Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T09:18:27.708Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Provenance and Deposition of Glacial Lake Missoula Lacustrine and Flood Sediments Determined from Rock Magnetic Properties

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michelle Andrée Hanson*
Affiliation:
Saskatchewan Geological Survey, 200-2101 Scarth Street, Regina, Saskatchewan S4P 2H9, Canada
Randolph Jonathan Enkin
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Canada, P.O. Box 6000, Sidney, British Columbia V8L 4B2, Canada
René William Barendregt
Affiliation:
University of Lethbridge, 4401 University Drive, Lethbridge, Alberta T1K 3 M4, Canada
John Joseph Clague
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, British Columbia V5A 1S6, Canada
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:[email protected] (M.A. Hanson).

Abstract

Repeated outburst flooding from glacial Lake Missoula, Montana, affected large areas of Washington during Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage 2 (29–14 ka). We present the first high-resolution rock magnetic results from two sites that are critical to interpreting these outburst floods and that provide evidence of sediment provenance: glacial Lake Missoula, the source of the floods; and glacial Lake Columbia, where floodwaters interrupted sedimentation. Magnetic carriers in glacial Lake Missoula varves are dominated by hematite, whereas those in outburst flood sediments and glacial Lake Columbia sediments are mainly magnetite and titano-magnetite. Stratigraphic variation of magnetic parameters is consistent with changes in lithology. Importantly, magnetic properties highlight depositional processes in the flood sediments that are not evident in the field. In glacial Lake Columbia, hematite is present in fine silt and clay deposited near the end of each flood as fine sediment settled out of the water column. This signal is only present at the end of the floods because the hematite is concentrated in the finer-grained sediment transported from the floor of glacial Lake Missoula, the only possible source of hematite, ~ 240 km away.

Type
Research Article
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

Allison, I.S. (1978). Late Pleistocene sediments and floods in the Willamette Valley.. The Ore Bin 40, 177191.(and 193202.).Google Scholar
Atwater, B.F. (1984). Periodic floods from glacial Lake Missoula into the Sanpoil Arm of glacial Lake Columbia, northeastern Washington.. Geology 12, 464467.Google Scholar
Atwater, B.F. (1986). Pleistocene glacial lake deposits of the Sanpoil River Valley, northeastern Washington.. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1661, .Google Scholar
Atwater, B.F. (1987). Status of glacial Lake Columbia during the last floods from glacial Lake Missoula.. Quaternary Research 27, 182201.Google Scholar
Baker, V.R. (1973). Paleohydrology and sedimentology of Lake Missoula Flooding in Eastern Washington.. Geological Society of America Special Paper 144, .Google Scholar
Baker, V.R. (1978). Quaternary geology of the Channeled Scabland and adjacent areas.. In: Baker, V.R., Nummedal, D. (Eds.), The Channeled Scabland: A Guide to the Geomorphology of the Columbia Basin, Washington. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC., pp. 1736.Google Scholar
Baker, V.R., and Bunker, R.C. (1985). Cataclysmic late Pleistocene flooding from glacial Lake Missoula: a review.. Quaternary Science Reviews 4, 141.Google Scholar
Bjornstad, B.N. (1980). Sedimentology and Depositional Environment of the Touchet Beds, Walla Walla River Basin, Washington.M.Sc. thesisEastern Washington University, Cheney, WA.Google Scholar
Blanchet, C.L., Thouveny, N., Vidal, L., Leduc, G., Tachikawa, K., Bard, E., and Beaufort, L. (2007). Terrigenous input response to glacial/interglacial climatic variations over southern Baja California: a rock magnetic approach.. Quaternary Science Reviews 26, 31183133.Google Scholar
Bretz, JH. (1925). The Spokane flood beyond the Channeled Scablands.. Journal of Geology 33, 97115.(and 236259.).Google Scholar
Bretz, JH. (1928). Bars of the Channeled Scabland.. Geological Society of America Bulletin 39, 643701.Google Scholar
Bretz, JH. (1932). The Channeled Scabland.. International Geological Congress Guidebook 22: Excursion C-2.Google Scholar
Bretz, JH. (1969). The Lake Missoula floods and the Channeled Scabland.. Journal of Geology 77, 505543.Google Scholar
Bretz, JH., Smith, H.T.U., and Neff, G.E. (1956). Channeled Scabland of Washington: new data and interpretations.. Geological Society of America Bulletin 67, 9571049.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bunker, R.C. (1982). Evidence of multiple Late-Wisconsin floods from glacial Lake Missoula in Badger Creek, Washington.. Quaternary Research 18, 1731.Google Scholar
Carson, R.J., McKhann, C.F., and Pizey, M.H. (1978). The Touchet beds of the Walla Walla Valley.. In: Baker, V.R., Nummedal, D. (Eds.), The Channeled Scabland: A Guide to the Geomorphology of the Columbia Basin, Washington. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Washington, DC., pp. 173178.Google Scholar
Carter-Stiglitz, B., Valet, J.-P., and LeGoff, M. (2006). Constraints on the acquisition of remanent magnetization in fine-grained sediments imposed by redeposition experiments.. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 245, 427437.Google Scholar
Chambers, R.L. (1971). Sedimentation in Glacial Lake Missoula.M.Sc. thesisUniversity of Montana, Missoula, MT.Google Scholar
Chambers, R.L. (1984). Sedimentary evidence for multiple glacial lakes Missoula.. In: McBane, J.D., Garrison, P.B. (Eds.), Northwest Montana and Adjacent Canada. Montana Geological Society, Billings, MT., pp. 189199.Google Scholar
Clague, J.J., Armstrong, J.E., and Mathews, W.H. (1980). Advance of the late Wisconsinan Cordilleran ice sheet in southern British Columbia since 22,000 yr BP.. Quaternary Research 13, 322326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clague, J.J., Barendregt, R., Enkin, R.J., and Foit jr., F.F. (2003). Paleomagnetic and tephra evidence for tens of Missoula floods in southern Washington.. Geology 31, 247250.Google Scholar
Craig, R.G. (1987). Dynamics of a Missoula flood.. In: Mayer, L., Nash, D. (Eds.), Catastrophic Flooding. Allen and Unwin, London., pp. 302332.Google Scholar
Day, R., Fuller, M., and Schmidt, V.A. (1977). Hysteresis properties of titanomagnetites: grain size and composition dependence.. Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors 13, 260267.Google Scholar
Denlinger, R.P., and O'Connell, D.R.H. (2010). Simulations of cataclysmic outburst floods from Pleistocene glacial Lake Missoula.. Geological Society of America Bulletin 122, 678689.Google Scholar
Dunlop, D.J. (2002a). Theory and application of the Day plot (Mrs /Ms versus Hcr /Hc ). 1. Theoretical curves and tests using titanomagnetite data.. Journal of Geophysical Research 107, 10.1029/2001JB000486.Google Scholar
Dunlop, D.J. (2002b). Theory and application of the Day plot (Mrs /Ms vs Hcr /Hc ). 2. Application to data for rocks, sediments, and soils.. Journal of Geophysical Research 107, 10.1029/2001/JB000487.Google Scholar
Dunlop, D.J., and Özdemir, Ö. (1997). Rock Magnetism: Fundamentals and Frontiers. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Elston, D.P., Enkin, R.J., Baker, J., and Kisilevsky, D.K. (2002). Tightening the belt: paleomagnetic-stratigraphic constraints on deposition, correlation, and deformation of the Middle Proterozoic (ca. 1.4 Ga) Belt-Purcell Supergroup, United States and Canada.. Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, 619638.Google Scholar
Enkin, R.J., Baker, J., Nourgaliev, D., Iassonov, P., and Hamilton, T.S. (2007). Magnetic hysteresis parameters and Day plot analysis to characterize diagenetic alteration in gas hydration-bearing sediments.. Journal of Geophysical Research 112, B06S90 10.1029/2006JB004638.Google Scholar
Gaylord, D.R., Vervoort, J.D., Pope, M.C., Abplanalp, J.M., Cook, G.W., and Dalman, K.A. (2005). Sedimentary analysis and detrital zircon geochronology of late Wisconsin glacial outburst flood deposits, western Montana and eastern Washington.. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 37, 430.Google Scholar
Gaylord, D.R., Pope, M.C., Cabbage, P.R., Glover III, J.F., Anfinson, O.A., Baar, E.E., and Vervoort, J.D. (2007). Provenance of glacial outburst flood deposits in the Channeled Scabland, WA; influence of glacial Lake Missoula, meltwater, Snake River, and Bonneville flood sources.. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 39, 82.Google Scholar
Hanson, M.A. (2013). Sedimentological and Paleomagnetic Study of Glacial Lake Missoula Lacustrine and Flood Sediment.Ph.D thesisSimon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC.Google Scholar
Hanson, M.A., Lian, O.B., and Clague, J.J. (2012). The sequence and timing of large late Pleistocene floods from glacial Lake Missoula.. Quaternary Science Reviews 31, 6781.Google Scholar
Hao, Q., Oldfield, F., Bloemendal, J., and Guo, Z. (2008). Particle size separation and evidence for pedogenesis in samples from the Chinese Loess Plateau spanning the past 22 m.y.. Geology 36, 727730.Google Scholar
Hrouda, F. (2003). Indices for numerical characterization of the alternation processes of magnetic minerals taking place during investigation of temperature variation of magnetic susceptibility.. Studia Geophysica et Geodaetica 47, 847861.Google Scholar
Hrouda, F., Chlupáčová, M., and Novák, J.K. (2002). Variations in magnetic anisotropy and opaque mineralogy along a kilometre deep profile within a vertical dyke of the syenogranite porphyry at Cínovec (Czech Republic).. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 113, 3747.Google Scholar
Hrouda, F., Mueller, P., and Hanak, J. (2003). Repeated progressive heating in susceptibility vs. temperature investigation; a new palaeotemperature indicator?.. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth 28, 653657.Google Scholar
Kietzman, D.R. (1985). Paleomagnetic Survey of the Touchet Beds in Burlingame Canyon of Southeast Washington.M.Sc. thesisEastern Washington University, Cheney, WA.Google Scholar
Kuehn, S.C., Froese, D.G., Carrara, P.E., Foit jr., F.F., Pearce, N.J.G., and Rotheisler, P. (2009). Major- and trace-element characterization, expanded distribution, and a new chronology for the latest Pleistocene Glacier Peak tephras in western North America.. Quaternary Research 71, 201216.Google Scholar
Laberge, J.D., and Pattison, D.R.M. (2007). Geology of the western margin of the Grand Forks complex, southern British Columbia: high-grade Cretaceous metamorphism followed by early Tertiary extension on the Granby fault.. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 44, 199228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lattard, D., Engelmann, R., Kontny, A., and Sauerzapf, U. (2006). Curie temperatures of synthetic titanomagnetites in the Fe–Ti–O system: effects of composition, crystal chemistry, and thermomagnetic methods.. Journal of Geophysical Research 11, B12S28 10.1029/2006JB004591.Google Scholar
Lesemann, J.-E., and Brennand, T.A. (2009). Jökulhlaups from the southern margin for the Cordilleran ice sheet.. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 41, 169.Google Scholar
Levish, D.R. (1997). Late Pleistocene Sedimentation in Glacial Lake Missoula and Revised Glacial History of the Flathead Lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, Mission Valley, Montana.Ph.D. thesisUniversity of Colorado, Boulder, CO.Google Scholar
Lewis, R.S., Link, P.K., Stanford, L.R., and Long, S.P. (2012). Geologic Map of Idaho.. Idaho Geological Survey M-9.Google Scholar
Lovett, C.K. (1984). Paleomagnetism of the Touchet Beds of the Walla Walla River Valley, Southeastern Washington.M.Sc. thesisEastern Washington University, Cheney, WA.Google Scholar
Maher, B.A., and Thompson, R. (1999). Quaternary Climates, Environments and Magnetism. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
O'Connor, J.E., and Baker, V.R. (1992). Magnitudes and implications of peak discharges from glacial Lake Missoula.. Geological Society of America Bulletin 104, 267279.Google Scholar
O'Connor, J.E., Sarna-Wojcicki, A., Wozniak, K.C., Polette, D.J., and Fleck, R.J. (2001). Origin, extent, and thickness of quaternary geologic units in the Willamette Valley, Oregon.. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1620, .CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Opdyke, N.D., and Channell, J.E.T. (1996). Magnetic Stratigraphy. Academic Press, San Diego, CA.Google Scholar
Pardee, J.T. (1910). The glacial Lake Missoula, Montana.. Journal of Geology 18, 376386.Google Scholar
Pardee, J.T. (1942). Unusual currents in glacial Lake Missoula, Montana.. Geological Society of America Bulletin 53, 15701599.Google Scholar
Patton, P.C., Baker, V.R., and Kochel, R.C. (1979). Slack-water deposits: a geomorphic technique for the interpretation of fluvial paleohydrology.. In: Rhodes, D.D., Williams, G.P. (Eds.), Adjustments of the Fluvial System. Annual Geomorphology Symposia Series. 10, pp. 225253. (Binghamton, NY.).Google Scholar
Shaw, J., Munro-Stasiuk, M., Sawyer, B., Beaney, C., Lesemann, J.-E., Musacchio, A., Rains, B., and Young, R.R. (1999). The Channeled Scabland: back to Bretz?.. Geology 27, 605608.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, G.A. (1993). Missoula flood dynamics and magnitudes inferred from sedimentology of slack-water deposits on the Columbia Plateau.. Geological Society of America Bulletin 195, 77100.Google Scholar
Smith, L.N. (2006). Stratigraphic evidence for multiple drainings of glacial Lake Missoula along the Clark Fork River, Montana, USA.. Quaternary Research 66, 311322.Google Scholar
Sperazza, M., Moore, J.N., and Hendrix, M.S. (2004). High-resolution particle size analysis of naturally occurring very fine-grained sediment through laser diffractometry.. Journal of Sedimentary Research 74, 736743.Google Scholar
Stacey, F.D., and Banerjee, S.K. (1974). The Physical Principles of Rock Magnetism. Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Steele, W.K. (1991). Paleomagnetic evidence for repeated glacial Lake Missoula floods from sediments of the Sanpoil River Valley, northeastern Washington.. Quaternary Research 35, 197207.Google Scholar
Stober, J.C., and Thompson, R. (1979). An investigation into the source of magnetic minerals in some Finnish lake sediments.. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 45, 464474.Google Scholar
Stoffel, K.L. (1990). Geologic Map of the Republic 1:100,000 Quadrangle 6, Washington. Washington Division of Geology and Earth Resources Open File Report 90-10..Google Scholar
Vuke, S.M., Porter, K.W., Lonn, J.D., and Lopez, D.A. (2007). Geologic Map of Montana.. Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology Geologic Map 62A, 73 p., 2 sheets, scale 1:500,000.Google Scholar
Waitt, R.B. (1980). About forty last-glacial Lake Missoula jökulhlaups through southern Washington.. Journal of Geology 88, 653679.Google Scholar
Waitt, R.B. (1984). Periodic jökulhlaups from Pleistocene glacial Lake Missoula: new evidence from varved sediments in northern Idaho and Washington.. Quaternary Research 22, 4658.Google Scholar
Waitt, R.B. (1985). Case for periodic, colossal jökulhlaups from Pleistocene glacial Lake Missoula.. Geological Society of America Bulletin 96, 12711286.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waitt, R.B., and Thorson, R.M. (1983). The Cordilleran ice sheet in Washington, Idaho, and Montana.. In: Wright, H.E. Jr. (Ed.), Late-Quaternary Environments of the United StatesVolume 1, : The Late Pleistocene. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN., pp.5370.Google Scholar
Waitt, R.B., Denlinger, R.P., and O'Connor, J.E. (2009). Many monstrous Missoula floods down Channeled Scabland and Columbia Valley.. In: O'Connor, J.E., Dorsey, R.J., Madin, I.P. (Eds.), Volcanoes to Vineyards: Geologic Field Trips through the Dynamic Landscape of the Pacific Northwest: Geological Society of America Field Guide 15, pp. 775884.Google Scholar
Wentworth, C.K. (1922). A scale of grade and class terms for clastic sediments.. Journal of Geology 30, 377392.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Hanson et al. supplementary material

Table

Download Hanson et al. supplementary material(File)
File 136.6 KB