Late Quaternary Glaciation and Postglacial Stratigraphy of the Northern Pacific Margin of Canada
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Quaternary Research 51, 113–123 (1999) Article ID qres.1998.2021, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on Late Quaternary Glaciation and Postglacial Stratigraphy of the Northern Pacific Margin of Canada J. Vaughn Barrie and Kim W. Conway Geological Survey of Canada, Pacific Geoscience Centre, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, British Columbia V8L 4B2, Canada Received September 23, 1998 Charlotte Islands) is an asymmetric and broad, deep marine Areas of southeastern Alaska and the Queen Charlotte Islands trough. Dixon Entrance displays a rugged seabed topography of the northwestern Pacific coast of North America were consid- that Bornhold and Barrie (1991) interpret to be a result of ered to be ice free during the late Wisconsinan glaciation and scouring by westward-flowing glaciers. Assuming there was a glacial refugia existed. However, a glacier extended from main- large ice mass separating the two areas, then our understanding land North America to the shelfbreak in Dixon Entrance separat- of the timing of deglaciation and sea-level change is critical for ing Alaska and the Queen Charlotte Islands. Glacial retreat to the east began sometime after 15,000 to 16,000 14C yr B.P. and ice had assessing whether early human migration took place between completely left Dixon Entrance by 13,500 to 13,000 14C yr B.P. A these areas. rapid sea-level regression occurred soon after deglaciation began, The Cordilleran Ice Sheet had reached its maximum after 14 14 due to isostatic rebound, with relative sea level falling to approx- 21,000 C yr B.P. but before 15,000 to 16,000 C yr B.P., imately 150 m below present in central Dixon Entrance, decreas- based on evidence from Mary Point in southern Dixon En- ing the size of the inlet by about 30 percent by 12,400 14C yr B.P. trance (Blaise et al., 1990). Evidence from deep sea cores The late Quaternary glacial and postglacial stratigraphic sequence suggests that ice retreat began after 15,600 14C yr B.P. (Blaise is more than 100 m thick overlying older Pleistocene sediments et al., 1990). In southeastern Alaska, adjacent to Dixon En- and Tertiary bedrock. A late Wisconsinan diamicton is overlain by trance, deglaciation probably was rapid, with iceberg calving glaciomarine muds formed between approximately 14,400 and 14 causing glacier termini to retreat to near their modern positions 13,000 C yr B.P. Contemporaneous with the deposition of the 14 glaciomarine muds an extensive outwash deposit formed off the by 13,500 C yr B.P. (McKenzie and Goldthwait, 1971; Mann northern coast of the Queen Charlotte Islands to a present depth and Hamilton, 1995). To the south of Dixon Entrance in Hecate of 150 m. During the sea-level lowstand and subsequent transgres- Strait and Queen Charlotte Sound, ice is estimated to have sion, a reworked sand unit was deposited over much of the seafloor retreated from the shelf between 14,160 and 12,910 14C yr B.P. to depths greater than 450 m. The unit is exposed at the seafloor (Luternauer et al., 1989a; Barrie et al., 1991). In northwestern over much of the region, suggesting that seabed hydrodynamic Hecate Strait at the entrance to Dixon Entrance, a date of 14 energy levels were high after 13,000 C yr B.P. and remain so 13,790 14C yr B.P. was obtained from terrestrial sediments today. found in a core at 31 m water depth suggesting ice-free Key Words: late-Wisconsinan glaciation; deglaciation; Queen conditions (Barrie et al., 1993). Charlotte Islands, Canada; glacial refugium; sea-level change. Relative sea level has been influenced by isostatic crustal depression and rebound, the rise and fall of eustatic sea level, INTRODUCTION and local tectonic crustal adjustments. The amount of change varies dramatically from east to west in response to loading by Several authors have suggested that glacial refugia existed and rebound from the Cordilleran ice sheet (Clague, 1983). along parts of the northwestern coast of North America during Josenhans et al. (1997) give evidence for relative fall of sea the last glaciation, particularly on the Queen Charlotte Islands level of more than 153 m at 12,400 14C yr B.P., with large areas (Fladmark, 1979; Warner et al., 1982; Heusser, 1989), in the adjacent to the Queen Charlotte Islands being subaerially ex- Alexander Archipelago, southeastern Alaska (Heaton et al., posed. As the sea transgressed the shelf east of the Queen 1996), and other areas of the Alaskan coastline (Mann and Charlotte Islands, sea level reached a maximum of 200 m Hamilton, 1995; Elias et al., 1996). This has led to further above present in Kitimat trough on the British Columbia main- speculation that this area could have provided a corridor for land at 10,500 14C yr B.P. (Clague, 1985). Up to 230 m of migration of humans into western North America (Fladmark, marine submergence also occurred in southeastern Alaska be- 1979; Luternauer et al., 1989b; Josenhans et al., 1995). Be- tween 13,000 and 10,000 14C yr B.P. (Mann and Hamilton, tween these two areas (southernmost Alaska and the Queen 1995). Eustatic sea-level rise, coupled with subsidence of a 113 0033-5894/99 114 BARRIE AND CONWAY FIG. 1. Map of Dixon Entrance showing the location of the sediment cores collected and generalized bathymetry. FIG. 2. Geophysical survey coverage in Dixon Entrance from three scientific cruises, including airgun seismics, Huntec DTS sub-bottom profiles, and sidescan sonar. GLACIATION AND SEA LEVEL, B.C./ALASKA 115 FIG. 3. Geologic cross section through Dixon Entrance. Location is shown in Figure 1. glacioisostatic forebulge, resulted in sea level reaching the Data were collected during three scientific cruises to address present shoreline on the Queen Charlotte Islands by about 9100 the question of the late-Wisconsinan glacier advance and re- 14C yr B.P. and a maximum of 13 to 15 m above current levels treat within Dixon Entrance and to map the resultant surficial at 8900 14C yr B.P. (Clague et al., 1982; Clague, 1983; Josen- geology of Dixon Entrance. During these field programs, a hans et al., 1995). In southeastern Alaska there was variability gridded network of high-resolution seismic survey lines (air- in sea-level histories, with Heceta Island experiencing trans- gun seismic, Huntec DTS sub-bottom profiles, and sidescan gression contemporaneous with that on the Queen Charlotte sonar) were completed, with a line spacing of 9 km (Fig. 2). In Islands, whereas on Prince of Wales Island (Fig. 1) no trans- addition, 15 piston cores and 14 vibrocores were obtained (Fig. gression has been identified (Mobley, 1988) and the sea 1) throughout the Entrance (Conway and Barrie, 1994). The reached its present level by about 9000 14C yr B.P. (Mann and objective of this paper is to (1) interpret the extent of late Hamilton, 1995). Wisconsinan glaciation of Dixon Entrance, (2) determine the FIG. 4. Huntec DTS sub-bottom profile showing the typical stratigraphy off the entrance to Clarence Strait. Geologic units are defined in the text. Profile location is shown in Figure 1. 116 BARRIE AND CONWAY FIG. 5. Huntec DTS sub-bottom profile and stratigraphic interpretation of a section of the outwash facies off the northern Queen Charlotte Islands. Profile location is shown in Figure 1. rate and timing of deglaciation and the sea-level response, and trough. A major pass, however, exists on the north and south (3) characterize the resultant stratigraphy. sides of Learmouth Bank, cut steeply to depths of about 470 m and allowing Dixon Entrance trough to open to the REGIONAL SETTING continental slope. The seafloor of central and southern Dixon Entrance is covered with Quaternary sediments un- Dixon Entrance opens to the Pacific Ocean across a nar- derlain by a Miocene–Pliocene siliciclastic succession (Sko- row continental shelf seaward of the Queen Charlotte Is- nun Formation (Higgs, 1991)) and a late Oligocene to late lands. The shelf abruptly deepens to the west at the shelf- Miocene calcalkaline suite of volcanic rocks (Hickson, break formed by the North American/Pacific Plate 1991). During the late Wisconsinan glaciation, glaciers boundaries along the Queen Charlotte Fault. Three promi- flowed into Dixon Entrance from the British Columbia nent transverse sills exist within the trough, Celestial Reef mainland (Clague, 1991), whereas on the Queen Charlotte north of Dogfish Bank in Hecate Strait, one north of McIn- Islands locally derived mountain and piedmont glaciers de- trye Bay, and the other, Learmouth Bank, north of Langara veloped independent of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. On the Island (Fig. 1). All three sills form rugged, dissected banks coastal lowlands of Graham Island (Fig. 1), glaciation was less than 100 m deep that partially block the axis of the limited and of short duration (Clague et al., 1982b). GLACIATION AND SEA LEVEL, B.C./ALASKA 117 FIG. 6. Geologic cross section across Dixon Entrance from the northern Queen Charlotte Islands to Clarence Strait in southeastern Alaska. Location is shown in Figure 1. The Entrance is open to Pacific storm systems. The present it is not possible to differentiate ice-contact from ice-proximal mean tidal range in Dixon Entrance varies from east to west deposits. from 5.0 to 3.5 m resulting in strong bottom currents (Thom- The diamicton in Dixon Entrance varies in thickness be- son, 1981; Crawford and Thomson, 1991; Ballantyne et al., tween a few meters and more than 100 m, with an average of 1996). Guilbault et al. (1997) suggest that these open-water about 30 to 50 m. In most areas the upper reflector has a very conditions have existed since deglacial time, with freshwater rough hummocky expression, a result of iceberg scouring and export in an upper layer and saltwater import in a deep return pitting.