Major changes in ice stream dynamics during deglaciation of the north-western margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet

Victoria Island lies at the north-western limit of the former North American (Laurentide) Ice Sheet in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago and displays numerous cross-cutting glacial lineations. Previous work suggests that several ice streams operated in this region during the last (Wisconsinan) glaciation and played a major role in ice sheet dynamics and the delivery of icebergs into the Arctic Ocean. This paper produces the first detailed synthesis of their behaviour from the Last Glacial Maximum through to deglaciation (～21–9.5 cal ka BP) based on new mapping and a previously published radiocarbon-constrained ice sheet margin chronology. Over 70 discrete ice flow events (flow-sets) are ‘fitted’ to the ice margin configuration to allow identification of several ice streams ranging in size from large and long-lived (thousands of years) to much smaller and short-lived (hundreds of years). The reconstruction depicts major ice streams in M'Clure Strait and Amundsen Gulf which underwent relatively rapid retreat from the continental shelf edge at some time between ～15.2 and 14.1 cal ka BP: a period which encompasses climatic warming and rapid sea level rise (meltwater pulse-1a). Following this, overall retreat was slower and the ice streams exhibited asynchronous behaviour. The Amundsen Gulf Ice Stream continued to operate during ice margin retreat, whereas the M'Clure Strait Ice Stream ceased operating and was replaced by an ice divide within ～1000 years. This ice divide was subsequently obliterated by another short-lived phase of ice streaming in M'Clintock Channel ～13 cal ka BP. The timing of this large ice discharge event coincides with the onset of the Younger Dryas. Subsequently, a minor ice divide developed once again in M'Clintock Channel, before final deglaciation of the island shortly after 9.5 cal ka BP. It is concluded that large ice streams at the NW margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, equivalent in size to the Hudson Strait Ice Stream, underwent major changes during deglaciation, resulting in punctuated delivery of icebergs into the Arctic Ocean. Published radiocarbon dates constrain this punctuated delivery, as far as is possible within the limits imposed by their precision, and we note their coincidence with pulses of meltwater delivery inferred from numerical modelling and ocean sediment cores.     

Geochemical constraints on the Laurentide Ice Sheet contribution to Meltwater Pulse 1A

Planktonic and benthic δ¹⁸O records adjacent to the runoff outlets of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) indicate that the LIS contributed to the abrupt ～20 m rise in sea level ～14.6 ka, Meltwater Pulse 1A (MWP-1A). However, the magnitude of the LIS contribution still remains unresolved. Here, I use a freshwater runoff–ocean mixing model to calculate the LIS meltwater required to explain the decreases in planktonic and benthic δ¹⁸O observed during MWP-1A at the southern, eastern and northern runoff outlets of the LIS. Maximum LIS contributions in equivalent sea level rise for a 500-year long MWP-1A are 2.7 m discharged into the Gulf of Mexico as a combined hyperpycnal and hypopycnal flow, 2.1 m discharged into the North Atlantic, and 0.5 m into the Arctic Ocean, for a total LIS contribution of ≤5.3 m. A LIS contribution of <30% to MWP-1A supports the hypothesis that a significant component of this MWP was sourced from the Antarctic Ice Sheet.     

Sedimentary evidence of deglacial megafloods in the northern Gulf of Mexico (Pigmy Basin)

Cored sediments from the Pigmy Basin, northern Gulf of Mexico, were analyzed in order to better constrain late deglacial and early Holocene paleoenvironmental and sedimentary changes in response to North American climate evolution. Mineralogical and geochemical proxies indicate the succession of two sedimentary regimes: dominantly detrital during the deglaciation (15–12.9 cal ka BP) whereas biogenic contribution relatively increased later on during the Younger Dryas and early Holocene (12.9 and 10 cal ka BP). Geochemical data reveal that the deglacial record mainly reflects variations of terrigenous supply via the Mississippi River rather than modifications of redox conditions in the basin. Specific variations of almost all the parameters measured in this paper are synchronous with the main deglacial meltwater episode (Meltwater Spike) described or modeled in previous marine or continental studies. During this episode, most parameters display “stair-step-like” – pattern variations highlighting three successive steps within the main meltwater flow. Variations in grain-size and clay mineral assemblage recorded in the Pigmy Basin indicate that the erosional regime was very strong on land during the first part of the Meltwater Spike, and then milder, inducing more subtle modifications in the sedimentary regime in this part of the Gulf. Specific geochemical and mineralogical signatures (notably, clay minerals and trace metal geochemistry) pinpoint a dominant origin from NW North America for detrital particles reflecting meltwater outflow from the south-western Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) margin during the most intense freshwater discharge. The observed decrease of the sedimentation rate from about 200 to 25 cm/ka at ca 12.9 ka evidenced a drastic decrease of erosional processes during late phase of discharge, consistently with the hypotheses of major reduction of meltwater flow. The major modification at 12.9 cal ka BP is interpreted to result from both modifications of the main Mississippi fluvial regime due to eastward and northward rerouting of meltwater flow at the onset of the Younger Dryas, and the increase of sea-surface temperature linked to insolation. Finally, slight grain-size modifications suggest that some freshwater discharges may have episodically reached the Gulf of Mexico after the Younger Dryas reflecting possible small adjustments of the postglacial hydrological regime.     

Revision of the NW Laurentide Ice Sheet: implications for paleoclimate,the northeast extremity of Beringia,and Arctic Ocean sedimentation

For the past half-century, reconstructions of North American ice cover during the Last Glacial Maximum have shown ice-free land distal to the Laurentide Ice Sheet, primarily on Melville and Banks islands in the western Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Both islands reputedly preserve at the surface multiple Laurentide till sheets, together with associated marine and lacustrine deposits, recording as many as three pre-Late Wisconsinan glaciations. The northwest corner of Banks Island was purportedly never glaciated and is trimmed by the oldest and most extensive glaciation (Banks Glaciation) considered to be of Matuyama age (>780 ka BP). Inside the limit of Banks Glaciation, younger till sheets are ascribed to the Thomsen Glaciation (pre-Sangamonian) and the Amundsen Glaciation (Early Wisconsinan Stade). The view that the western Canadian Arctic Archipelago remained largely ice-free during the Late Wisconsinan is reinforced by a recent report of two woolly mammoth fragments collected on Banks and Melville islands, both dated to ～22 ka BP. These dates imply that these islands constitute the northeast extremity of Beringia.A fundamental revision of this model is now warranted based on widespread fieldwork across the adjacent coastlines of Banks and Melville islands, including new dating of glacial and marine landforms and sediments. On Dundas Peninsula, southern Melville Island, AMS ¹⁴C dates on ice-transported marine molluscs within the most extensive Laurentide till yield ages of 25–49 ka BP. These dates require that Late Wisconsinan ice advanced northwestward from Visount Melville Sound, excavating fauna spanning Marine Isotope Stage 3. Laurentide ice that crossed Dundas Peninsula (300 m asl) coalesced with Melville Island ice occupying Liddon Gulf. Coalescent Laurentide and Melville ice continued to advance westward through M'Clure Strait depositing granite erratics at ≥235 m asl that require grounded ice in M'Clure Strait, as do streamlined bedforms on the channel floor. Deglaciation is recorded by widespread meltwater channels that show both the initial separation of Laurentide and Melvile ice, and the successive retreat of Laurentide ice southward across Dundas Peninsula into Viscount Melville Sound. Sedimentation from these channels deposited deltas marking deglacial marine limit. Forty dates on shells collected from associated glaciomarine rhythmites record near-synchronous ice retreat from M'Clure Strait and Dundas Peninsula to north-central Victoria Island ～11.5 ka BP. Along the adjacent coast of Banks Island, deglacial shorelines also record the retreat of Laurentide ice both eastward through M'Clure Strait and southward into the island's interior. The elevation and age (～11.5 ka BP) of deglacial marine limit there is fully compatible with the record of ice retreat on Melville Island. The last retreat of ice from Mercy Bay (northern Banks Island), previously assigned to northward retreat into M'Clure Strait during the Early Wisconsinan, is contradicted by geomorphic evidence for southward retreat into the island's interior during the Late Wisconsinan. This revision of the pattern and age of ice retreat across northern Banks Island results in a significant simplification of the previous Quaternary model. Our observations support the amalgamation of multiple till sheets – previously assigned to at least three pre-Late Wisconsinan glaciations – into the Late Wisconsinan. This revision also removes their formally named marine transgressions and proglacial lakes for which evidence is lacking. Erratics were also widely observed armouring meltwater channels originating on the previously proposed never-glaciated landscape. An extensive Late Wisconsinan Laurentide Ice Sheet across the western Canadian Arctic is compatible with similar evidence for extensive Laurentide ice entering the Richardson Mountains (Yukon) farther south and with the Innuitian Ice Sheet to the north. Widespread Late Wisconsinan ice, in a region previously thought to be too arid to sustain it, has important implications for paleoclimate, ice sheet modelling, Arctic Ocean ice and sediment delivery, and clarifying the northeast limit of Beringia.     

Late Quaternary sea-level changes and palaeoseismology of the Bering Glacier region,Alaska

Glacial isostatic adjustment and multiple earthquake deformation cycles produce temporal and spatial variability in the records of relative sea-level change across south-central Alaska. Bering Glacier had retreated inland of the present coast by 16 ka BP and north of its present terminus by ～14 ka BP. Reconnaissance investigations in remote terrain provide new but limited insights of post-glacial relative sea-level change and the palaeoseismology of the region. Relative sea-level was above present ～9.2 ka BP to at least 5 ka BP before falling to below present. It was above present by the early 20th century, before land uplift in the 1964 M 9.2 earthquake. The pattern of relative sea-level change differs what may be expected in comparison with model predictions for other seismic and non-seismic locations. Buried mud–peat couplets show a great earthquake ～900 cal BP, including evidence of a tsunami. Correlation with other sites suggest simultaneous rupture of adjacent segments of the Aleutian megathrust and the Yakutat microplate.     

Reconstruction of Last Glacial to early Holocene monsoon variability from relict lake sediments of the Higher Central Himalaya,Uttrakhand, India

Proglacial lake sediments at Goting in the Higher Central Himalaya were analyzed to reconstruct the summer monsoon variability during the Last Glacial to early Holocene. Sedimentary structures, high resolution mineral magnetic and geochemical data suggest that the lacustrine environment experienced fluctuating monsoonal conditions. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating indicates that the lake sedimentation occurred before 25 ka and continued after 13 ka. During this period, Goting basin witnessed moderate to strengthened monsoon conditions around 25 ka, 23.5 ka–22.5 ka, 22 ka–18 ka, 17 ka–16.5 ka and after14.5–13 ka. The Last Glacial phase ended with the deposition of outwash gravel dated at ～11 ka indicating glacial retreat and the onset of Holocene condition. Additionally, centennial scale fluctuations between 16.5 ka and 12.7 ka in the magnetic and geochemical data are seen.A close correspondence at the millennial scale between our data and that of continental and marine records from the Indian sub-continent suggests that Goting basin responded to periods of strengthened monsoon during the Last Glacial to early Holocene. We attribute the millennial scale monsoon variability to climatic instability in higher northern latitudes. However, centennial scale abrupt changes are attributed to the result of albedo changes on the Himalaya and Tibetan plateau.     

The deglacial history of NW Alexander Island,Antarctica, from surface exposure dating

Recent changes along the margins of the Antarctic Peninsula, such as the collapse of the Wilkins Ice Shelf, have highlighted the effects of climatic warming on the Antarctic Peninsula Ice Sheet (APIS). However, such changes must be viewed in a long-term (millennial-scale) context if we are to understand their significance for future stability of the Antarctic ice sheets. To address this, we present nine new cosmogenic ¹⁰Be exposure ages from sites on NW Alexander Island and Rothschild Island (adjacent to the Wilkins Ice Shelf) that provide constraints on the timing of thinning of the Alexander Island ice cap since the last glacial maximum. All but one of the ¹⁰Be ages are in the range 10.2–21.7 ka, showing a general trend of progressive ice-sheet thinning since at least 22 ka until 10 ka. The data also provide a minimum estimate (490 m) for ice-cap thickness on NW Alexander Island at the last glacial maximum. Cosmogenic ³He ages from a rare occurrence of mantle xenoliths on Rothschild Island yield variable ages up to 46 ka, probably reflecting exhumation by periglacial processes.     

Growth,dynamics and deglaciation of the last British–Irish ice sheet: the deep-sea ice-rafted detritus record

The evolution and dynamics of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS) have hitherto largely been reconstructed from onshore and shallow marine glacial geological and geomorphological data. This reconstruction has been problematic because these sequences and data are spatially and temporally incomplete and fragmentary. In order to enhance BIIS reconstruction, we present a compilation of new and previously published ice-rafted detritus (IRD) flux and concentration data from high-resolution sediment cores recovered from the NE Atlantic deep-sea continental slope adjacent to the last BIIS. These cores are situated adjacent to the full latitudinal extent of the last BIIS and cover Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) 2 and 3. Age models are based on radiocarbon dating and graphical tuning of abundances of the polar planktonic foraminifera Neogloboquadrina pachyderma sinistral (% Nps) to the Greenland GISP2 ice core record. Multiple IRD fingerprinting techniques indicate that, at the selected locations, most IRD are sourced from adjacent BIIS ice streams except in the centre of Heinrich (H) layers in which IRD shows a prominent Laurentide Ice Sheet provenance. IRD flux data are interpreted with reference to a conceptual model explaining the relations between flux, North Atlantic hydrography and ice dynamics. Both positive and rapid negative mass balance can cause increases, and prominent peaks, in IRD flux. First-order interpretation of the IRD record indicates the timing of the presence of the BIIS with an actively calving marine margin. The records show a coherent latitudinal, but partly phased, signal during MIS 3 and 2. Published data indicate that the last BIIS initiated during the MIS 5/4 cooling transition; renewed growth just before H5 (46 ka) was succeeded by very strong millennial-scale variability apparently corresponding with Dansgaard–Oeschger (DO) cycles closely coupled to millennial-scale climate variability in the North Atlantic region involving latitudinal migration of the North Atlantic Polar Front. This indicates that the previously defined “precursor events” are not uniquely associated with H events but are part of the millennial-scale variability. Major growth of the ice sheet occurred after 29 ka with the Barra Ice Stream attaining a shelf-edge position and generating turbiditic flows on the Barra–Donegal Fan at ～27 ka. The ice sheet reached its maximum extent at H2 (24 ka), earlier than interpreted in previous studies. Rapid retreat, initially characterised by peak IRD flux, during Greenland Interstadial 2 (23 ka) was followed by readvance between 22 and 16 ka. Readvance during H1 was only characterised by BIIS ice streams draining central dome(s) of the ice sheet, and was followed by rapid deglaciation and ice exhaustion. The evidence for a calving margin and IRD supply from the BIIS during Greenland Stadial 1 (Younger Dryas event) is equivocal. The timing of the initiation, maximum extent, deglacial and readvance phases of the BIIS interpreted from the IRD flux record is strongly supported by recent independent data from both the Irish Sea and North Sea sectors of the ice sheet.     

The Allerød–Younger Dryas–Holocene sequence in the west-central Champlain Sea,eastern Ontario: a record of glacial,oceanographic, and climatic changes

The aragonite mineralogy and geochemistry of the mollusc faunas preserved at Navan and Bearbrook, Ontario, serve as proxies of original seawater chemistry. The composite section spanning 12,980–10,980 cal yr BP includes the Younger Dryas (YD) paleoclimatic oscillation. Oxygen isotopes demonstrate the onset of cooling with the YD event, in addition to the lowering of marine values by the influx of isotopically light glacial meltwater from Lake Agassiz. Impact of cooling and dilution is reduced or eliminated with the start of the Holocene, when water temperatures and salinities for Champlain Sea (CS) seawater were 8–16 °C and 27–34 ppt, respectively. Overall, oxygen isotope values deceased to −3.5% during the YD mainly due to freshening by glacial meltwater. Carbon isotopes confirm the rise in atmospheric CO₂ concentration at the YD–Holocene transition. Marine strontium isotope values for the Allerød–YD–earliest Holocene range from 0.709151 (16,210 cal yr BP) to 0.709145 (12,980 cal yr BP) and 0.709142 (10,950 cal yr BP). The oceanographic changes recorded for the CS are in agreement with the evolutionary phases of Lake Agassiz and deglaciation dynamics of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The volume and direction of meltwater discharge from Lake Agassiz alternated between the Gulf of Mexico during the Allerød, via the Great Lakes through the CS to the North Atlantic during the YD, and back to the Gulf of Mexico during the early Holocene, but with diminished impact.     

Rapid late Pleistocene/Holocene uplift and coastal evolution of the southern Arabian (Persian) Gulf

The coastline along the southern Arabian Gulf between Al Jubail, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Dubai, UAE, appears to have risen at least 125 m in the last 18,000 years. Dating and topographic surveying of paleo-dunes (43–53 ka), paleo-marine terraces (17–30 ka), and paleo-marine shorelines (3.3–5.5 ka) document a rapid, > 1 mm/a subsidence, followed by a 6 mm/a uplift that is decreasing with time. The mechanism causing this movement remains elusive but may be related to the translation of the coastal area through the backbasin to forebulge hinge line movement of the Arabian plate or, alternatively, by movement of the underlying Infracambrian-age Hormuz salt in response to sea-level changes associated with continental glaciation. Independent of the mechanism, rapid and episodic uplift may impact the design of engineering projects such as nuclear power plants, airports, and artificial islands as well as the interpretation of sedimentation and archeology of the area.     

The processes and mechanisms of severe sandstorm development in the eastern Hexi Corridor China,during the Last Glacial period

Dust transported by sandstorms has been an important feedback in climate change in the past, and its environmental effects are predicted to have a great impact on future global climatic change. Investigating the grain-size classes and the standard deviations of the modern sandstorm samples, and the samples in the Shagou section (situated in the eastern Hexi Corridor), lead us to suggest that the sand fraction within the range of 275.4–550 μm in this section can be used as a sensitive indicator of severe sandstorms. We selected the size range in the L1 stratum of the Shagou loess section as indicative of temporal changes in sandstorm intensity in the eastern Hexi Corridor and found that during the Last Glacial period, severe sandstorms in the eastern Hexi Corridor occurred with high frequency during these periods: I (70–54 ka B.P.), II (51–48 ka B.P.), III (45–42 ka B.P.), IV (38–33 ka B.P.), V (31–28 ka B.P.) and VI (26–12 ka B.P.) In general, the frequency and intensity of dust storms in the early (MIS 4) and late (MIS 2) periods were both high but they were reduced in the middle period (MIS 3). The primary factors controlling severe sandstorms are hydrology and wind power, followed by the expansion of the source extent. Reduced precipitation caused the source region of sandstorms to expand; in addition, wind speeds also increased at this time. These factors may have directly contributed to the abundance of severe sandstorms. Based on the grain size from a loess section (the Shagou section) in the eastern Hexi Corridor, we propose an evolutionary sequence of the severe sandstorms during the Last Glacial period. This sequence is consistent with the dust records in the Arctic, the Antarctic and low-latitude (the central equatorial Pacific) areas. Thus globally synchronous periods of high dust activity occurred in the Last Glacial period. The strong winds proposed here provide a potential explanation for the global consistency of dust flux changes during the Last Glacial period.     

Initiation of the Mekong River delta at 8 ka: evidence from the sedimentary succession in the Cambodian lowland

Modern deltas are understood to have initiated around 7.5–9 ka in response to the deceleration of sea-level rise. This episode of delta initiation is closely related to the last deglacial meltwater events and eustatic sea-level rises. The initial stage of the Mekong River delta, one of the world's largest deltas, is well recorded in Cambodian lowland sediments. This paper integrates analyses of sedimentary facies, diatom assemblages, and radiocarbon dates for three drill cores from the lowland to demonstrate Holocene sedimentary evolution in relation to sea-level changes. The cores are characterized by a tripartite succession: (1) aggrading flood plain to natural levee and tidal–fluvial channel during the postglacial sea-level rise (10–8.4 ka); (2) aggrading to prograding tidal flats and mangrove forests around and after the maximum flooding of the sea (8.4–6.3 ka); and (3) a prograding fluvial system on the delta plain (6.3 ka to the present). The maximum flooding of the sea occurred at 8.0 ± 0.1 ka, 2000 years before the mid-Holocene sea-level highstand, and tidal flats penetrated up to 20–50 km southeast of Phnom Penh after a period of abrupt ～5 m sea-level rise at 8.5–8.4 ka. The delta progradation then initiated as a result of the sea-level stillstand at around 8–7.5 ka. Another rapid sea-level rise at 7.5–7 ka allowed thick mangrove peat to be widely deposited in the Cambodian lowland, and the peat accumulation endured until 6.3 ka. Since 6.3 ka, a fluvial system has characterized the delta plain, and the fluvial sediment discharge has contributed to rapid delta progradation. The uppermost part of the sedimentary succession, composed of flood plain to natural-levee sediments, reveals a sudden increase in sediment accumulation over the past 600–1000 years. This increase might reflect an increase in the sediment yield due to human activities in the upper to middle reaches of the Mekong, as with other Asian rivers.     

Middle and Late Weichselian (Devensian) glaciation history of south-western Norway,North Sea and eastern UK

Data from eastern England, Scotland, the northern North Sea and western Norway have been compiled in order to outline our current knowledge of the Middle and Late Weichselian glacial history of this region. Radiometric dates and their geological context from key sites in the region are presented and discussed. Based on the available information the following conclusions can be made: (i) Prior to 39 cal ka and most likely after ca 50 cal ka Scotland and southern Norway were extensively glaciated. Most likely the central North Sea was not glaciated at this time and grounded ice did not reach the shelf edge. (ii) During the time interval between 29 and 39 ka periods with ameliorated climate (including the Ålesund, Sandnes and Tolsta Interstadials) alternated with periods of restricted glaciation in Scotland and western Norway. (iii) Between 29 and 25 ka maximum Weichselian glaciation of the region occurred, with the Fennoscandian and British ice sheets coalescing in the central North Sea. (iv) Decoupling of the ice sheets had occurred at 25 ka, with development of a marine embayment in the northern North Sea (v) Between 22 and 19 ka glacial ice expanded westwards from Scandinavia onto the North Sea Plateau in the Tampen readvance. (vi) The last major expansion of glacial ice in the offshore areas was between 17.5 and 15.5 ka. At this time ice expanded in the north-western part of the region onto the Måløy Plateau from Norway and across Caithness and Orkney and to east of Shetland from the Moray Firth. The Norwegian Channel Ice Stream (NCIS), which drained major parts of the south-western Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, was active at several occasions between 29 and 18 ka.     

Timing and extent of Holocene glaciations in the monsoon dominated Dunagiri valley (Bangni glacier), Central Himalaya,India

Field stratigraphy and optical and radiocarbon dating of lateral moraines in the monsoon dominated Dunagiri valley of the Central Himalaya provide evidence for three major glaciations during the last 12 ka. The oldest and most extensive glaciation, the Bangni Glacial Stage-I (BGS-I), is dated between 12 and 9 ka, followed by the BGS-II glaciation (7.5 and 4.5 ka) and the BGS-III glaciation (∼1 ka). In addition, discrete moraine mounds proximal to the present day glacier snout are attributed to the Little Ice Age (LIA). BGS-I started around the Younger Dryas (YD) cooling event and persisted till the early Holocene when the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) strengthened. The less extensive BGS-II glaciation, which occurred during the early to mid-Holocene, is ascribed to lower temperature and decreased precipitation. Further reduction in ice volume during BGS-III is attributed to a late Holocene warm and moist climate. Although the glaciers respond to a combination of temperature and precipitation changes, in the Dunagiri valley decreased temperature seems to be the major driver of glaciations during the Holocene.     

Revised radiocarbon ages on woolly rhinoceros (Coelodonta antiquitatis) from western central Scotland: significance for timing the extinction of woolly rhinoceros in Britain and the onset of the LGM in central Scotland

Woolly rhinoceros bones, from a number of sites in Britain, have been AMS radiocarbon dated following ultrafiltration pre-treatment. These determinations give a coherent set of ages between >50 and c. 35 cal ka BP. The youngest (35,864–34,765 cal BP) come from the area around Bishopbriggs in western central Scotland and are derived from glaciofluvial sand and gravel overlain by till, both deposited during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) glaciation. A previous radiocarbon date from the site suggested that woolly rhinoceros lived c. 27 ¹⁴C ka BP and the region was ice-free at the time. This date has had significant influence on the timing of extinction of woolly rhinoceros and the onset of glaciation over Britain during the LGM. The new dates revise this earlier determination and confirm that woolly rhinoceros became extinct in Britain after c. 35 cal ka BP, that central Scotland was ice-free at this time, and glaciation extended across this region sometime after 35 cal ka BP.     

Deglaciation, basin formation and post-glacial climate change from a regional network of sediment core sites in Ohio and eastern Indiana

Many paleoclimate and landscape change studies in the American Midwest have focused on the Late Glacial and early Holocene time periods (~ 16–11 ka), but little work has addressed landscape change in this area between the Last Glacial Maximum and the Late Glacial (~ 22–16 ka). Sediment cores were collected from 29 new lake and bog sites in Ohio and Indiana to address this gap. The basal radiocarbon dates from these cores show that initial ice retreat from the maximal last-glacial ice extent occurred by 22 ka, and numerous sites that are ~ 100 km inside this limit were exposed by 18.9 ka. Post-glacial environmental changes were identified as stratigraphic or biologic changes in select cores. The strongest signal occurs between 18.5 and 14.6 ka. These Midwestern events correspond with evidence to the northeast, suggesting that initial deglaciation of the ice sheet, and ensuing environmental changes, were episodic and rapid. Significantly, these changes predate the onset of the Bølling postglacial warming (14.8 ka) as recorded by the Greenland ice cores. Thus, deglaciation and landscape change around the southern margins of the Laurentide Ice Sheet happened ~ 7 ka before postglacial changes were felt in central Greenland.     

Dynamic cycles,ice streams and their impact on the extent,chronology and deglaciation of the British–Irish ice sheet

We present results from a suite of forward transient numerical modelling experiments of the British and Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS), consisting of Scottish, Welsh and Irish accumulation centres, spanning the last Glacial period from 38 to 10 ka BP. The 3D thermomechanical model employed uses higher-order physics to solve longitudinal (membrane) stresses and to reproduce grounding-line dynamics. Surface mass balance is derived using a distributed degree-day calculation based on a reference climatology from mean (1961–1990) precipitation and temperature patterns. The model is perturbed from this reference state by a scaled NGRIP oxygen isotope curve and the SPECMAP sea-level reconstruction. Isostatic response to ice loading is computed using an elastic lithosphere/relaxed asthenosphere scheme. A suite of 350 simulations were designed to explore the parameter space of model uncertainties and sensitivities, to yield a subset of experiments that showed close correspondence to offshore and onshore ice-directional indicators, broad BIIS chronology, and the relative sea-level record. Three of these simulations are described in further detail and indicate that the separate ice centres of the modelled BIIS complex are dynamically interdependent during the build up to maximum conditions, but remain largely independent throughout much of the simulation. The modelled BIIS is extremely dynamic, drained mainly by a number of transient but recurrent ice streams which dynamically switch and fluctuate in extent and intensity on a centennial time-scale. A series of binge/purge, advance/retreat, cycles are identified which correspond to alternating periods of relatively cold-based ice, (associated with a high aspect ratio and net growth), and wet-based ice with a lower aspect ratio, characterised by streaming. The timing and dynamics of these events are determined through a combination of basal thermomechanical switching spatially propagated and amplified through longitudinal coupling, but are modulated and phase-lagged to the oscillations within the NGRIP record of climate forcing. Phases of predominant streaming activity coincide with periods of maximum ice extent and are triggered by abrupt transitions from a cold to relatively warm climate, resulting in major iceberg/melt discharge events into the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. The broad chronology of the modelled BIIS indicates a maximum extent at ～20 ka, with fast-flowing ice across its western and northern sectors that extended to the continental shelf edge. Fast-flowing streams also dominate the Irish Sea and North Sea Basin sectors and impinge onto SW England and East Anglia. From ～19 ka BP deglaciation is achieved in less than 2000 years, discharging the freshwater equivalent of ～2 m global sea-level rise. A much reduced ice sheet centred on Scotland undergoes subsequent retrenchment and a series of advance/retreat cycles into the North Sea Basin from 17 ka onwards, culminating in a sustained Younger Dryas event from 13 to 11.5 ka BP. Modelled ice cover is persistent across the Western and Central Highlands until the last remnant glaciers disappear around 10.5 ka BP.     

Pollen stratigraphy,vegetation and climate history of the last 215 ka in the Azzano Decimo core (plain of Friuli,north-eastern Italy)

The pollen record of the long succession of marine and continental deposits filling the subsident north-Adriatic foredeep basin (NE Italy) documents the history of vegetation, the landscape evolution and the climate forcing during the last 215 ka at the south-eastern Alpine foreland. The chronology relies on several ¹⁴C determinations as well as on estimated ages of pollen-stratigraphical and sea-level event tie-points derived from comparison with high-resolution marine records, speleothemes and ice cores.Mixed temperate rainforests persisted throughout MIS 7a–7c, being replaced by conifer forests after the local glacioeustatic regression during early MIS 6. The Alpine piedmont facing the Adriatic foredeeep was glaciated at the culmination of the penultimate glaciation, as directly testified by in situ fluvioglacial aggradation related to the building of a large morainic amphitheatre. The pollen record allows correlation with other European records and with the IRD from N-Atlantic and off Iberia, thus the duration of the penultimate glacial culmination at the southalpine fringe is estimated less than 13 ka between 148 ± 1 and >135 ka. The site was not reached by the Last Interglacial maximum sea transgression and enregistered a typical, though incomplete, Eemian forest record, lacking Mediterranean evergreen trees. A complex sequence of stadial–interstadial episodes is reconstructed during the Early and Middle Würm: major xerophyte peaks match IRD maxima occurred during Heinrich events in deep-sea cores offshore Iberia and in the N-Atlantic and allows to frame lumps of interstadial phases, marked by Picea peaks, each one including several DO warm events. Broad-leaved thermophilous forests disappeared from the north-eastern plain of Italy at the end of the Early Würm, whereas reduced populations of Abies and Fagus probably sheltered even during the Last Glacial Maximum. A renewed fluvioglacial in situ deposition between 30.4 ± 0.4 and 21.6 ± 0.5 ka cal BP sets the time and duration of the last glacial culmination in the pedemontane morainic amphitheatre. Palynomorphs from Plio-Pleistocene marine successions were reworked by glacier erosion and deposited in the lowland during both the penultimate and the last deglaciation phases. This explains a bias affecting previous pollen records from the region.     

Palaeo-ice streams in the Foxe/Baffin sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet

In this paper, we describe mapping of palaeo-ice streams in the Foxe/Baffin sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet by means of geomorphological interpretation of high-resolution satellite images. Our interpretations were guided by a glaciological inversion scheme, aided by digital elevation models, publicly available sonar surveys and field studies. As a result, we produced a map depicting the location, geometry and relative temporal changes of palaeo-ice streams and analysed their palaeoglaciological implications for the Foxe/Baffin sector. We conclude that in the period between the Last Glacial Maximum and approximately 7.0 kyr BP, the Foxe/Baffin sector was largely drained by topographically controlled outlet glaciers and ice streams, which were organized in a relatively stable pattern. During this time, large areas of Melville Peninsula and central Baffin Island were subject to cold-based conditions. Between 7.0 and 6.0 kyr BP, the Foxe/Baffin sector collapsed catastrophically in the Foxe Basin, after which its remnant portion became confined to Baffin Island. During this collapse, rapid successions of small transient ice streams occurred along wide, loosely defined topographical corridors in two sectors of Baffin Island. The presently available landform archive on emerged land is not sufficient to conclusively support the existence of fully scaled ice streams along the whole length of Hudson Strait. As an alternative solution, we propose that topographically controlled ice streams might have occurred along the deepest parts of Hudson Strait, with attendant cold-based ice zones on marginal areas and islands at the head of the strait.     

Abrupt Holocene climate change and potential response to solar forcing in western Canada

Several abrupt climate events during the Holocene, including the widely documented oscillation at 8.2 thousand years before present (ka), are attributed to changes in the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation. Additional mechanisms, such as interactions between atmospheric circulation, ice-sheet dynamics, and the influence of solar irradiance, also have been proposed to explain abrupt climatic events, but evidence remains elusive. This study presents evidence from multi-proxy analyses on the Holocene sediments of Eleanor Lake, interior British Columbia. Climatic inferences from our decadal-resolution record of biogenic silica (BSi) abundance are supported by changes in diatom and pollen assemblages from the same core and correlations with existing regional climate records. The BSi record reveals abrupt and persistent climatic shifts at 10.2, 9.3, and 8.5 ka, the latter two of which are coeval with major collapses of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The record also reveals a short-term cooling at 8.2 ka that is distinct from the 8.5 ka event and similar in magnitude to several other late-Holocene coolings. BSi is correlated with solar-irradiance indices (r = 0.43–0.61), but the correlation is opposite in sign to that expected from direct solar forcing and weakens after 8 ka. Possible mechanisms causing the abrupt and persistent climate changes of the early Holocene include 1) sudden losses of ice and proglacial lake extent, causing a shift in the meridional structure of atmospheric circulation, 2) a possible link between solar minima and El Niño-like conditions that are correlated with warm spring temperature in interior British Columbia, and 3) the influence of solar irradiance variability on the position of the polar jet, possibly via effects on the strength of the glacial anticyclone.