The Physical Limnology and Sedirnentology of Montane Meziadin Lake, Northem British Columbia, Canada
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The Physical Limnology and Sedirnentology of Montane Meziadin Lake, Northem British Columbia, Canada by RICHARD D. BUTLER A thesis submitted to the Department of Geography in conformity with the requirernents for the degree of Master of Science Queen's University Kingston, Ontario, Canada March, 2001 copyright O Richard 0.Butler, 2001 National Library Bibliothèque nationale If1 of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, me Wellingtan Ottawa ON KI A ON4 man ON KIA ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bîbliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sen reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of ths thesis in microfom, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la fome de microfiche/film, de reproduction sur papier ou sur foxmat électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fiom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de ceile-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT This work is an assessment of the landfoms and processes that influence the hydrology, limnology, and sedirnentology of Meziadin Lake and its basin. The impetus for this study is to provide a better understanding of the nature of distal glacilacustrine deposition in fiord lakes. Meziadin Lake, British Columbia, Canada (56.5 ON; 129. 2 9N) demonstrates physical processes and sedimentary fil1 comparable to other fiord lakes of the Canadian Cordillera. Fieldwork was carried out on site frorn May 20 to August 10, 1999 to examine lake and basin responses to meteorological forcing, limnologic circulation. turbidity cunent fkquency and duration, and sedirnent distribution patterns and rates of accumulation. The discharge hydrograph for the gauged portion of inflow to Meziadin Lake peaked on June 16 in response to a signifiant rise in air temperature. Delayed rnelting of seasonal snowpack augmented glacial melt and created a significant freshet peak in fluvial suspended sediment (max. 1425.5 mg/!-). Temperature-Conductivrty-Turbidity profiles illustrate dominant çontrol of lacustrine circulation by inflowing water masses, development of weak thermal stratification, and Coriolis deflection of inteflowing plumes. A subrnerged temperature logger in the delta proximal region recorded the passage of 2 types of undeflow events as positive temperature anomalies: a) quasiantinuous underflows across the delta front wrresponding to highenergy nival melt; and b) lower energy, laterally shifting turbidity currents wrresponding to diurnal variation of discharge and suspended sediment. Eleven sediment-trap rnoon'ngs were deployed, covering the geographical extent of the lake, recording significant proximalldistal, and northlsouth trends in Mass Accumulation Rate (MAR). Proximal trap mootings and Ekman grab sarnples recordeci laminae with bimodal particle size distribution that were determined to be varves. Lateral and inflow distal regions are separated into irregutariy laminated and massive depositional environments relating to a reduction in deposition from turbidity currents and low MAR. In the infiow proximal region, the present annual accumulation rate of 17 mm a-', determined from Ekman sample examination and corroborated by sediment trap data. Taking this value for annual accumulation, and a value of 185 rn for total sedimentary thickness. a reasonable date of 10.6 x 1o3 years since the lake became free of glacial ice is obtained. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS For the last two and half yearç I have been focused on trying to produce a large piece of independent work. The tnith is, however. that so much of this work is the result of many helping hands I am in debt to the large number of people who have supported my work and person during this time. First. I would like to express my thanks to my supervisor, Or. Robert Gilbert for his support. Sinœ taking his GPHY 304 course as an undergraduate. his interest and cornmitment to science have been contagious. I thank him for his many suggestions and ideas, as well as his attention to detail. both of which have raised the level of this work significantly. Second, 1 would like to thank Dr. Scott Lamoureux for his advice and suggestions, but particularly his enthusiasm. Your interest and support of my work and has made me a better scientist. As well. I would like to thank the many memben of the Geography Department with whorn I have interacted, at work and at play. over the past two and half years. The caliber of this department as a whole has instilled in me much respect for this discipline and its advocates. Everyone has contributed to this work in their own way, with novel ideas and discussion. stimulating lunchtime conversation, or Grad Club Fridays. Thanks to Jackie, a great office-mate. for a fun-filled year. To Brandon, thanks for so many things including the ranting and raving, cornputer support, and least of all, the snowballs. To Scott. for his help in BC and in Kingston, as well as his abilities with prime rib. Thanks to Nicole, for her friendship, and her assistance, in the field. Thanks also to Ted, for king an in-house source of ideas, and for rny addiction to coffee. Finally, to everyone in the basement, it's dark and smelly. but it's home. I would also like to thank al1 of my fnends near and far. without whorn I am sure I would have gone postal, or worçe. become an engineer. In no particular order: Kristen, Simon. TC, Jay. Juwan, Matt, Beynon. the Rector. Mo, Schachs, Annie. Matty. the Caledon Gangsters. Keltie and Katherine. the Kingshott family. al1 the Central boys, camp people. soccer magic and Grads United. the QP. la belle provence. thehun. and Napster. I would like to thank rny parents for al1 of their unconditional love and support throughout my 7 (oh my) years here at Queen's. To Caroline and Antonia. who keep me going with lots of love and quality chat. 1 could not have corne close without rny family. 7.3 Implications for Future Research ..................................... 156 7.3.1 Post-Glacial Depositional History of Canadian Cordillera ........................................................ 156 7.3.2 High-Reçolution Reconstructions of Environmental Events ............................................................ 156 References ............................................................................... 158 Appendix 1 .Press Releases ....................................................... 164 Vita .......................................................................................... 169 LIST OF TABLES Table 4.1 Mean and maximum suspended sediment concentrations for the Meziadin drainage fluvial systems . .. .. .. .. .. 77 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 Meziadin Lake and surrounding drainage basin ............... 3 Figure 2.1 The major physiographic unes of Canadian Cordillera ....... 9 Figure 2.2 Location of Canadian Cordillera fiord-lake sedirnentological investigations ............................................................ 1 1 Figure 2.3 A depiction of idealized thenally driven inflow variation, demonstrating cabelling. From Camack et al.. (1979) ...... 22 Figure 2.4 Density determined infiow variation. From Ashley et al.. (1985) ..................................................................... 22 Figure 2.5 A. A reconstruction of Kalamalka Lake acoustic profiles. From Eyles et al, (1990). B. An acoustic profile of Hamson Lake demonstrating two different acoustic facies. From Desloges and Gilbert, (1991) ................................ 30 Figure 2.6 A Two parts of a single lacustrine cure demonstrating significant variation in sedimentation rate. From Smith (1981) B. A map of the Bow Lake and drainage basin. From Smith (1981) .................................................... 35 Figure 3.1 Meziadin Lake and drainage basin ............................... 38 Figure 3.2 Locations of Ternperature/ConductivrtyTTurbidity profiling, Tidbit temperature recorder. sediment trap mootings, and Ekman Grab sampling sites .................... 46 Figure 3.3 A. A schematic of the paired sediment trap moonngs used in Meziadin lake. B. A photo of the funnel-shaped traps attached tu aluminum rod supports ....................... 49 Figure 3.4 A. A photo of water velocity measurements, at 1 m intervals, for Strohn Creek. B. A photo of the Strohn Creek stilling well ..................................................... 49 Figure 4.1 A. A photo of glacial recession in the Meziadin area, exposing Little Ice Age moraines. B. A photo of retreat at the toe of Meziadin basin glaciers exposing unstable driftmaterial ........................................................... 60 Figure 4.2 A. A photo of Surprise Creek on June 7, demonstrating the braided morphology of the channel and quantity of debris stranded on channel bars. B. A photo of Surprise Creek on June 14 during a pend of increased stage associated with nival melt ............................................ Figure 4.3 Climate nomals for Stewart, Srnithers, and Dease Lake, British Columbia. (sources: Environment Canada. Canadian Meteorological Centre) ................................. Figure 4.4 A. A comparison of standard mean daily temperatures