Subglacial bedform evidence for a major palaeo‐ice stream and its retreat phases in Amundsen Gulf, Canadian Arctic Archipelago

Abstract Ascertaining the location of palaeo‐ice streams is crucial in order to produce accurate reconstructions of palaeo‐ice sheets and examine interactions with the ocean–climate system. This paper reports evidence for a major ice stream in Amundsen Gulf, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Mapping from...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Quaternary Science
Main Authors: Stokes, C. R., Clark, C. D., Winsborrow, M. C. M.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2006
Subjects:
Arctic
Arctic Ocean
Nunavut
Northwest Territories
Canadian Arctic Archipelago
Prince Albert Sound
Amundsen Gulf
Arctic Archipelago
Dolphin and Union Strait
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelves
Iceberg*
Victoria Island
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.991
https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fjqs.991
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.991
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Summary:Abstract Ascertaining the location of palaeo‐ice streams is crucial in order to produce accurate reconstructions of palaeo‐ice sheets and examine interactions with the ocean–climate system. This paper reports evidence for a major ice stream in Amundsen Gulf, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Mapping from satellite imagery (Landsat ETM+) and digital elevation models, including bathymetric data, is used to reconstruct flow‐patterns on southwestern Victoria Island and the adjacent mainland (Nunavut and Northwest Territories). Several flow‐sets indicative of ice streaming are found feeding into the marine trough and cross‐cutting relationships between these flow‐sets (and utilising previously published radiocarbon dates) reveal several phases of ice stream activity centred in Amundsen Gulf and Dolphin and Union Strait. A large erosional footprint on the continental shelf indicates that the ice stream (ca. 1000 km long and ca. 150 km wide) filled Amundsen Gulf, probably at the Last Glacial Maximum. Subsequent to this, the ice stream reorganised as the margin retreated back along the marine trough, eventually splitting into two separate low‐gradient lobes in Prince Albert Sound and Dolphin and Union Strait. The location of this major ice stream holds important implications for ice sheet–ocean interactions and specifically, the development of Arctic Ocean ice shelves and the delivery of icebergs into the western Arctic Ocean during the late Pleistocene. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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