the northern part of the catchment shows that the silt fraction is transported to the central part of the lake mainly by river suspension, whereas the clay fraction is mainly transported by glacial meltwater during deglaciation. The changes in of the clay/silt ratio in Lake Khubsugul sediments correlates well with the standard global paleoclimate records: low clay/silt ratios indicate warm climates, while a high clay/silt ratio reflects glacial erosion and cold climates. Pulses of clay input into the lake occur at the final stages of glacial periods (i.e., glacial maxima and subsequent onsets of deglaciation). The periodicity in glacial clay input in Lake Khubsugul is in tune with global periods of deglaciation, but there are differences in the intensity of the deglacial events for MIS-12 and MIS-2. These differences are attributed to specific conditions in regional distribution of moisture during glaciation, glacial ice volumes, and solar insolation intensity at the onset of deglaciation. Deglaciation of the Khubsugul glaciers occurred in response to an increase in summer solar insolation above a threshold value of 490 W/m2. Two types of deglaciation can be distinguished: (1) slow melting during several tens of 1,000 years during weak increases in summer insolation, and (2) short and fast melting during several thousands of years in response to strong increases in summer insolation. The maximum ice volume in the area of Lake Khubsugul during the past 450 ka occurred during the period of 373–350 ka BP (MIS 11a-10) and was caused by high levels of moisture in the region, whereas the MIS-2 and MIS-12 glacial periods were characterized by minima in ice volume, due to the strong aridity in the region.  相似文献   

7.
A modified ice-tongue model suggests that subglacial, saturated, fine sediment derived from local bedrock sources reduced basal shear strength and lowered the ice surface gradient sufficiently to produce ice tongues 20 km long in all major north-south oriented valleys on the northeastern Appalachian Plateau, while adjacent uplands were virtually ice-free. Associated environments of deposition produced two different landform assemblages, one representative of active ice retreat in through valleys and another that depicts widespread stagnation in non-through valleys.Pebble count data indicate that sediment transport by glacial flow was important to the moraine-building process, but the occurrence of isolated kame fields suggests an origin linked to inwash from major upland tributaries.All coarse valley fill (sand and gravel) is derived from two basic sources: (1) re-worked upland drift, and (2) resedimented debris from upvalley sources, including the glacier. Processes common to through valleys favor upvalley sources and active ice landforms, whereas inwash and stagnant ice sedimentation are typical of non-through valleys. Although extensive ice-free uplands served as a source of some fine sediment, a comparison of sediment volume to upland area indicates that inwash processes could not have yielded sufficient fines to account for the volume of fine sand and silt found within the valley fill. Meltwater flow via subglacial tunnels discharged saturated, fine sediment directly into proglacial lakes and served as the major source and transport mechanism for most sand and silt.The Laurentide deglacial environment throughout the upper Susquehanna region was characterized by proglacial lakes, detached remnant ice masses, dead-ice sedimentation and collapsed ice tongues. Stagnation and downwasting in ice-contact lakes peripheral to the eastern Bering Piedmont Glacier, Alaska, serve to depict analog conditions for retreat in central New York.  相似文献   

8.
Glacial Lake Hind was a 4000 km2 ice-marginal lake which formed in southwestern Manitoba during the last deglaciation. It received meltwater from western Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and North Dakota via at least 10 channels, and discharged into glacial Lake Agassiz through the Pembina Spillway. During the early stage of deglaciation in southwestern Manitoba, part of the glacial Lake Hind basin was occupied by glacial Lake Souris which extended into the area from North Dakota. Sediments in the Lake Hind basin consist of deltaic gravels, lacustrine sand, and clayey silt. Much of the uppermost lacustrine sand in the central part of the basin has been reworked into aeolian dunes. No beaches have been recognized in the basin. Around the margins, clayey silt occurs up to a modern elevation of 457 m, and fluvio-deltaic gravels occur at 434–462 m. There are a total of 12 deltas, which can be divided into 3 groups based on elevation of their surfaces: (1) above 450 m along the eastern edge of the basin and in the narrow southern end; (2) between 450 and 442 m at the western edge of the basin; and (3) below 442 m. The earliest stage of glacial Lake Hind began shortly after 12 ka, as a small lake formed between the Souris and Red River lobes in southwestern Manitoba. Two deltas at an elevation of 450 were formed in this lake. At the same time, the Souris Lobe retreated far enough to allow glacial Lake Souris to expand farther north along the western side of the basin from North Dakota into what was to become glacial Lake Hind. Three deltas were built at an elevation above 460 m in the Canadian part of this proglacial lake. Continued ice retreat allowed the merger of glacial Lake Souris with the interlobate glacial Lake Hind to the east. Subsequent erosion of the outlet to the Pembina Spillway allowed waters in the glacial Lake Hind basin to become isolated from glacial Lake Souris, and a new level of glacial Lake Hind was established at 442 m, with 5 deltas built at this level by meltwater runoff from the west. Next, a catastrophic flood from the Moose Mountain uplands in southeastern Saskatchewan flowed through the Souris River valley to glacial Lake Souris, spilling into Lake Hind and depositing another delta. This resulted in further incision of the outlet (Pembina Spillway). A second flood through the Souris Spillway from glacial Lake Regina further eroded the outlet; most of glacial Lake Hind was drained at this time except for the deeper northern part. Coarse gravel was deposited by this flood, which differs from previous flood gravel because it is massive and contains less shale.  相似文献   

9.
The Bunger Hills in East Antarctica occupy a land area of approximately 400 km2. They have been exposed by Holocene retreat of the Antarctic ice sheet and its outlet glaciers. The accompanying sea level rise flooded the marine inlets that now separate the northern islands and peninsulas from the major part of the hills. During deglaciation the continental ice sheet margin retreated south‐eastwards with several temporary halts, during which ice‐dammed lakes were formed in some valleys. These lakes were maintained long enough to permit formation of beaches of sand and gravel, and for the erosion of shore platforms and low cliffs in bedrock. Around the western end of Fish Tail Bay impressive shoreline features 20 m above sea level define a former ice‐dammed lake that was 5.5 km long. A similar 7 km long former ice‐dammed lake was formed at Lake Dolgoe. The more extensive and deeper glacial lake is revealed by well‐developed and preserved shoreline features cut at 29 m which is 16 m above present lake level. In addition, several small ice‐dammed lakes existed temporarily near Lake Shchel and in the valley to the west. Lake Fish Tail existed more than 6,900 14C years ago and Lake Shchel probably more than 6,680 14C years ago. It is inferred that the shore platforms and beaches were formed by lake ice and wave action over considerable periods when the lakes were impounded by steep cold ice margins. There appears to have been a balance between meltwater input and evaporative loss from the lakes in the cold dry continental climate. There is no evidence for rapid lake level fluctuations, and there was very little input of clastic sediment. This resulted in poor development of deltaic and rhythmically laminated lake floor deposits. It is suggested that such deposits are more characteristic of ice‐dammed lakes formed in association with wet‐based temperate ice than those associated with dry‐based polar ice.  相似文献   

10.
Three sediment cores from two lakes, Fish Lake and Phalarope Lake, in Truelove Lowland, Devon Island, N.W.T. were analyzed for diatoms and chemical composition. Multivariate statistical techniques using a range of chemical variables successfully isolated three sediment groupings in the cores. Allochthonous and autochthonous chemical components in the sediments have been used to reconstruct paleoenvironmental conditions. The two lakes began approximately 10600 years ago as shallow marine lagoons that were isolated from the sea as a result of glacio-isostatic rebound. Based on the presence of distinctive diatom assemblages, the three stratigraphic zones are identified as a basal marine zone, an intermediate and transitional brackish/marine zone and an upper freshwater zone. Following isolation from the sea, the lakes were flushed with freshwater produced by snow and ice melt. In Fish Lake, the period of transition from marine to freshwater, which began approximately 7000 years ago, lasted approximately 800 years. In Phalarope Lake, which was isolated from the sea approximately 5000 years ago, flushing by fresh water was completed only within the last 300 years. Fe, Cr, and Mo in the sediments are associated with the isolation phase when lake sedimentation is sensitive to the presence of brackish water and erosion within the lake catchments. In particular, the precipitation of Mo as MoS2 reflects the presence of hypolimnetic anoxia associated with lake isolation. During the early post-isolation phase the response of lake biota to an influx of nutrients is reflected in an increase in biological silica and organic carbon in the lake sediments. On the other hand, the generally low organic content of the sediments indicates that sedimentation in these lakes has been largely determined by variations in non-biogenic factors through time. During the mid Holocene the progressive stabilization of surface materials within the lake catchments is marked by decreasing Cr, As and Na in the sediments. At the same time, an increase in allochthonous Mn and Fe is attributed to progressive soil development. During the last 2500 years the catchments have experienced decreased erosion resulting in a decrease in both allochthonous clastic input and lake productivity.  相似文献   

11.
Late Quaternary Lakes in the McMurdo Sound Region of Antarctica   总被引:2,自引:0,他引:2  
Lake levels within the enclosed drainage basins of the Dry Valleys adjacent to McMurdo Sound have fluctuated widely during the Late Quaternary due to (a) local climate change and the consequent variation in the evaporation–precipitation regime, and (b) glacial fluctuations, resulting in changes in the catchment and meltwater drainage areas of the glaciers and, in some cases, in the volumes of the available lake basins. Three types of lakes can be distinguished on the basis of their water source: (1) lakes receiving the bulk of their water from melting of local alpine glaciers; (2) proglacial lakes associated with outlet glaciers from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet; (3) proglacial lakes associated with the marine oxygen-isotope stage 2 Ross Sea ice sheet and its precursors. The Dry Valleys contain an exceptionally long lacustrine record, extending back at least 300,000 years. Lacustrinesedimentation is cyclical, occurring over periods of about 100,000 years. During the last such cycle, relatively small lakes, both adjacent to East Antarctic outlet glaciers and fed by meltwater from alpine glaciers, existed during stage 5. However, these local lakes gave way to large proglacial lakes adjacent to the Ross Sea ice sheet in stage 2. The same relationship apparently occurred during the previous 100,000-year cycle. Dating of lacustrine sediments suggests that lakes proglacial to the Ross Sea ice sheet have existed during episodes of sea-level lowering during global glaciations. Lakes proglacial to outlet glaciers from the East Antarctic Ice Sheet have formed coincident with episodes of high eustatic sea level during interglacial periods.  相似文献   

12.
The most well known sub‐glacial lake is probably Grímsvötn under Vatnajökul, Iceland, from where jökulhlaups regularly burst forth. It is created by thermal melting under the ice cap. The Antarctic Lake Vostok, on the other hand, is considered to be located over a region with normal geothermal heat transfer, where it can exist because the ice is so thick that its base is at the pressure melting point. This makes it a candidate for testing the captured ice shelf (CIS) hypothesis, which states that the motion of a totally confined ice shelf creates a hydrostatic seal in the form of an ice rim over the threshold. The CIS hypothesis may offer a source of water for the controversial Laurentian jökulhlaups inferred from field data, implicated in dramatic climatic changes. Here I show that Lake Vostok agrees with the hypothesis, and that it may be on the verge of a jökulhlaup, which could create an ice stream and regional downdraw. The result also implies that the lake may well be of pre‐glacial origin, and that it may have experienced jökulhlaups during previous interglacials.  相似文献   

13.
Prior to the collection of a series of sediment cores, a high- and very-high-resolution reflection seismic survey was carried out on Lago Puyehue, Lake District, South-Central Chile. The data reveal a complex bathymetry and basin structure, with three sub-basins separated by bathymetric ridges, bedrock islands and interconnected channels. The sedimentary infill reaches a thickness of >200 m. It can be sub-divided into five seismic-stratigraphic units, which are interpreted as: moraine, ice-contact or outwash deposits (Unit I), glacio-lacustrine sediments rapidly deposited in a proglacial or subglacial lake at the onset of deglaciation (Unit II), lacustrine fan deposits fed by sediment-laden meltwater streams in a proglacial lake (Unit III), distal deposits of fluvially derived sediment in an open, post-glacial lake (Unit IV) and authigenic lacustrine sediments, predominantly of biogenic origin, that accumulated in an open, post-glacial lake (Unit V). This facies succession is very similar to that observed in other glacial lakes, and minor differences are attributed to an overall higher depositional energy and higher terrigenous input caused by the strong seismic and volcanic activity in the region combined with heavy precipitation. A long sediment core (PU-II core) penetrates part of Unit V and its base is dated as 17,915 cal. yr. BP. Extrapolation of average sedimentation rates yields an age of ca. 24,750 cal. yr. BP for the base of Unit V, and of ca. 28,000 cal. yr. BP for the base of Unit IV or for the onset of open-water conditions. This is in contrast with previous glacial-history reconstructions based on terrestrial records, which date the complete deglaciation of the basin as ca. 14,600 cal. yr. BP. This discrepancy cannot be easily explained and highlights the need for more lacustrine records from this region. This is the second in a series of eight papers published in this special issue dedicated to the 17,900 year multi-proxy lacustrine record of Lago Puyehue, Chilean Lake District. The papers in this special issue were collected by M. De Batist, N. Fagel, M.-F. Loutre and E. Chapron.  相似文献   

14.
This study presents the age control and environmental magnetism components of a new, late Pleistocene paleoclimate record for the Great Basin of western North America. Two new cores from the Summer Lake sub-basin of pluvial Lake Chewaucan, Oregon, USA are correlated to basin margin outcrops on the basis of tephrochronology, lithostratigraphy, sediment magnetism and paleomagnetic secular variation. Eleven tephra layers were found in the cores that correlate to tephra identified previously in the outcrop. The Olema ash was also found in one of the cores; its stratigraphic position, relative to 3 dated tephra layers, indicates that its age is 50-55 ka, somewhat younger than has been previously reported. The Summer Lake sediments are divided into deep and shallow lake lithosomes based on sedimentary features. The stratigraphic position of these lithosomes support the tephra-based correlations between the outcrop and the cores. These sediments contain a well resolved record of the Mono Lake Excursion (MLE) and an earlier paleomagnetic excursion as well as a high quality replication of the paleosecular variation immediately above the MLE.Relative sedimentation rates increased dramatically toward the depocenter during intervals of low-lake level. In contrast, during intervals of high-lake level, relative sedimentation rates were comparable along the basin axis from the basin margin to the depocenter. The magnetic mineralogy of the Summer Lake sediments is dominated by pseudo-single domain (titano)magnetite and intervals of high/low magnetite concentration coincide with lithosomes that indicate high/low lake levels. Magnetic grain size also varies in accord with bulk sediment grain size as indicated by the silt/clay ratio. To a first order, variations in magnetic parameters, especially those attributable to the concentration of magnetic minerals, correlate well with global glacial/interglacial oscillations as indicated by marine oxygen isotope stages. This relationship can be explained by increased dissolution of (titano)magnetite minerals as lake level dropped and the lake became more productive biologically. This inference is supported by a correspondence between lower concentrations of magnetite with higher levels of total organic carbon and vice-versa.  相似文献   

15.
The post-glacial history of the Great Lakes has involved changes in lake levels that are equivalent in vertical extent to the Pleistocene changes in global sea level and changes in sediment accumulation by at least two orders of magnitude. In the sediments of the northern Lake Michigan basin, these radical changes in base level and sediment supply are preserved in detailed records of changing depositional environment and the impact of these changes on depositional architecture. The seismic sequences of the sediment fill previously described in Lake Huron have been carried into northern Lake Michigan and used to map the history and architecture of basinal deposition. As the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated northward in the early Holocene, it opened progressively deeper channels to the east that allowed the larger lakes to drain through the North Channel, Huron, and Georgian Bay basins. At the end of the Main Algonquin highstand, about 10,200 (radiocarbon) yrs ago, the eastern drainage passage deepened in a series of steps that defined four seismic sequences and lowered lake levels by over 100 m. Near the same time a new source of sediment and meltwaters poured across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and into the northern Lake Michigan basin from the Superior basin ice lobe. A marked increase in deposition is seen first in the northern part of the study area, and slightly later in the Whitefish Fan area at the southern end of the study area. Accumulation rates in the area gradually decreased even as lake levels continued to fall. Drainage directly from the Superior basin ended before the beginning of the main Mattawa phase about 9,200 (radiocarbon) yrs ago.Although individual lowstand systems tracts are at the most a few hundred yrs in duration, their geometries and seismic character are comparable to marine systems tracts associated with sea level falls of similar magnitudes. In some of the thicker lowstand deposits a second order cyclicity in sedimentation can be detected in the high resolution seismic records.  相似文献   

16.
George VI Ice Shelf is the largest ice shelf on the western side of the Antarctic Peninsula and its northern margin marks the southern most latitudinal limit of recent ice shelf retreat. As part of a project to reconstruct the long-term (Holocene) history of George VI Ice Shelf we studied two epishelf lakes impounded by the ice shelf at Ablation Point, on the east coast of Alexander Island. These lakes, Moutonnée and Ablation, are stratified water bodies with a lower marine layer and an upper freshwater layer. To determine if their sediment records could be used to detect past changes in the presence or absence of the ice shelf it was necessary to describe their present-day limnology and sedimentology. We measured water column chemistry and sampled the water column and sediments of the lakes along vertical and horizontal transects. We analysed these samples for diatoms, stable isotopes (δ18O, δ2H, δ13CDIC, δ13Corg), geochemistry (TOC, TN, C/N ratios) and physical sedimentology (grain-size). This was supplemented by chemical and biological reference data from the catchments. Results showed that the water columns of both lakes are nutrient limited and deficient in phytoplankton. Benthic productivity is low and decreases with depth. Comparison of water column chemistry with an earlier survey shows a net increase in the thickness of the freshwater layer in Moutonnée Lake between 1973 and 2001, which could indicate that George VI Ice Shelf has thinned during this period. However, a similar trend was not observed in Ablation Lake (5 km to the north) and an alternative explanation is that the changes are a seasonal phenomena. Data from the surface sediment transects identified a number of proxies that respond to the present day stratification of the water column including diatom species composition, stable isotopes and geochemistry, particularly in Moutonnée Lake. Collectively these data have been used to develop a conceptual model for determining past ice shelf configuration in epishelf lakes. Specifically, periods of past ice shelf loss, and the removal of the ice dam, would see the present stratified epishelf lake replaced by a marine embayment. It is suggested that this change would leave a clear signature in the lake sediment record, notably the deposition of an exclusively marine biological assemblage, increased ice rafted debris and δ13Corg values that are indicative of marine derived organic matter. These authors contributed equally to this work  相似文献   

17.
A multiple core study was conducted on laminated minerogenic sediments from Lake C2, Northern Ellesmere Island, Canadian High Arctic. Lateral persistence, distal thinning, variation in grain size of these laminations as well as present-day processes of highly seasonal sediment transfer into the lake basin suggest that clastic varves have been formed. Sedimentation rates based on 210Pb dating agree well with sedimentation rates based on lamination counts giving further evidence that laminations are annual. Errors in varve counting were reduced from 12% to < 2% using the multi-core approach of cross-correlating all records. Varved sediments are occasionally interrupted by thick coarse-grained layers, which are interpreted as deposits of turbidity currents and may be related to extremely high discharge events and slope failures of the delta front. Micro-laminated sediments spanning the last two centuries were studied in detail. Suspension settling is the dominant process of deposition depending upon stream discharge which is controlled by nival melt and summer temperatures. Application of varve chronology thus allows to use lamination thickness measurements as source of high resolution proxy data for palaeoclimatic reconstruction.This is the fifth in a series of papers published in this issue on the Taconite Inlet Lakes Project. These papers were collected by Dr R. S. Bradley.  相似文献   

18.
The evolution of the early Great Lakes was driven by changing ice sheet geometry, meltwater influx, variable climate, and isostatic rebound. Unfortunately none of these factors are fully understood. Sediment cores from Fenton Lake and other sites in the Lake Superior basin have been used to document constantly falling water levels in glacial Lake Minong between 9,000 and 10,600 cal (8.1–9.5 ka) BP. Over three meters of previously unrecovered sediment from Fenton Lake detail a more complex lake level history than formerly realized, and consists of an early regression, transgression, and final regression. The initial regression is documented by a transition from gray, clayey silt to black sapropelic silt. The transgression is recorded by an abrupt return to gray sand and silt, and dates between 9,000 and 9,500 cal (8.1–8.6 ka) BP. The transgression could be the result of increased discharge from Lake Agassiz overflow or the Laurentide Ice Sheet, and hydraulic damming at the Lake Minong outlet. Alternatively ice advance in northern Ontario may have blocked an unrecognized low level northern outlet to glacial Lake Ojibway, which switched Lake Minong overflow back to the Lake Huron basin and raised lake levels. Multiple sites in the Lake Huron and Michigan basins suggest increased meltwater discharges occurred around the time of the transgression in Lake Minong, suggesting a possible linkage. The final regression in Fenton Lake is documented by a return to black sapropelic silt, which coincides with varve cessation in the Superior basin when Lake Agassiz overflow and glacial meltwater was diverted to glacial Lake Ojibway in northern Ontario.  相似文献   

19.
Widespread till and moraines record excursions of middle-Pleistocene ice that flowed up-slope into several watersheds of the Valley and Ridge Province along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. A unique landform assemblage was created by ice-damming and jökulhlaups emanating from high gradient mountain watersheds. This combination of topography formed by multiple eastward-plunging anticlinal ridges, and the upvalley advance of glaciers resulted in an ideal geomorphic condition for the formation of temporary ice-dammed lakes. Extensive low gradient (1°–2° slope) gravel surfaces dominate the mountain front geomorphology in this region and defy simple explanation. The geomorphic circumstances that occurred in tributaries to the West Branch Susquehanna River during middle Pleistocene glaciation are extremely rare and may be unique in the world. Failure of ice dams released sediment-rich water from lakes, entraining cobbles and boulders, and depositing them in elongated debris fans extending up to 9 km downstream from their mountain-front breakout points. Poorly developed imbrication is rare, but occasionally present in matrix-supported sediments resembling debris flow deposits. Clast weathering and soils are consistent with a middle Pleistocene age for the most recent flows, circa the 880-ka paleomagnetic date for glacial lake sediments north of the region on the West Branch Susquehanna River. Post-glacial stream incision has focused along the margins of fan surfaces, resulting in topographic inversion, leaving bouldery jökulhlaup surfaces up to 15 m above Holocene channels. Because of their coarse nature and high water tables, jökulhlaup surfaces are generally forested in contrast to agricultural land use in the valleys and, thus, are readily apparent from orbital imagery.  相似文献   

20.
Study of Lake Pepin and Lake St. Croix began more than a century ago, but new information has permitted a closer look at the geologic history of these two riverine lakes located on the upper Mississippi River system. Drainages from large proglacial lakes Agassiz and Duluth at the end of the last glaciation helped shape the current valleys. As high-discharge outlet waters receded, tributary streams deposited fans of sediment in the incised river valleys. These tributary fans dammed the main river, forming riverine lakes. Lake Pepin was previously thought to be a single long continuous lake, extending for 80 km from its dam at the Chippewa River fan all the way up to St. Paul, with an arm extending up the St. Croix valley. Recent borings taken at bridge and dam locations show more than a single section of lake sediments, indicating a more complex history. The Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers did not always follow their current paths. Valleys cut into bedrock but now buried by glacial sediment indicate former river courses, with the most recent of these from the last interglacial period marked at the surface by chains of lakes. The morphology of the Mississippi valley bottom, and thus the morphology of Lake Pepin as it filled the valley, is reflect in part by the existence of these old valleys but also by the presence of glacial outwash terraces and the alluvial fans of tributary streams. A sediment core taken in Lake Pepin near Lake City had a piece of wood in gravels just below lake sediments that dated to 10.3 ka cal. BP, indicating that the lake formed as the Chippewa River fan grew shortly after the floodwaters of Lakes Agassiz and Duluth receded. Data from new borings indicate small lakes were dammed behind several tributary fans in the Mississippi River valley between the modern Lake Pepin and St. Paul. One tributary lake, here called Early Lake Vermillion, may have hydraulically dammed the St. Croix River, creating an incipient Lake St. Croix. The tributary fans from the Vermillion River, the Cannon River, and the Chippewa River all served to segment the main river valley into a series of riverine lakes. Later the growth of the Chippewa fan surpassed that of the Vermillion and Cannon fans to create a single large lake, here called late Lake Pepin, which extended upstream to St. Paul. Sediment cores taken from Lake Pepin did not have significant organic matter to develop a chronology from radiocarbon dating. Rather, magnetic features were matched with those from a Lake St. Croix core, which did have a known radiocarbon chronology. The Pepin delta migration rate was then estimated by projecting the elevations of the top of the buried lake sediments to the dated Lake Pepin core, using an estimated slope of 10 cm/km, the current slope of Lake Pepin sediment surface. By these approximations, the Lake Pepin delta prograded past Hastings 6.0 ka cal BP and Red Wing 1.4 ka cal BP. This is one of eight papers dedicated to the “Recent Environmental History of the Upper Mississippi River” published in this special issue of the Journal of Paleolimnology. D. R. Engstrom served as guest editor of the special issue.  相似文献   

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