Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:03:25.329Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Varve Studies at Hector Lake, Alberta, Canada, and the Relationship Between Glacial Activity and Sedimentation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Eric M. Leonard
Eric M. Leonard*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, Colorado 80903 USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Glacial lake sedimentary records from Hector Lake in Banff National Park, Alberta, are examined with the aim of clarifying the relationship between glacial activity and outwash sedimentation. Rhythmic couplets in lake bottom sediments provide a method for accurate documentation and dating of recent sedimentation chronology, as analysis of 137Cs content indicates that the couplets are of annual periodicity (i.e., varves). A comparison of sedimentation rate records with recent regional glacial history indicates that high sedimentation rates of one to a few decades duration occur either during and immediately following periods of moraine deposition (ie, maximum ice stands) or during periods of rapid ice recession. Comparison of sedimentary records with somewhat longer term glacial and vegetation records indicates that sedimentation rate variations of several centuries duration closely parallel changes in upvalley ice extent. Over this time scale, high sedimentation rates occur during periods of relatively increased ice extent, low rates during periods of reduced ice extent. Within this general pattern, however, sedimentation rates may remain very high for nearly a century following maximum ice stands, due to the exposure of unstable glaciogenic deposits to fluvial reworking during ice recession.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 25 , Issue 2 , March 1986 , pp. 199 - 214
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

Broecker, W. S. Turekian, K. K. Heezan, B. C. 1958 The relationship of deep-sea sedimentation rates to variations of climate. American Journal of Science, 256 503–517 Google Scholar
Church, M. 1978 Paleohydrologic reconstructions from a Holocene valley fill. Miall, A. D. Fluvial Sedimentology. Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists Memoir 5.743–772 Google Scholar
Church, M. Gilbert, R. 1975 Proglacial fluvial and lacustrine environments. Jopling, A. V. McDonald, B. C. Glaciofluvial and Glaciolacustrine Sedimentation. Society of Economic Paleontologists and Mineralogists Special Publication No. 23.22–100 Google Scholar
Church, M. Ryder, J. M. 1972 Paraglacial sedimentation: A consideration of fluvial processes conditioned by glaciation. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 83 3059–3072 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, J. C. 1961 Fluvial deposition and the glacial cycle. Journal of Geology, 69 600–603 Google Scholar
Gardner, J. 1972 Recent glacial activity and some associated landforms in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Slaymaker, O. McPherson, H. J. Mountain Geomorphology Tantalus, Vancouver, 55–62 Google Scholar
Gilbert, R. 1975 Sedimentation in Lillooet Lake, British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 12 1697–1711 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Granar, L. 1956 Dating of recent fluvial sediments from the estuary of the Angerman River (the period 1859–1950). Geologiska Foreningen Forhaudlingar Stockholm, 78 654–658 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kearney, M. S. 1981 Late Quaternary Vegetation and Environments of Jasper National Park, Alberta. Ph.D. dissertation University of Western, Ontario Google Scholar
Kearney, M. S. Luckman, B. H. 1981 Evidence for late Wisconsin-early Holocene climatic/vegetational change in Jasper National Park, Alberta. Mahaney, W. C. Quaternary Paleoclimate Geo Abstracts, Norwich, England, 85–105 Google Scholar
Klein, J. Lerman, J. C. Damon, P. E. Ralph, E. K. 1982 Calibration of radiocarbon dates: Tables based on the consensus data of the workshop on Calibrating the Radiocarbon Time Scale. Radiocarbon, 24 103–150 Google Scholar
Leonard, E. M. 1981 Glaciolacustrine Sedimentation and Holocene Glacial History, Northern Banff National Park, Alberta. Ph.D. dissertation University of Colorado Google Scholar
Leonard, E. M. (in press). Glaciological and climatic controls on lake sedimentation, Canadian Rocky Mountains. Zeitschrift für Gletcherkunde und Glazialgeologie 21.Google Scholar
Luckman, B. H. 1985 Reconstructing Little Ice Age Events in the Canadian Rockies CANQUA symposium on the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the late Wisconsin deglaciation and the Holocene p.40. [Abstract]Google Scholar
Luckman, B. H. Osborn, G. D. 1979 Holocene glacier fluctuations in the middle Canadian Rocky Mountains. Quaternary Research, 11 52–77 Google Scholar
Penck, A. Bruckner, E. 1909 Die Alpen im Eiszeitalter Lauchnitz, Leipzig Google Scholar
Perkins, J. A. Sims, J. D. 1983 Correlation of Alaskan varve thickness with climatic parameters, and use in paleoclimatic reconstructions. Quaternary Research, 20 308–321 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pickrill, R. A. Irwin, J. 1983 Sedimentation in a deep glacier-fed lake—Lake Tekapo, New Zealand. Sedimentology, 30 63–75 Google Scholar
Robbins, J. A. Eddington, D. N. 1975 Determination of recent sedimentation rates in lake Michigan using Pb-210 and Cs-137. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 39 285–304 Google Scholar
Smith, N. D. 1978 Sedimentary processes and patterns in a glacier-fed lake with low sediment input. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 15 741–756 Google Scholar
Wise, S. M. 1980 Cesium-137 and lead-120: A review of the techniques and some applications in geomorphology. Cullingford, R. A. Davidson, D. A. Lewin, J. Timescales in Geomorphology Wiley, New York, 109–127 Google Scholar