Late Holocene climate change and calving glacier fluctuations along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield, Alaska
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001 The retreat of large tidewater- and lake-calving glaciers, as well as nearby land-based glaciers, in southeastern Alaska during the middle to late Holocene was primarily triggered by increases in summer temperature. Shakes, LeConte, Patterson, and Bair...
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ftunivwashington:oai:digital.lib.washington.edu:1773/6737 2024-06-02T08:07:00+00:00 Late Holocene climate change and calving glacier fluctuations along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield, Alaska Viens, Robert J 2001 xii, 160 p. http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6737 en_US eng b47427371 50299962 http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6737 Copyright is held by the individual authors. Theses--Geology Thesis 2001 ftunivwashington 2024-05-06T11:38:24Z Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001 The retreat of large tidewater- and lake-calving glaciers, as well as nearby land-based glaciers, in southeastern Alaska during the middle to late Holocene was primarily triggered by increases in summer temperature. Shakes, LeConte, Patterson, and Baird glaciers, located along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield in southeastern Alaska, experienced two or three major periods of advance and retreat during this period. Historical, stratigraphic, and dendrochronological evidence suggests that these periods of advance culminated approximately 3,500--3,300, 2,700--2,200, 1,100--900, and 220--110 years ago in the study area. Comparison with previously published regional records from glaciers located along the coast of northwestern North America suggests a general synchrony in the timing of ice advance across the region. Regional intervals of ice maxima date approximately 3,000--1,900, 1,500--900 and 250--100 years ago, and encompass three of the main periods of advance represented in the study area.To determine a regional cause of glacier synchrony, glacier chronologies were compared to local and regional climate and climate proxies. Summer temperature fluctuations in the study area for the past four centuries were derived from trey-ring-width time-series from Crystal Mountain near Petersburg. Previously published precipitation and summer temperature values, inferred from palynological studies, provide a record of climate change for the last 10,000 years. Throughout southeastern Alaska, periods of glacier retreat for both calving glaciers and land-based glaciers tend to correlate with periods of warming summer temperature.The collective data imply that the geologic record left by calving glaciers, like that left by land-based glaciers, has the potential to serve as an important climate-proxy record in a region where few such records have been studied. Furthermore, such a relationship helps further to quantify calving glacier dynamics and improve prediction ... Thesis glacier glaciers Tidewater Alaska University of Washington, Seattle: ResearchWorks Crystal Mountain ENVELOPE(-57.917,-57.917,-61.983,-61.983) Stikine ENVELOPE(-131.803,-131.803,56.699,56.699) |
institution |
Open Polar |
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University of Washington, Seattle: ResearchWorks |
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ftunivwashington |
language |
English |
topic |
Theses--Geology |
spellingShingle |
Theses--Geology Viens, Robert J Late Holocene climate change and calving glacier fluctuations along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield, Alaska |
topic_facet |
Theses--Geology |
description |
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2001 The retreat of large tidewater- and lake-calving glaciers, as well as nearby land-based glaciers, in southeastern Alaska during the middle to late Holocene was primarily triggered by increases in summer temperature. Shakes, LeConte, Patterson, and Baird glaciers, located along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield in southeastern Alaska, experienced two or three major periods of advance and retreat during this period. Historical, stratigraphic, and dendrochronological evidence suggests that these periods of advance culminated approximately 3,500--3,300, 2,700--2,200, 1,100--900, and 220--110 years ago in the study area. Comparison with previously published regional records from glaciers located along the coast of northwestern North America suggests a general synchrony in the timing of ice advance across the region. Regional intervals of ice maxima date approximately 3,000--1,900, 1,500--900 and 250--100 years ago, and encompass three of the main periods of advance represented in the study area.To determine a regional cause of glacier synchrony, glacier chronologies were compared to local and regional climate and climate proxies. Summer temperature fluctuations in the study area for the past four centuries were derived from trey-ring-width time-series from Crystal Mountain near Petersburg. Previously published precipitation and summer temperature values, inferred from palynological studies, provide a record of climate change for the last 10,000 years. Throughout southeastern Alaska, periods of glacier retreat for both calving glaciers and land-based glaciers tend to correlate with periods of warming summer temperature.The collective data imply that the geologic record left by calving glaciers, like that left by land-based glaciers, has the potential to serve as an important climate-proxy record in a region where few such records have been studied. Furthermore, such a relationship helps further to quantify calving glacier dynamics and improve prediction ... |
format |
Thesis |
author |
Viens, Robert J |
author_facet |
Viens, Robert J |
author_sort |
Viens, Robert J |
title |
Late Holocene climate change and calving glacier fluctuations along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield, Alaska |
title_short |
Late Holocene climate change and calving glacier fluctuations along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield, Alaska |
title_full |
Late Holocene climate change and calving glacier fluctuations along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Late Holocene climate change and calving glacier fluctuations along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Late Holocene climate change and calving glacier fluctuations along the southwestern margin of the Stikine Icefield, Alaska |
title_sort |
late holocene climate change and calving glacier fluctuations along the southwestern margin of the stikine icefield, alaska |
publishDate |
2001 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6737 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-57.917,-57.917,-61.983,-61.983) ENVELOPE(-131.803,-131.803,56.699,56.699) |
geographic |
Crystal Mountain Stikine |
geographic_facet |
Crystal Mountain Stikine |
genre |
glacier glaciers Tidewater Alaska |
genre_facet |
glacier glaciers Tidewater Alaska |
op_relation |
b47427371 50299962 http://hdl.handle.net/1773/6737 |
op_rights |
Copyright is held by the individual authors. |
_version_ |
1800752020398800896 |