The Neoglacial History of Robson Glacier, British Columbia
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Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences The Neoglacial History of Robson Glacier, British Columbia. Journal: Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Manuscript ID cjes-2016-0187.R2 Manuscript Type: Article Date Submitted by the Author: 02-Aug-2017 Complete List of Authors: Luckman, Brian; Dept of Geography Masiokas , Mariano ; Instituto Argentino de Nivologia Glaciologia y Ciencias Ambientales nicolussi, Kurt; Institute of Geography, University of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck,Draft Austria. Is the invited manuscript for consideration in a Special N/A Issue? : Keyword: https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Page 1 of 42 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 1 The Neoglacial History of Robson Glacier, British Columbia. 2 3 4 B. H. Luckman 1, M. H. Masiokas 1, 2 and K. Nicolussi 3 5 6 1 Department of Geography, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada N6A 5C2 7 2 Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales (IANIGLA), 8 CCT-CONICET, Mendoza, Argentina 9 3 Institute of Geography, UniversityDraft of Innsbruck, 6020 Innsbruck, Austria. 10 11 Corresponding author: B. H. Luckman, e-mail [email protected], Phone 1-519-661- 12 2111 ext 85012. 13 14 Abstract 15 16 As glaciers in the Canadian Rockies recede glacier forefields continue to yield 17 subfossil wood from sites overridden by these glaciers during the Holocene. Robson 18 Glacier in British Columbia formerly extended below treeline and recession over the last 19 century has progressively revealed a number of buried forest sites which are providing 20 one of the more complete records of glacier history in the Canadian Rockies during the 21 latter half of the Holocene. The glacier was advancing ca 5.5km upvalley of the Little Ice 22 Age terminus ca. 5.26 cal ka BP; at sites ca. 2km upvalley ca. 4.02 and ca. 3.55 cal ka.BP https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Page 2 of 42 23 and 0.5-1 km upvalley between 1140 and 1350 A.D. There is also limited evidence based 24 on detrital wood of an additional period of glacier advance ca 3.24 cal ka BP. This record 25 is more similar to glacier histories further west in British Columbia than elsewhere in the 26 Rockies and provides the first evidence for a post-Hypsithermal glacier advance at ca. 27 5.26 cal ka BP in the Rockies. The utilization of the wiggle-matching approach using 28 multiple 14C dates from sample locations determined by dendrochronological analyses 29 enabled the recognition of 14 C outliers and an increase in the precision and accuracy of 30 the dating of glacier advances. 31 32 Key Words: Robson Glacier, Canadian Rockies, Neoglacial, dendrochronology, 33 radiocarbon dating. Draft 34 35 Introduction 36 37 Most alpine glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere reached their maximum 38 Holocene extent during the “Little Ice Age” of the last few centuries (Grove 2004). 39 Subsequent recession during the last ca. 100 years at several sites has revealed subfossil 40 wood and/or other organic materials that were overidden by earlier glacier events. 41 Increasingly studies of this wood and buried, glacially overridden, forests are being used 42 to define earlier periods of glacier advance and link them to global scale climatic controls 43 (e.g. Solomina et al. 2016; Le Roy et al. 2015). Although increasing numbers of such 44 forefield records are becoming available, including many from British Columbia (e.g. 45 Koch et al. 2007; Menounos et al. 2009; Mood and Smith 2015; St. Hillaire and Smith https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Page 3 of 42 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 46 2017), few such records are available for the Canadian Rockies (Osborn et al. 2001; 47 Wood and Smith 2004; Luckman 2006). These sites are relatively rare and, individually, 48 only provide a partial record of local glacier histories: regional history must be compiled 49 by the assembly, analysis and correlation of records from many sites. 50 Robson Glacier in British Columbia formerly extended below treeline and 51 recession over the last century has progressively revealed detrital wood and a number of 52 buried forest sites which are providing one of the more complete records of glacier 53 history in the Canadian Rockies during the latter half of the Holocene. This paper updates 54 and reviews new evidence from Robson Glacier and places it within the context of 55 regional glacier history. It also outlines some of the problems of reconstructing glacier 56 history from such evidence. Draft 57 58 Site description and overview of previous work 59 60 Robson Glacier is a ca. 6km-long valley glacier (ca 13.9 km 2 in 2006) that drains 61 the eastern and northern flanks of Mount Robson, British Columbia (Figure 1). It has a 62 well developed series of lateral and terminal moraines that extend down to 1660m and 63 abut the Continental Divide. The oldest terminal moraine has a closed forest cover and is 64 about 2km downvalley of the present snout. Sheet 32A of the Inter-Provincial Boundary 65 Commission (Cautley and Wheeler 1924) shows the glacier front within ca 100m of the 66 terminal moraine in 1922 1. Heusser (1956) used dendrochronology (ring counts) to date 67 the terminal to ca. 1783 based on the oldest of seven trees he cored on its surface, 68 applying a 12 year ecesis estimate. He also used ring counts to date several additional 1 The 1924 map is based on 1922 terrestrial photogrammetry . https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Page 4 of 42 69 moraines upvalley as 1801, 1864, 1891, 1907 plus several smaller features in the 1920s- 70 1940s (see Heusser 1956; Luckman 2000). A proglacial lake developed in front of the 71 glacier after ca. 1960 and has expanded upvalley as the glacier front has receded. Four 72 buried forest sites have been exposed during glacier recession which allowed extensive 73 sampling of wood remains. Each of these will be described briefly followed by the 74 description of dendrochronological analyses and radiocarbon dating of these materials 75 and a discussion of the chronological implications of these findings. 76 77 Heusser Buried forest site 78 79 Heusser (1956) identified a Draftburied forest site, overlain by ca 1-2m of till, that was 80 exposed in abandoned stream channels cut by proglacial streams between ca 1925-1950. 81 He obtained an early Libby 14 C date of 450±150 yr BP from an in-situ stump at this site. 82 Investigations at this locality by Luckman between 1980 and 1992 recovered over 45 83 detrital and in situ logs 2 and stumps up to 30cm in diameter (Luckman 1995). Tree-ring 84 series from these logs were successfully calendar crossdated, initially using a master 85 chronology from a site at Bennington Glacier (ca. 75km to the south-east) and later with 86 the chronology from the Columbia Icefield (Luckman 1995; Luckman and Wilson 2005). 87 The overridden trees at this site grew between 867 and 1350 A.D. and death dates from in 88 situ stumps indicated that the glacier advanced over this site between ca.1142 and 1350 89 A.D. at a net average rate of ca. 2-2.5m /year (Luckman 1995). This site provided the 2 In situ logs or stumps are preserved in growth position: detrital logs have been transported from their (usually unknown) growth location. https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Page 5 of 42 Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 90 first evidence for a calendar-dated early Little Ice Age (LIA) advance in the Canadian 91 Rockies. 92 93 Upper Extinguisher Tower Site 94 95 Luckman et al. (1993) reported on a large, possibly in situ , Pinus albicaulis stump 96 and rootstock, initially discovered by a climber, lying on the ground surface about 30m 97 from the lateral margin of the glacier adjacent to Extinguisher Tower, a 300m high 98 bedrock pinnacle on the north side of the glacier. The snag was located 20-30m from the 99 contemporary ice front on a relatively gently sloping thinly till-covered bedrock surface, 100 about 3.5km upvalley of the 1990 snoutDraft and some 300-350m higher. Two small detrital 101 Abies logs were also found lying on the surface a short distance down glacier from the 102 stump. Four 14 C dates from these samples yield ages between ca 3130 and 3360 14 C yr 103 B.P. (E1-E4, Table 1, Luckman et al. 1993; Luckman 1995). 104 105 Glacier Toe area 106 107 In the late 1980s a low bedrock ridge emerged from beneath the northern flank of 108 the glacier snout as it receded upvalley. Proglacial drainage from the north flank of the 109 glacier cut a channel between this ridge and the northern valley side, creating a small 110 delta where it entered the proglacial lake. In 1992 three logs were recovered from the 111 west shore of the lake, a short distance upstream of the Heusser site. Tree-ring series 112 from two of these logs (logs R9210 and R9212, see below) crossdated and provided a https://mc06.manuscriptcentral.com/cjes-pubs Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences Page 6 of 42 113 strong “floating” (undated) chronology but could not be matched with the existing 114 calendar-dated tree-ring chronology from the Heusser site. The source of these logs was a 115 buried forest site close to the 1993 glacier front. Luckman (1995) briefly described this 116 site and reported three radiocarbon dates between 3500 and 3710 14 C yr B.P. (G1-G3, 117 Table 1) that confirm that the material found in the lake (G1) was of similar age to in-situ 118 material at the glacier front (G2, G3).