Articles | Volume 18, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-293-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-18-293-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
15 Feb 2022
Research article |
| 15 Feb 2022
| 15 Feb 2022
Late Pleistocene glacial chronologies and paleoclimate in the northern Rocky Mountains
Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, USA
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47905, USA
Elizabeth Huss
Department of Geosciences, State University of New York at Geneseo, Geneseo, New York 14454, USA
Benjamin J. C. Laabs
Department of Geosciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota 68102, USA
Eric Leonard
Department of Geology, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903, USA
Joseph Licciardi
Department of Earth Sciences, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire 03824, USA
Mitchell A. Plummer
Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho 83415, USA
Marc W. Caffee
Department of Physics and Astronomy, PRIME Lab, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47905, USA
Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana 47905, USA
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Matias Romero, Shanti B. Penprase, Maximillian S. Van Wyk de Vries, Andrew D. Wickert, Andrew G. Jones, Shaun A. Marcott, Jorge A. Strelin, Mateo A. Martini, Tammy M. Rittenour, Guido Brignone, Mark D. Shapley, Emi Ito, Kelly R. MacGregor, and Marc W. Caffee
Clim. Past Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-24, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-2024-24, 2024
Preprint under review for CP
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Investigating past glaciated regions is crucial to understanding how ice sheets have responded to climate forcings and how they might respond to different emission scenarios in the near future. We use two independent dating techniques to document the timing and extent of the last two glacial cycles in southern Patagonia. Our work highlights feedbacks in the Earth’s system responsible for driving glacier growth in the Southern Hemisphere prior to the global Last Glacial Maximum.
Alia Lesnek, Joseph M. Licciardi, Alan J. Hidy, and Tyler S. Anderson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-713, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-713, 2024
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We present an improved workflow for extracting and measuring chlorine isotopes in rocks and minerals. Experiments on seven geologic samples demonstrate that our workflow provides reliable results while offering several distinct advantages over traditional methods. Most notably, our workflow reduces the amount of isotopically enriched chlorine spike used per rock sample by up to 95 %, which will allow researchers to analyze more samples using their existing laboratory supplies.
Andrew G. Jones, Shaun A. Marcott, Andrew L. Gorin, Tori M. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Shakun, Brent M. Goehring, Brian Menounos, Douglas H. Clark, Matias Romero, and Marc W. Caffee
The Cryosphere, 17, 5459–5475, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5459-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5459-2023, 2023
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Mountain glaciers today are fractions of their sizes 140 years ago, but how do these sizes compare to the past 11,000 years? We find that four glaciers in the United States and Canada have reversed a long-term trend of growth and retreated to positions last occupied thousands of years ago. Notably, each glacier occupies a unique position relative to its long-term history. We hypothesize that unequal modern retreat has caused the glaciers to be out of sync relative to their Holocene histories.
Bradley W. Goodfellow, Arjen P. Stroeven, Nathaniel A. Lifton, Jakob Heyman, Alexander Lewerentz, Kristina Hippe, Jens-Ove Näslund, and Marc W. Caffee
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2821, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2821, 2023
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Carbon-14 produced in quartz provides a new tool to date exposure of bedrock surfaces. Samples from ten exposed bedrock surfaces in east central Sweden give dates consistent both with the timing of landscape emergence above sea level through postglacial rebound and retreat of the last ice sheet shown in previous reconstructions. Carbon-14 in quartz (half-life 5700 ± 30 years) can therefore be used for dating in landscapes where isotopes with longer half-lives give complex exposure results.
Eric W. Portenga, David J. Ullman, Lee B. Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, and Marc W. Caffee
Geochronology, 5, 413–431, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-5-413-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-5-413-2023, 2023
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New exposure ages of glacial erratics on moraines on Isle Royale – the largest island in North America's Lake Superior – show that the Laurentide Ice Sheet did not retreat from the island nor the south shores of Lake Superior until the early Holocene, which is later than previously thought. These new ages unify regional ice retreat histories from the mainland, the Lake Superior lake-bottom stratigraphy, underwater moraines, and meltwater drainage pathways through the Laurentian Great Lakes.
Bradley Goodfellow, Marc Caffee, Greg Chmiel, Ruben Fritzon, Alasdair Skelton, and Arjen Stroeven
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1585, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-1585, 2023
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Reconstructions of past earthquakes are useful for assessing earthquake hazard risks. We dated a limestone scarp that has been exposed by earthquakes along the Sparta fault, Greece. From this we identify a cluster of four earthquakes within a 1500 year period that culminated with the 464 B.C. event that devastated Spartan society. However, a large earthquake is not necessarily indicated as being overdue by the present ~2500 year period of inactivity on the Sparta fault.
Giulia Sinnl, Florian Adolphi, Marcus Christl, Kees C. Welten, Thomas Woodruff, Marc Caffee, Anders Svensson, Raimund Muscheler, and Sune Olander Rasmussen
Clim. Past, 19, 1153–1175, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1153-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-1153-2023, 2023
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The record of past climate is preserved by several archives from different regions, such as ice cores from Greenland or Antarctica or speleothems from caves such as the Hulu Cave in China. In this study, these archives are aligned by taking advantage of the globally synchronous production of cosmogenic radionuclides. This produces a new perspective on the global climate in the period between 20 000 and 25 000 years ago.
Aaron M. Barth, Elizabeth G. Ceperley, Claire Vavrus, Shaun A. Marcott, Jeremy D. Shakun, and Marc W. Caffee
Geochronology, 4, 731–743, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-731-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-731-2022, 2022
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Deposits left behind by past glacial activity provide insight into the previous size and behavior of glaciers and act as another line of evidence for past climate. Here we present new age control for glacial deposits in the mountains of Montana and Wyoming, United States. While some deposits indicate glacial activity within the last 2000 years, others are shown to be older than previously thought, thus redefining the extent of regional Holocene glaciation.
Adrian M. Bender, Richard O. Lease, Lee B. Corbett, Paul R. Bierman, Marc W. Caffee, James V. Jones, and Doug Kreiner
Earth Surf. Dynam., 10, 1041–1053, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-1041-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-10-1041-2022, 2022
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To understand landscape evolution in the mineral resource-rich Yukon River basin (Alaska and Canada), we mapped and cosmogenic isotope-dated river terraces along the Charley River. Results imply widespread Yukon River incision that drove increased Bering Sea sedimentation and carbon sequestration during global climate changes 2.6 and 1 million years ago. Such erosion may have fed back to late Cenozoic climate change by reducing atmospheric carbon as observed in many records worldwide.
Mae Kate Campbell, Paul R. Bierman, Amanda H. Schmidt, Rita Sibello Hernández, Alejandro García-Moya, Lee B. Corbett, Alan J. Hidy, Héctor Cartas Águila, Aniel Guillén Arruebarrena, Greg Balco, David Dethier, and Marc Caffee
Geochronology, 4, 435–453, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-435-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-4-435-2022, 2022
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We used cosmogenic radionuclides in detrital river sediment to measure erosion rates of watersheds in central Cuba; erosion rates are lower than rock dissolution rates in lowland watersheds. Data from two different cosmogenic nuclides suggest that some basins may have a mixed layer deeper than is typically modeled and could have experienced significant burial after or during exposure. We conclude that significant mass loss may occur at depth through chemical weathering processes.
Nicolás E. Young, Alia J. Lesnek, Josh K. Cuzzone, Jason P. Briner, Jessica A. Badgeley, Alexandra Balter-Kennedy, Brandon L. Graham, Allison Cluett, Jennifer L. Lamp, Roseanne Schwartz, Thibaut Tuna, Edouard Bard, Marc W. Caffee, Susan R. H. Zimmerman, and Joerg M. Schaefer
Clim. Past, 17, 419–450, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-419-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-419-2021, 2021
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Retreat of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) margin is exposing a bedrock landscape that holds clues regarding the timing and extent of past ice-sheet minima. We present cosmogenic nuclide measurements from recently deglaciated bedrock surfaces (the last few decades), combined with a refined chronology of southwestern Greenland deglaciation and model simulations of GrIS change. Results suggest that inland retreat of the southwestern GrIS margin was likely minimal in the middle to late Holocene.
Joseph P. Tulenko, William Caffee, Avriel D. Schweinsberg, Jason P. Briner, and Eric M. Leonard
Geochronology, 2, 245–255, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-2-245-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/gchron-2-245-2020, 2020
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We investigate the timing and rate of retreat for three alpine glaciers in the southern Rocky Mountains to test whether they followed the pattern of global climate change or were majorly influenced by regional forcing mechanisms. We find that the latter is most likely for these glaciers. Our conclusions are based on a new 10Be chronology of alpine glacier retreat. We quantify retreat rates for each valley using the BACON program in R, which may be of interest for the audience of Geochronology.
Michael Sigl, Tyler J. Fudge, Mai Winstrup, Jihong Cole-Dai, David Ferris, Joseph R. McConnell, Ken C. Taylor, Kees C. Welten, Thomas E. Woodruff, Florian Adolphi, Marion Bisiaux, Edward J. Brook, Christo Buizert, Marc W. Caffee, Nelia W. Dunbar, Ross Edwards, Lei Geng, Nels Iverson, Bess Koffman, Lawrence Layman, Olivia J. Maselli, Kenneth McGwire, Raimund Muscheler, Kunihiko Nishiizumi, Daniel R. Pasteris, Rachael H. Rhodes, and Todd A. Sowers
Clim. Past, 12, 769–786, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-769-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-769-2016, 2016
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Here we present a chronology (WD2014) for the upper part (0–2850 m; 31.2 ka BP) of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) Divide ice core, which is based on layer counting of distinctive annual cycles preserved in the elemental, chemical and electrical conductivity records. We validated the chronology by comparing it to independent high-accuracy, absolutely dated chronologies. Given its demonstrated high accuracy, WD2014 can become a reference chronology for the Southern Hemisphere.
B. W. Goodfellow, A. P. Stroeven, D. Fabel, O. Fredin, M.-H. Derron, R. Bintanja, and M. W. Caffee
Earth Surf. Dynam., 2, 383–401, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-2-383-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-2-383-2014, 2014
D. J. Ullman, A. N. LeGrande, A. E. Carlson, F. S. Anslow, and J. M. Licciardi
Clim. Past, 10, 487–507, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-487-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-487-2014, 2014
Related subject area
Subject: Continental Surface Processes | Archive: Terrestrial Archives | Timescale: Pleistocene
Climate changes during the Late Glacial in southern Europe: new insights based on pollen and brGDGTs of Lake Matese in Italy
Cryogenic cave carbonates in the Dolomites (northern Italy): insights into Younger Dryas cooling and seasonal precipitation
Younger Dryas ice margin retreat in Greenland: new evidence from southwestern Greenland
Pleistocene glacial history of the New Zealand subantarctic islands
Palaeoclimate characteristics in interior Siberia of MIS 6–2: first insights from the Batagay permafrost mega-thaw slump in the Yana Highlands
Hydroclimate of the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation in southern Australia's arid margin interpreted from speleothem records (23–15 ka)
High-amplitude lake-level changes in tectonically active Lake Issyk-Kul (Kyrgyzstan) revealed by high-resolution seismic reflection data
Constant wind regimes during the Last Glacial Maximum and early Holocene: evidence from Little Llangothlin Lagoon, New England Tablelands, eastern Australia
Late Pleistocene–Holocene ground surface heat flux changes reconstructed from borehole temperature data (the Urals, Russia)
Sediment sequence and site formation processes at the Arbreda Cave, NE Iberian Peninsula, and implications on human occupation and climate change during the Last Glacial
Past freeze and thaw cycling in the margin of the El'gygytgyn crater deduced from a 141 m long permafrost record
Geochronological reconsideration of the eastern European key loess section at Stayky in Ukraine
Pre-LGM Northern Hemisphere ice sheet topography
Heinrich event 4 characterized by terrestrial proxies in southwestern Europe
Tephrostratigraphic studies on a sediment core from Lake Prespa in the Balkans
Past climate changes and permafrost depth at the Lake El'gygytgyn site: implications from data and thermal modeling
Depositional dynamics in the El'gygytgyn Crater margin: implications for the 3.6 Ma old sediment archive
Coarsely crystalline cryogenic cave carbonate – a new archive to estimate the Last Glacial minimum permafrost depth in Central Europe
Hydrological variability in the Northern Levant: a 250 ka multi-proxy record from the Yammoûneh (Lebanon) sedimentary sequence
Mary Robles, Odile Peyron, Guillemette Ménot, Elisabetta Brugiapaglia, Sabine Wulf, Oona Appelt, Marion Blache, Boris Vannière, Lucas Dugerdil, Bruno Paura, Salomé Ansanay-Alex, Amy Cromartie, Laurent Charlet, Stephane Guédron, Jacques-Louis de Beaulieu, and Sébastien Joannin
Clim. Past, 19, 493–515, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-493-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-19-493-2023, 2023
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Quantitative climate reconstructions based on pollen and brGDGTs reveal, for the Late Glacial, a warm Bølling–Allerød and a marked cold Younger Dryas in Italy, showing no latitudinal differences in terms of temperatures across Italy. In terms of precipitation, no latitudinal differences are recorded during the Bølling–Allerød, whereas 40–42° N appears as a key junction point between wetter conditions in southern Italy and drier conditions in northern Italy during the Younger Dryas.
Gabriella Koltai, Christoph Spötl, Alexander H. Jarosch, and Hai Cheng
Clim. Past, 17, 775–789, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-775-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-775-2021, 2021
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This paper utilises a novel palaeoclimate archive from caves, cryogenic cave carbonates, which allow for precisely constraining permafrost thawing events in the past. Our study provides new insights into the climate of the Younger Dryas (12 800 to 11 700 years BP) in mid-Europe from the perspective of a high-elevation cave sensitive to permafrost development. We quantify seasonal temperature and precipitation changes by using a heat conduction model.
Svend Funder, Anita H. L. Sørensen, Nicolaj K. Larsen, Anders A. Bjørk, Jason P. Briner, Jesper Olsen, Anders Schomacker, Laura B. Levy, and Kurt H. Kjær
Clim. Past, 17, 587–601, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-587-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-587-2021, 2021
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Cosmogenic 10Be exposure dates from outlying islets along 300 km of the SW Greenland coast indicate that, although affected by inherited 10Be, the ice margin here was retreating during the Younger Dryas. These results seem to be corroborated by recent studies elsewhere in Greenland. The apparent mismatch between temperatures and ice margin behaviour may be explained by the advection of warm water to the ice margin on the shelf and by increased seasonality, both caused by a weakened AMOC.
Eleanor Rainsley, Chris S. M. Turney, Nicholas R. Golledge, Janet M. Wilmshurst, Matt S. McGlone, Alan G. Hogg, Bo Li, Zoë A. Thomas, Richard Roberts, Richard T. Jones, Jonathan G. Palmer, Verity Flett, Gregory de Wet, David K. Hutchinson, Mathew J. Lipson, Pavla Fenwick, Ben R. Hines, Umberto Binetti, and Christopher J. Fogwill
Clim. Past, 15, 423–448, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-423-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-15-423-2019, 2019
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The New Zealand subantarctic islands, in the Pacific sector of the Southern Ocean, provide valuable records of past environmental change. We find that the Auckland Islands hosted a small ice cap around 384 000 years ago, but that there was little glaciation during the Last Glacial Maximum, around 21 000 years ago, in contrast to mainland New Zealand. This shows that the climate here is susceptible to changes in regional factors such as sea-ice expanse and the position of ocean fronts.
Kseniia Ashastina, Lutz Schirrmeister, Margret Fuchs, and Frank Kienast
Clim. Past, 13, 795–818, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-795-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-795-2017, 2017
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We present the first detailed description and sedimentological analyses of an 80 m permafrost sequence exposed in a mega-thaw slump near Batagay in the Yana Highlands, Russia, and attempt to deduce its genesis. First dating results (14C, OSL) show that the sequence represents a continental climate record spanning from the Middle Pleistocene to the Holocene. We suggest that the characteristics of the studied deposits are a result of various seasonally controlled climatically induced processes.
Pauline C. Treble, Andy Baker, Linda K. Ayliffe, Timothy J. Cohen, John C. Hellstrom, Michael K. Gagan, Silvia Frisia, Russell N. Drysdale, Alan D. Griffiths, and Andrea Borsato
Clim. Past, 13, 667–687, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-667-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-667-2017, 2017
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Little is known about the climate of southern Australia during the Last Glacial Maximum and deglaciation owing to sparse records for this region. We present the first high-resolution data, derived from speleothems that grew 23–5 ka. It appears that recharge to the Flinders Ranges was higher than today, particularly during 18.9–15.8 ka, argued to be due to the enhanced availability of tropical moisture. An abrupt shift to aridity is recorded at 15.8 ka, associated with restored westerly airflow.
Andrea Catalina Gebhardt, Lieven Naudts, Lies De Mol, Jan Klerkx, Kanatbek Abdrakhmatov, Edward R. Sobel, and Marc De Batist
Clim. Past, 13, 73–92, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-73-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-13-73-2017, 2017
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Seismic profiles from the western and eastern deltas of Lake Issyk-Kul were used to identify lake-level changes of up to 400 m. Seven stratigraphic sequences were identified, each containing a series of delta lobes that were formed during former lake-level stillstands. Lake-level fluctuations point to significant changes in the strength and position of the Siberian High and the mid-latitude Westerlies. Their interplay is responsible for the amount of moisture that reaches this area.
James Shulmeister, Justine Kemp, Kathryn E. Fitzsimmons, and Allen Gontz
Clim. Past, 12, 1435–1444, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1435-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-12-1435-2016, 2016
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This paper highlights that small dunes (lunettes) formed on the eastern side of a lake in the Australian sub-tropics at the height of the last ice age (about 21,000 years ago) and in the early part of the current interglacial (9–6,000 years ago). This means that it was fairly wet at these times and also that there were strong westerly winds to form the dunes. Today strong westerly winds occur in winter, and we infer that the same was also true at those times, suggesting no change in circulation.
D. Y. Demezhko and A. A. Gornostaeva
Clim. Past, 11, 647–652, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-647-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-11-647-2015, 2015
M. Kehl, E. Eckmeier, S. O. Franz, F. Lehmkuhl, J. Soler, N. Soler, K. Reicherter, and G.-C. Weniger
Clim. Past, 10, 1673–1692, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1673-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1673-2014, 2014
G. Schwamborn, H. Meyer, L. Schirrmeister, and G. Fedorov
Clim. Past, 10, 1109–1123, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1109-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-1109-2014, 2014
A. Kadereit and G. A. Wagner
Clim. Past, 10, 783–796, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-783-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-10-783-2014, 2014
J. Kleman, J. Fastook, K. Ebert, J. Nilsson, and R. Caballero
Clim. Past, 9, 2365–2378, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2365-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-2365-2013, 2013
J. M. López-García, H.-A. Blain, M. Bennàsar, M. Sanz, and J. Daura
Clim. Past, 9, 1053–1064, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1053-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-1053-2013, 2013
M. Damaschke, R. Sulpizio, G. Zanchetta, B. Wagner, A. Böhm, N. Nowaczyk, J. Rethemeyer, and A. Hilgers
Clim. Past, 9, 267–287, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-267-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-267-2013, 2013
D. Mottaghy, G. Schwamborn, and V. Rath
Clim. Past, 9, 119–133, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-119-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-9-119-2013, 2013
G. Schwamborn, G. Fedorov, N. Ostanin, L. Schirrmeister, A. Andreev, and the El'gygytgyn Scientific Party
Clim. Past, 8, 1897–1911, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1897-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1897-2012, 2012
K. Žák, D. K. Richter, M. Filippi, R. Živor, M. Deininger, A. Mangini, and D. Scholz
Clim. Past, 8, 1821–1837, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1821-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-8-1821-2012, 2012
F. Gasse, L. Vidal, A.-L. Develle, and E. Van Campo
Clim. Past, 7, 1261–1284, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-1261-2011, https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-7-1261-2011, 2011
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Short summary
Glaciers in the northern Rocky Mountains began retreating 17 000 to 18 000 years ago, after the end of the most recent global ice volume maxima. Climate in the region during this time was likely 10 to 8.5° colder than modern with less than or equal to present amounts of precipitation. Glaciers across the Rockies began retreating at different times but eventually exhibited similar patterns of retreat, suggesting a common mechanism influencing deglaciation.
Glaciers in the northern Rocky Mountains began retreating 17 000 to 18 000 years ago, after the...
