Quick
Search: 		  
advanced search
 GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help 
Geology Signup for GSW Email News
JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Geology; October, 2007; v. 35; no. 10; p. 887-890; DOI: 10.1130/G23812A.1
© 2007 Geological Society of America
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Briner, J.P.
Right arrow Articles by Wolfe, A.P.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
GeoRef
Right arrow GeoRef Citation

Multiple generations of interglacial lake sediment preserved beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet

J.P. Briner1, Y. Axford2, S.L. Forman3, G.H. Miller4 and A.P. Wolfe5

1 Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
2 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80303, and Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York 14260, USA
3 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA
4 Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80303, USA
5 Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta AB T6G 2E3, Canada

It is generally assumed that regions glaciated by continental ice sheets offer little promise for long paleoenvironmental records due to erosional processes associated with glaciation. We show that beneath portions of the northeastern Laurentide Ice Sheet, characterized by cold-based glaciation, sediment sequences representing multiple interglaciations have been preserved within extant lake basins. Radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating confirm the antiquity of the sediments, thereby extending the terrestrial paleoenvironmental record of the Canadian Arctic by hundreds of thousands of years. The lake sediment record presented here corroborates numerous recent cosmogenic exposure dating studies indicating complex patterns of erosion beneath polar ice sheets. It also demonstrates that the presence of intact interglacial sediments does not demand unglaciated refugia. Similarly ancient sediments may be preserved in many regions formerly covered by Pleistocene ice sheets.

Key Words: Arctic • lake sediments • Laurentide Ice Sheet • cold-based ice • glacier erosion • paleoclimate • interglaciation




This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
Y. Axford, J. P. Briner, C. A. Cooke, D. R. Francis, N. Michelutti, G. H. Miller, J. P. Smol, E. K. Thomas, C. R. Wilson, and A. P. Wolfe
From the Cover: Recent changes in a remote Arctic lake are unique within the past 200,000 years
PNAS, November 3, 2009; 106(44): 18443 - 18446.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USAHome page
J. Brigham-Grette
Contemporary Arctic change: A paleoclimate deja vu?
PNAS, November 3, 2009; 106(44): 18431 - 18432.
[Full Text] [PDF]


JOURNAL HOME HELP CONTACT PUBLISHER SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 2009 by Geological Society of America