Provenance of Des Moines lobe till records ice‐stream catchment evolution during Laurentide deglaciation

Lusardi, B. A., Jennings, C. E. & Harris, K. L. 2011: Provenance of Des Moines lobe till records ice‐stream catchment evolution during Laurentide deglaciation. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2011.00208.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Mapping and analysis of deposits of the Des Moines lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, active after the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), reveal several texturally and lithologically distinct tills within what had been considered to be a homogeneous deposit. Although the differences between tills are subtle, minor distinctions are predictable and mappable, and till sheets within the area covered by the lobe can be correlated for hundreds of kilometres parallel to ice flow. Lateral till‐sheet contacts are abrupt or overlap in a narrow zone, coincident with a geomorphic discontinuity interpreted to be a shear margin. Till sheets 10 to 20 m thick show mixing in their lower 2 to 3 m. We suggest that: (i) lithologically distinct till sheets correspond to unique ice‐stream source areas; (ii) the sequence of tills deposited by the Des Moines lobe was the result of the evolution and varying dominance of nearby and competing ice streams and their tributaries; and (iii) in at least one instance, more than one ice stream simultaneously contributed to the lobe. Therefore the complex sequence of tills of subtly different provenances, and the unconformities between them record the evolution of an ice‐catchment area during Laurentide Ice Sheet drawdown. Till provenance data suggest that, after till is created in the ice‐stream source area, the subglacial conditions required for transporting till decline and incorporation of new material is limited.     

Minor end moraines of the Wisconsin Valley Lobe, north-central Wisconsin, USA

Approximately 35 parallel, discontinuous glacial ridges occur in an area of about 100 km² in north‐central Wisconsin. The ridges are located between about 6 and 15 km north (formerly up‐ice) of the maximum extent of the Wisconsin Valley Lobe of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The ridges are between 1 and 4 m high, up to 1 km long, and spaced between 30 and 80 m apart. They are typically asymmetrical with a steep proximal (ice‐contact) slope and gentle distal slope. The ridges are composed primarily of subglacial till on their proximal sides and glacial debris‐flow sediment on the distal sides. In some ridges the till and debris‐flow sediment are underlain by sorted sediment that was deformed in the former direction of ice flow. We interpret the ridges to be recessional moraines that formed as the Wisconsin Valley Lobe wasted back from its maximum extent, with each ridge having formed by a sequence of (1) pushing of sorted ice‐marginal sediment, (2) partial overriding by the glacier and deposition of subglacial till on the proximal side of the ridge, and (3) deposition of debris‐flow sediment on the distal side of the ridge after the frozen till at the crest of the ridge melted. The moraines are similar to annual recessional moraines described at several modern glaciers, especially the northern margin of Myrdalsjokull, Iceland. Thus, we believe the ridges probably formed as a result of minor winter advances of the ice margin during deglaciation. Based on this assumption, we calculate the net rate of ice‐surface lowering of the Wisconsin Valley Lobe during the period when the moraines formed. Various estimates of ice‐surface slope and rates of ice‐margin retreat yield a wide range of values for ice‐surface lowering (1.7–14.5 m/yr). Given that ablation rates must exceed those of ice‐surface lowering, this range of values suggests relatively high summer temperatures along the margin of the Wisconsin Valley Lobe when it began retreating from its maximum extent. In addition, the formation of annual moraines indicates that the glacier toe was thin, the ice surface was clean, and the ice margin experienced relatively cold winters.     

Subglacial and ice‐marginal landforms in south‐central Ontario: implications for ice‐sheet reconfiguration during deglaciation

Regional‐scale, high‐resolution terrain data permit the study of landforms across south‐central Ontario, where the bed of the former Laurentide Ice Sheet is well exposed and passes downflow from irregular topography on Precambrian Shield highlands to flat‐lying Palaeozoic carbonate bedrock, and thick (50 to >200 m) unconsolidated sediment substrates. Rock drumlins and megagrooves are eroded into bedrock and mega‐scale glacial lineations (MSGL) occur on patchy streamlined till residuals in the Algonquin Highlands. Downflow, MSGL pass into juxtaposed rock and drift drumlins on Palaeozoic bedrock and predominantly till‐cored drumlins in areas of thick drift. The Lake Simcoe Moraines, now traceable for more than 80 km across the Peterborough drumlin field (PDF), form a distinct morphological boundary: downflow of the moraine system, drumlins are larger, broader and show no indication of subsequent reworking by the ice, whereas upflow of the moraines, a higher degree of complexity in bedform pattern and morphology is distinguished. Discrete radial and/or cross‐cutting flowset terminate at subtle till‐cored moraine ridges downflow of local topographic lows, indicating multiple phases of late‐stage ice flow with strong local topographic steering. More regional‐scale flow switching is evident as NW‐orientated bedforms modify drumlins south of the Oak Ridges Moraine, and radial flowset emanate from areas within the St. Lawrence and Ottawa River valleys. Most of the drumlins in the PDF formed during an early, regional drumlinization phase of NE–SW flow that followed the deposition of a thick regional till sheet. These were subsequently modified by local‐scale, topographically controlled flows that terminate at till‐cored moraines, providing evidence that the superimposed bedforms record dynamic ice (re)advances throughout the deglaciation of south‐central Ontario. The patterns and relationships of glacial landform distribution and characteristics in south‐central Ontario hold significance for many modern and palaeo‐ice sheets, where similar downflow changes in bed topography and substrate lithology are observed.     

Quantitative assessment of the hydraulic role of subglaciofluvial interbeds in promoting deposition of deformation till (Northern Till,Ontario)

The Northern Till is a thick (>65 m) deformation till underlying some 7500 km² of Southern Ontario, Canada including the Peterborough Drumlin Field. It was deposited below the Lake Ontario ice stream of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The till rests on glaciotectonized aquifer sediments and consists of multiple beds of till up to 6 m thick. These are separated by boulder lags, sometimes in the form of striated pavements, with thin (<30 cm) interbeds of poorly sorted waterlaid sand. The composite till stratigraphy indicates ‘punctuated aggradation’ where the subglacial bed was built up incrementally by the repeated ‘immobilization’ of deforming overpressured till layers. Boulders and sands indicate pauses in subglacial aggradation marked by sluggish sheet flows of water that reworked the top of the underlying till. Interbeds are laterally extensive and correlated using downhole electrical conductivity, core recovery and natural gamma data. A 3-D finite element model (FEFLOW) using data from 200 cored and geophysically logged boreholes, and a large digital water well dataset of 3400 individual records shows that the till functions as a ‘leaky aquitard’ as a consequence of water flow through interbeds. It is proposed that interbeds played a similar role in the subglacial hydraulic system below the Laurentide Ice Sheet by allowing drainage of excess porewater pressures in deforming sediment and promoting deposition of till. This is in agreement with theoretical studies of deforming bed dynamics and observations at modern glaciers where porewater in the deforming layer is discharged into underlying aquifers. In this way, the presence of interbeds may be fundamental in retarding downglacier transport of deforming bed material thereby promoting the build-up of thick subglacial till successions.     

Glacitectonic sedimentary and hydraulic processes at an oscillating ice margin

An assemblage of subglacial, ice-terminal and proglacial landforms and sediments provides evidence for the relationship between ice-marginal glacitectonics, sedimentary processes and subglacial and proglacial hydraulic processes at a retreating late Devensian ice margin in north-central Ireland. Deltas were deposited in glacial lakes impounded between the retreating ice margin and the southern Sperrin Mountains, followed by outwash and end moraine formation as the ice margin retreated south. Sediments within the moraines show evidence for ice margin oscillation from two opposing ice margins, including subglacial bedrock rafts and breccias which are separated by glacitectonic shears with silty partings. In adjacent outwash, vertically-disturbed proglacial sands, gravels and silts located in front of moraine positions attest to high hydraulic pressure and subsurface water flow during ice oscillation. The relationship between sedimentary and hydraulic processes in the ice margin region is described by a depositional model which links glacitectonic thrusting and subsurface water flow during ice oscillation to formation of subglacial, ice-terminal and proglacial sediments. The evidence presented in this paper shows that subglacial and proglacial morphosedimentary processes and patterns of sediment deposition are mediated by the presence of proglacial permafrost, which helps direct processes and patterns of groundwater flow.     

The Dubawnt Lake palaeo-ice stream: evidence for dynamic ice sheet behaviour on the Canadian Shield and insights regarding the controls on ice-stream location and vigour

We report evidence for a major ice stream that operated over the northwestern Canadian Shield in the Keewatin Sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last deglaciation 9000–8200 (uncalibrated) yr BP. It is reconstructed at 450 km in length, 140 km in width, and had an estimated catchment area of 190000 km². Mapping from satellite imagery reveals a suite of bedforms ('flow-set') characterized by a highly convergent onset zone, abrupt lateral margins, and where flow was presumed to have been fastest, a remarkably coherent pattern of mega-scale glacial lineations with lengths approaching 13 km and elongation ratios in excess of 40:1. Spatial variations in bedform elongation within the flow-set match the expected velocity field of a terrestrial ice stream. The flow pattern does not appear to be steered by topography and its location on the hard bedrock of the Canadian Shield is surprising. A soft sedimentary basin may have influenced ice-stream activity by lubricating the bed over the downstream crystalline bedrock, but it is unlikely that it operated over a pervasively deforming till layer. The location of the ice stream challenges the view that they only arise in deep bedrock troughs or over thick deposits of 'soft' fine-grained sediments. We speculate that fast ice flow may have been triggered when a steep ice sheet surface gradient with high driving stresses contacted a proglacial lake. An increase in velocity through calving could have propagated fast ice flow upstream (in the vicinity of the Keewatin Ice Divide) through a series of thermomechanical feedback mechanisms. It exerted a considerable impact on the Laurentide Ice Sheet, forcing the demise of one of the last major ice centres.     

Late Wisconsin glacial advance and retreat patterns in southwestern Ohio, USA

Despite the application of radiocarbon dating for more than three decades along the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, fundamental questions about the timing of glacial advances remain. For one of its sublobes, the Miami, we undertook areal mapping, detailed lithostratigraphic analysis, and radiocarbon dating to interpret four pulses of ice advance. On top of the undated sediments deposited during the first advance is a major unconformity. The second advance occurred about 20,000 BP and marks the beginning of the late Wisconsin glaciation. A minor recession (more than 30 km) ensued, but plants did not reoccupy the landscape. A third advance of the ice margin produced a stone-rich lodgement till to within 20 km of the late Wisconsin maximum. The final ice motion only occurred in the northern part of the study area and may be of local extent. Large accumulations of supraglacial gravity flowtills and outwash mark the final ice-margin retreat. Of these. only the second advance is well dated. This study implies that the number of advances of the ice margin is fewer than previously suggested. Consequently we argue that several of the sublobes across the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet acted in unison for the interval of 22.000 to 18.000 BP implying ice-sheet external forcing.     

Hummocky moraine: sedimentary record of stagnant Laurentide Ice Sheet lobes resting on soft beds

Over large areas of the western interior plains of North America, hummocky moraine (HM) formed at the margins of Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) lobes that flowed upslope against topographic highs. Current depositional models argue that HM was deposited supraglacially from stagnant debris-rich ice (`disintegration moraine'). Across southern Alberta, Canada, map and outcrop data show that HM is composed of fine-grained till as much as 25 m thick containing rafts of soft, glaciotectonized bedrock and sediment. Chaotic, non-oriented HM commonly passes downslope into weakly-oriented hummocks (`washboard moraine') that are transitional to drumlins in topographic lows; the same subsurface stratigraphy and till facies is present throughout. These landforms, and others such as doughnut-like `rim ridges', flat-topped `moraine plateaux' and linear disintegration ridges, are identified as belonging to subglacially-deposited soft-bed terrain. This terrain is the record of ice lobes moving over deformation till derived from weakly-lithified, bentonite-rich shale. Drumlins record continued active ice flow in topographic lows during deglaciation whereas HM was produced below the outer stagnant margins of ice lobes by gravitational loading (`pressing') of remnant dead ice blocks into wet, plastic till. Intervening zones of washboard moraine mark the former boundary of active and stagnant ice and show `hybrid' drumlins whose streamlined form has been altered by subglacial pressing (`humdrums') below dead ice. The presence of hummocky moraine over a very large area of interior North America provides additional support for glaciological models of a soft-bedded Laurentide Ice Sheet.     

Late Wisconsinan deglaciation and proglacial lakes development in the Charlevoix region,southeastern Québec,Canada

The Charlevoix region, in southeastern Québec, is characterized by a dramatic landscape formed by the junction of the Laurentian Highlands, the Charlevoix Astrobleme and the St Lawrence Estuary. At the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the region was completely covered by the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS). The complex topography of the region was the stage of many of the major deglacial events of southern Quebec (e.g. Goldthwait Sea Invasion, St Lawrence Ice‐Stream, Saint‐Narcisse Episode). We present a detailed reconstruction of the pattern of retreat of the LIS in the Charlevoix region based on the interpretation of ice‐marginal features (e.g. moraines, fans) and glaciolacustrine landforms and deposits, two extensive field campaigns, and the interpretation of high‐resolution 3D digital aerial photographs and LiDAR data. Our results indicate five moraine complexes in the region: the Rochette, the Brûlée, the Sainte‐Anne, the Saint‐Narcisse and the Mars‐Batiscan complexes. Deltas, fans, fine‐grained sediments, littoral deposits, drainage breaches and deposits were used to identify 91 palaeo‐proglacial lakes. The identification of these lakes and their relation to moraine complexes enabled the reconstruction of six stages of lake development during the Charlevoix deglaciation. The development of proglacial lakes occurred in all types of terrain (highlands, lowlands, transitory levels above marine limit). We conclude that local topography had a decisive effect on promoting both moraine deposition and lake development. We suggest that similar topographical regions (hilly‐mountainous) that were affected by major ice‐margin stabilizations during glacial retreat should have experience small lakes dominating valleys and topographical lows.     

Deglaciation ages and meltwater routing in the Fort McMurray region,northeastern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan,Canada

A field-based reconstruction of the deglacial paleogeography in the Fort McMurray area permits: 1) constraining the timing of meltwater routing to the Arctic from the present Hudson Bay drainage basin; and 2) minimum-age estimates for ice-margin positions that can be used to constrain ice-sheet modeling results. A downslope recession of the Laurentide Ice Sheet resulted in a series of proglacial lakes forming between the ice margin and higher land to the southwest. The paleogeography of these lakes is poorly constrained in part from the masking effect of boreal forest vegetation and map-scale issues. However, recent space-shuttle based DEMs increase the number and spatial extent of moraines identified within the study area resulting in a coherent pattern of ice margin retreat focused on the Athabasca River valley. An intensive lake-coring program resulted in a minimum ten-fold increase in the radiocarbon database used to limit moraine ages. Results indicate that deglaciation in this region was younger than previously reported, and it is likely that the meltwater could not drain northward to the Arctic Ocean from any source southeast of the Fort McMurray area until approximately 9850–9660 ¹⁴C BP.     

The internal sediment architecture of a drumlin,Port Byron,New York State,USA

An exposure within the central portion of a large drumlin at Port Byron, New York State, USA, part of the large New York drumlin field, reveals a sequence of steeply dipping cemented sands and gravels of proglacial, ice-contact deltaic origin overlain by a thin till veneer. The sands and gravels appear to have been deposited within the proximal proglacial environment during a late retreat phase of the Laurentide Ice Sheet sometime prior to being overridden by subsequent ice and drumlinized. During deposition of the ice-contact delta, escaping subglacial regelation-meltwater permeated the proximal deltaic sediment pile and calcium carbonate was released, in a series of pulses, to form pore-occluding calcite cement within the sand and gravel porespaces. The calcium carbonate precipitated into the sands and gravels due to a reduction in hydrostatic pressure and CO₂ outgassing of the meltwater as it exited from beneath the ice sheet. Once cemented, these deltaic sediments were considerably stronger and acted afterward as an obstacle around which the future ice advance streamed and, in turn, produced the characteristic drumlin shape. In overriding the ice-contact deltaic sediments, the ice sheet emplaced a thin layer of till which exhibits syndepositional deformation features indicative of being emplaced as a deforming bed layer beneath the advancing ice sheet. Micromorphological analysis of the overlying till shows that no interstitial or intraclastic calcite occurs within the till.     

Subglacial Lake McGregor, south-central Alberta, Canada

It is proposed that a lake, here named “Subglacial Lake McGregor”, existed beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet at, or near, the last glacial maximum. The lake resided in the ancient buried McGregor and Tee Pee preglacial valleys, which are now mostly filled with glacigenic deposits. The greatest thickness of sediment in the valleys is in the form of chaotically deposited lake beds that were laid down in a subaqueous environment by a number of process: gravity flow, water transport, and suspension settling. Topographic, sedimentary, and stratigraphic evidence point to a subglacial, not a proglacial, origin for the beds. During the early stages of lake existence, ice movement was significant as there are numerous sets of shear planes in the sedimentary beds. This indicates that the lake filled (lake sedimentation) and drained (shearing of the beds by overlying ice when ice contacted the bed) often. Thus, early in its history, the lake(s) was/were ephemeral. During the later stages of lake existence, the lake was relatively stable with no rapid draining or influx of sediment. Gradual drainage of the lake resulted in lowering of the ice onto the lake beds resulting in subglacial till deposition. Drainage was not a single continuous event. Rather it was characterized by multiple phases of near total drainage (till deposition), followed by water accumulation (lake sedimentation). Water accumulation events became successively less significant reflected by thinning of lake beds and thickening of till beds higher in the stratigraphic sequence. Since subglacial lake sedimentation appears to be restricted to the subglacial valleys, it is suggested that the valleys acted as a large-scale interconnected cavity system that both stored and transported water. It is also suggested that these acted as the main routes of water flow beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet.     

Geophysical surveys of the sediments of Loch Ness,Scotland: implications for the deglaciation of the Moray Firth Ice Stream,British–Irish Ice Sheet

We present results from three geophysical campaigns using high‐resolution sub‐bottom profiling to image sediments deposited in Loch Ness, Scotland. Sonar profiles show distinct packages of sediment, providing insight into the loch's deglacial history. A recessional moraine complex in the north of the loch indicates initial punctuated retreat. Subsequent retreat was rapid before stabilisation at Foyers Rise formed a large stillstand moraine. Here, the calving margin produced significant volumes of laminated sediments in a proglacial fjord‐like environment. Subsequent to this, ice retreated rapidly to the southern end of the loch, where it again deposited a sequence of proglacial laminated sediments. Sediment sequences were then disturbed by the deposition of a thick gravel layer and a large turbidite deposit as a result of a jökulhlaup from the Spean/Roy ice‐dammed lake. These sediments are overlain by a Holocene sheet drape. Data indicate: (i) a former tributary of the Moray Firth Ice Stream migrated back into Loch Ness as a major outlet glacier with a calving margin in a fjord‐like setting; (ii) there was significant sediment supply to the terminus of this outlet glacier in Loch Ness; and (iii) that jökulhlaups are important for sediment supply into proglacial fjord/lake environments and may compose >20% of proglacial sedimentary sequences. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stratigraphic architecture and sedimentology of a Late Pleistocene subaqueous moraine complex,southwest Ireland

Glacigenic sediments exposed in coastal cliffs cut through undulatory terrain fronting the Last Glacial Maximum laterofrontal moraine at Waterville on the Iveragh Peninsula, southwest Ireland, comprise three lithofacies. Lithofacies 1 and 2 consist of interdigitated, offlapping and superimposed ice‐proximal subaqueous outwash and stacked sequences of cohesionless and cohesive subaqueous debris flows, winnowed lag gravels and coarse‐grained suspension deposits. These are indicative of sedimentation in and around small grounding line fans that prograded from an oscillating glacier margin into a proglacial, interlobate lake. Lithofacies 3 comprises braided river deposits that have undergone significant syn‐sedimentary soft‐sediment deformation. Deposition was likely related to proglacial outwash activity and records the reduction of accommodation space for subaqueous sedimentation, either through the lowering of proglacial water levels or due to basin infilling. The stratigraphic architecture and sedimentology of the moraine at Waterville highlight the role of ice‐marginal depositional processes in the construction of morphostratigraphically significant ‘end moraine’ complexes in Great Britain and Ireland. Traditional ‘tills’ in these moraines are often crudely stratified diamictons and gravelly clinoforms deposited in ice‐proximal subaqueous and subaerial fans. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Geomorphic,sedimentary and hydraulic reconstruction of a glacial lake outburst flood in northern Alberta,Canada

Glacial lake outburst floods occurred frequently during the last deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Within the Interior Plains, these floods carved large spillway systems; however, due to a lack of abundant sediment, deposits within prairie spillways are rarely preserved. Here, we present geomorphic and sedimentary evidence and hydraulic modelling of the eastern Beaver River Spillway, formed by the catastrophic drainage of the ice‐dammed glacial Lake Algar, in north central Alberta. During this flood, coarse‐grained sediment eroded from local till formed large pendant bars. Within the first ~50 km of the spillway (Reach 1), pendant bars contain downstream orientated foresets overlain by horizontally bedded coarser gravels. The remaining pendant bars (Reach 2), present downflow of a moraine barrier, differ, comprising massive, matrix‐supported, inversely graded gravels capped by a boulder layer. We use a HEC‐GeoRAS/HEC‐RAS system in conjunction with palaeostage indicators to estimate the steady‐state water surface elevation. Modelling results show that peak discharge within Reach 1 of the eastern Beaver River Spillway was approximately 14 000–21 000 m³ s^?1. For Reach 2, 30 km downstream, the peak discharge was estimated at 23 000–40 000 m³ s^?1 (n_bulked 18 000–26 000 m³ s^?1). The downstream discharge increase, consistent with the sedimentary change in pendant bar deposits, is attributed to sediment bulking of the flood flow. This provides the opportunity to observe a range of flow conditions, and associated sedimentology, from a single flood event. The reconstructed flow conditions, coupled with lake volume estimates from the ponding above the moraine barrier suggest a minimum flow duration of 3–5 days.     

Deglaciation and ice shelf development at the northeast margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the Younger Dryas chronozone

Core 2011804‐0010 from easternmost Lancaster Sound provides important insights into deglacial timing and style at the marine margin of the NE Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS). Spanning 13.2–11.0 cal. ka BP and investigated for ice‐rafted debris (IRD), foraminifera, biogenic silica and total organic carbon, the stratigraphy comprises a lithofacies progression from proximal grounding line and sub‐ice shelf environments to open glaciomarine deposition; a sequence similar to deposits from Antarctic ice shelves. These results are the first marine evidence of a former ice shelf in the eastern Northwest Passage and are consistent with a preceding phase of ice streaming in eastern Lancaster Sound. Initial glacial float‐off and retreat occurred >13.2 cal. ka BP, followed by formation of an extensive deglacial ice shelf during the Younger Dryas, which acted to stabilize the retreating margin of the NE LIS until 12.5 cal. ka BP. IRD analyses of sub‐ice shelf facies indicate initial high input from source areas on northern Baffin Island delivered to Lancaster Sound by a tributary ice stream in Admiralty Inlet. After ice shelf break‐up, Bylot Island became the dominant source area. Foraminifera are dominated by characteristic ice‐proximal glaciomarine benthics (Cassidulina reniforme, Elphidium excavatum f. clavata), complemented by advected Atlantic water (Cassidulina neoteretis, Neogloboquadrina pachyderma) and enhanced current indicators (Lobatula lobatula). The biostratigraphy further supports the ice shelf model, with advection of sparse faunas beneath the ice shelf, followed by increased productivity under open water glaciomarine conditions. The absence of Holocene sediments in the core suggests that the uppermost deposits were removed, most likely due to mass transport resulting from the site's proximity to modern tidewater glacier margins. Collectively, this study presents important new constraints on the deglacial behaviour of the NE Laurentide Ice Sheet, with implications for past ice sheet stability, ice‐rafted sediment delivery, and ice−ocean interactions in this complex archipelago setting.     

Lobal interactions and rheologic superposition in subglacial till near Bradtville, Ontario, Canada

Structural, stratigraphic, and lithologic data from a section 69 m long of Catfish Creek drift (north shore of Lake Erie) tell a complex story of two competing glacial lobes. Stone surface features and orientations indicate that stones rotated in viscously deforming, fine-medium textured subglacial till prior to final emplacement. Fractures, shears, and attenuated sediment lenses in tills reveal that they experienced some brittle shear superposed on ductile shear during till dewatering and stiffening. The Huron-Georgian Bay lobe advanced first from the northwest, deforming interstadial sediments and depositing subglacial till. Next, southward confluent flow of the Huron, Georgian Bay, and Erie lobes carved subglacial troughs into sediments and deposited (then deformed) bouldery deformation till by squeeze flow. The northwest flowing Erie lobe then prevailed, depositing deformation till, subglacial aquatic sediments, and mudflows. Finally, a pavement-bearing, hybrid deformation-lodgement till covered the section. Till formation was mainly by subglacial viscous flow with minor lodgement superposed as water content decreased and some fines were probably winnowed. This implies that till deformation probably accounted for much of the glacier movement. Therefore, rapid ice flow could have occurred over the section, along the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.     

Multiple re‐advances of a Lake Vättern outlet glacier during Fennoscandian Ice Sheet retreat,south‐central Sweden

Lake Vättern represents a critical region geographically and dynamically in the deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. The outlet glacier that occupied the basin and its behaviour during ice‐sheet retreat were key to the development and drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake, dammed just west of the basin, yet its geometry, extent, thickness, margin dynamics, timing and sensitivity to regional retreat forcing are rather poorly known. The submerged sediment archives of Lake Vättern represent a missing component of the regional Swedish deglaciation history. Newly collected geophysical data, including high‐resolution multibeam bathymetry of the lake floor and seismic reflection profiles of southern Lake Vättern, are used here together with a unique 74‐m sediment record recently acquired by drill coring, and with onshore LiDAR‐based geomorphological analysis, to investigate the deglacial environments and dynamics in the basin and its terrestrial environs. Five stratigraphical units comprise a thick subglacial package attributed to the last glacial period (and probably earlier), and an overlying >120‐m deglacial sequence. Three distinct retreat–re‐advance episodes occurred in southern Lake Vättern between the initial deglaciation and the Younger Dryas. In the most recent of these, ice overrode proglacial lake sediments and re‐advanced from north of Visingsö to the southern reaches of the lake, where ice up to 400 m thick encroached on land in a lobate fashion, moulding crag‐and‐tail lineations and depositing till above earlier glacifluvial sediments. This event precedes the Younger Dryas, which our data reveal was probably restricted to north‐central sectors of the basin. These dynamics, and their position within the regional retreat chronology, indicate a highly active ice margin during deglaciation, with retreat rates on average 175 m a^?1. The pronounced topography of the Vättern basin and its deep proglacial‐dammed lake are likely to have encouraged the dynamic behaviour of this major Fennoscandian outlet glacier.     

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.     

The last Scandinavian Ice Sheet in northwestern Russia: ice flow patterns and decay dynamics

Advance of the Late Weichselian (Valdaian) Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) in northwestern Russia took place after a period of periglacial conditions. Till of the last SIS, Bobrovo till, overlies glacial deposits from the previous Barents and Kara Sea ice sheets and marine deposits of the Last Interglacial. The till is identified by its contents of Scandinavian erratics and it has directional properties of westerly provenance. Above the deglaciation sediments, and extra marginally, it is replaced by glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine deposits. At its maximum extent, the last SIS was more restricted in Russia than previously outlined and the time of termination at 18-16 cal. kyr BP was almost 10 kyr delayed compared to the southwestern part of the ice sheet. We argue that the lithology of the ice sheets' substrate, and especially the location of former proglacial lake basins, influenced the dynamics of the ice sheet and guided the direction of flow. We advocate that, while reaching the maximum extent, lobe-shaped glaciers protruded eastward from SIS and moved along the path of water-filled lowland basins. Ice-sheet collapse and deglaciation in the region commenced when ice lobes were detached from the main ice sheet. During the Lateglacial warming, disintegration and melting took place in a 200-600 km wide zone along the northeastern rim of SIS associated with thick Quaternary accumulations. Deglaciation occurred through aerial downwasting within large fields of dead ice developed during successively detached ice lobes. Deglaciation led to the development of hummocky moraine landscapes with scattered periglacial and ice-dammed lakes, while a sub-arctic flora invaded the region.