Dynamical response of the southwestern Laurentide Ice Sheet to rapid Bølling–Allerød warming

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: S. L. Norris, M. Margold, D. J. A. Evans, N. Atkinson, D. G. Froese
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2024
• Subjects: Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Geology; QE1-996.5; Churchill River; Ice Sheet; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1533-2024; https://doaj.org/article/88941b1a88a14845a193d5c100d85319

The shift in climate that occurred between the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the Early Holocene (ca. 18–12 kyr BP) displayed rates of temperature increase similar to present-day warming trends. The most rapid recorded changes in temperature occurred during the abrupt climate oscillations known as the Bølling–Allerød interstadial (14.7–12.9 kyr BP) and the Younger Dryas stadial (12.9–11.7 kyr BP). Reconstructing ice sheet dynamics during these climate oscillations provides the opportunity to assess long-term ice sheet evolution in reaction to a rapidly changing climate. Here, we use glacial geomorphological inversion methods (flowsets) to reconstruct the ice flow dynamics and the marginal retreat pattern of the southwestern sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (SWLIS). We combine our reconstruction with a recently compiled regional deglaciation chronology to depict ice flow dynamics that encompass the time period from pre-LGM to the Early Holocene. Our reconstruction portrays three macroscale reorganizations in the orientation and dynamics of ice streaming followed by regional deglaciation associated with rapid warming during the Bølling–Allerød interstadial. Initial westward flow is documented, likely associated with an early set of ice streams that formed during the advance to the LGM. During the LGM ice streaming displays a dominant north to south orientation. Ice sheet thinning at ∼15 ka is associated with a macroscale reorganization in ice stream flow, with a complex of ice streams recording south-eastward flow. A second macroscale reorganization in ice flow is then observed at ∼14 ka, in which southwestern ice flow is restricted to the Hay, Peace, Athabasca, and Churchill river lowlands. Rates of ice sheet retreat then slowed considerably during the Younger Dryas stadial; at this time, the ice margin was situated north of the Canadian Shield boundary and ice flow continued to be sourced from the northeast. Resulting from these changes in ice sheet dynamics, we recognize a three-part pattern of deglacial ...