Late Quaternary glaciation in the Northern Ogilvie Mountains: revised correlations and implications for the stratigraphic record

• Published in: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences
• Main Author: Beierle, Brandon D
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Canadian Science Publishing 2002
• Subjects: General Earth and Planetary Sciences; Yukon; Canada; Ogilvie; North Fork; Ogilvie Mountains; North Fork Pass; Chapman Lake; East Blackstone River
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/e02-062; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/e02-062

New geomorphic, paleolimnological, and radiocarbon data suggest that a terminal moraine complex in the Northern Ogilvie Mountains, Yukon Territory, Canada, may represent the McConnell Glaciation (Late Wisconsinan), rather than the Reid Glaciation (marine isotope Stage 8; Illinoian) as previously thought. Relict fluvial channels on the surface of the moraine and analysis of a suite of lake sediment cores from Chapman Lake, a closed-basin kettle on the surface of the moraine, suggest that flow from the Blackstone River passed over the moraine and through the lake until ca. 12 500 BP, at which time the Blackstone River was captured by the East Blackstone River, diverting flow from the lake. Subsequent incision by the Blackstone River has left its base level more than 10 m below the level of Chapman Lake. Perched former outlets from Chapman Lake indicate that this incision must postdate stream capture. Because the Chapman Lake moraine is a topographic barrier across the Blackstone River valley, incision must have occurred shortly after deposition of the moraine, suggesting that the landscape surrounding Chapman Lake is substantially younger than previously thought. Additional radiocarbon dates also suggest that kettle subsidence at Chapman Lake was ongoing during the early Holocene and that North Fork Pass moraine, 15 km upvalley from the Chapman Lake moraine, may have been formed during the Late Glacial rather than the McConnell Glaciation.