Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T14:12:34.087Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dendrochronology and Late Holocene History of Bering Piedmont Glacier, Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Gregory C. Wiles ,
Austin Post ,
Ernest H. Muller  and
Bruce F. Molnia
Gregory C. Wiles
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, The College of Wooster, Wooster, Ohio, 44691
Austin Post
Affiliation:
United States Geological Survey (Retired), Vashon, Washington, 98070
Ernest H. Muller
Affiliation:
Heroy Geology Laboratory, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, 13244
Bruce F. Molnia
Affiliation:
Office of the Chief Geologist, International Programs, United States Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia, 20192
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Fluctuations of the piedmont lobe of Bering Glacier and its sublobe Steller Glacier over the past two millennia are reconstructed using 34 radiocarbon dates and tree-ring data from 16 sites across the glaciers' forelands. The general sequence of glacial activity is consistent with well-dated fluctuations of tidewater and land-terminating glaciers elsewhere along the Gulf of Alaska. Extensive forested areas along 25 km of the Bering ice margin were inundated by glacio-lacustrine and glacio-fluvial sediments during a probable ice advance shortly before 500 cal yr A.D. Regrowth of forests followed the retreating ice as early as the 7th century A.D., with frequent interruptions of tree growth due to outwash aggradation. Forests overrun by ice and buried in outwash indicate readvance about 1080 cal yr A.D. Retreat followed, with ice-free conditions maintained along the distal portions of the forefield until the early 17th century after which the ice advanced to within a few kilometers of its outer Neoglacial moraine. Ice reached this position after the mid-17th century and prior to 200 yr ago. Since the early 20th century, glacial retreat has been punctuated by periodic surges. The record from forests overrun by the nonsurging Steller Lobe shows that this western ice margin was advancing by 1250 A.D., reaching near its outer moraine after 1420 cal yr A.D. Since the late 19th century, the lobe has dominantly retreated.

Keywords

surging glacierAlaskadendrochronologyHoloceneBering GlacierNeoglaciation
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , September 1999 , pp. 185 - 195
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barclay, D.J., Wiles, G.C., Calkin, P.E. (1999). A 1119-year tree-ring width chronology from western Prince William Sound, southern Alaska. The Holocene. 9, 103–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bindshadler, R.A., Scambos, T.A. (1991). Satellite-image-derived velocity field of an Antarctic ice stream. Science. 252, 242–246.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calkin, P. E, Wiles, G. C and Barclay, D. J. in press, Holocene coastal glaciation of Alaska. Quaternary Science Reviews.Google Scholar
Carlson, P.R., Bruns, T.R., Molnia, B.F., Schwab, W.C. (1982). Submarine valley in the northeastern Gulf of Alaska: Evidence for glaciation on the continental shelf. Marine Geology. 47, 217–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, E.R., Kairiukstis, L. (1990). Methods of Dendrochronology: Applications in the Environmental Sciences. Kluwer Academic, Boston.Google Scholar
Fleisher, P.J., Cadwell, D.H., Muller, E.H. (1998). Tsivat basin conduit system persists through two surges, Bering Piedmont Glacier, Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 110, 877–887.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fritts, H. (1976). Tree Rings and Climate. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J. (1995). Vegetation response to climatic-glacial forcing in North Pacific America. Journal of Physical Geography. 16, 87–116.Google Scholar
Holmes, R.L. (1983). Computer-assisted quality control in tree-ring dating and measurement. Tree-Ring Bulletin. 44, 69–75.Google Scholar
Luckman, B.H. (1996). Reconciling the glacial and dendrochronological records for the last millennium in the Canadian Rockies. Jones, P.D., Bradley, R.S., Jouzel, J. Climatic Variations and Forcing Mechanisms of the Last 2000 Year. 85–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luckman, B.H. (1995). Calendar-dated, early “Little Ice Age” glacier advance at Robson Glacier, British Columbia, Canada. The Holocene. 5, 149–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, D.H. (1986). Reliability of a fjord glacier's fluctuations for paleoclimatic reconstructions. Quaternary Research. 25, 10–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mann, D.H., Ugolini, F.C. (1985). Holocene glacial history of Lituya district, southeast Alaska. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences. 22, 913–928.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, G.C. (1908). Geology and mineral resources of the Controller Bay region, Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 335, 141.Google Scholar
Miller, D. J. (1961). Geology of the Yakataga District. Gulf of Alaska Tertiary Province, Alaska, U.S. Geological Survey Open File Map, OF-43, 2 sheets.Google Scholar
Molnia, B.F. (1986). Glacial history of the northeastern Gulf of Alaska: A synthesis. Hamilton, T.D., Reed, K.M., Molnia, B.F. Glaciation in Alaska. Alaska Geographic Society, Anchorage., 219–237.Google Scholar
Molnia, B.F. (1993). Major surge of the Bering Glacier. EOS (Transactions of the American Geophysical Union). 72, 158–159.Google Scholar
Molnia, B.F., Post, A. (1995). Holocene history of Bering Glacier, Alaska: A prelude to the 1993–1994 surge. Physical Geography. 16, 87–117.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muller, E.H., Fleisher, P.J. (1995). Surging history and potential for renewed retreat: Bering Glacier, Alaska. Arctic and Alpine Research. 27, 81–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Post, A. (1972). Periodic surge origin of folded medial moraines on the Bering Piedmont Glacier, Alaska. Journal of Glaciology. 11, 219–226.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reid, J.R. (1970). Late Wisconsin and neoglacial history of the Martin River Glacier, Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 81, 3593–3604.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stokes, M.A., Smiley, T.L. (1968). An Introduction to Tree-Ring Dating. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J. (1993). Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C Calibration program. Radiocarbon. 35, 215–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiles, G.C., Calkin, P.E. (1994). Late Holocene, high resolution glacial chronologies and climate, Kenai Mountains, Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin. 106, 281–303.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiles, G.C., Calkin, P.E., Post, A. (1995). Glacial fluctuations in the Kenai Fjords, Alaska, U.S.A.: An evaluation of controls on iceberg-calving glaciers. Arctic and Alpine Research. 27, 234–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wiles, G.C., Barclay, D.J., Calkin, P.E. (1999). Tree-ring dated Little Ice Age histories of maritime glaciers from western Prince William Sound. The Holocene. 9, 163–173.CrossRefGoogle Scholar