Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T19:44:55.071Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chronology of glacial Lake Agassiz meltwater routed to the Gulf of Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Timothy G. Fisher*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Indiana University Northwest, 3400 Broadway, Gary, IN 46408, USA
*
E-mail: [email protected] (T.G. Fisher).

Abstract

Sediment cores with new radiocarbon dates from the southern outlet of glacial Lake Agassiz indicate that meltwater delivery to the Mississippi valley was disrupted at 10,800 14C yr B.P. and the outlet was abandoned by 9400 14C yr B.P. These findings confirm the timing of generally accepted terminations of the Lockhart and Emerson Phases of Lake Agassiz. Additionally, the radiocarbon chronology indicates that the spillway was fully formed by 10,800 14C yr B.P. and that the occupancy in late-Emerson time was likely short-lived with minimal spillway erosion.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Elsevier Science (USA)

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

Arndt, B.M. Stratigraphy of offshore sediment of Lake Agassiz. North Dakota Geological Survey Report of Investigations 60, (1977). 1 58.Google Scholar
Blum, M.D., Guccione, M.J., Wysocki, D.A., Robnett, P.C., and Rutledge, E.M. Late Pleistocene evolution of the lower Mississippi River valley, southern Missouri to Arkansas. Geological Society of America Bulletin 112, (2000). 221 235.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, P.A., and Kennett, J.P. Megaflood erosion and meltwater plumbing changes during last North American deglaciation recorded in Gulf of Mexico sediments. Geology 26, (1998). 599 602.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, P., Marshall, S.J., Clarke, G.K.C., Hostetler, S.W., Licciardi, J.M., and Teller, J.T. Freshwater forcing of abrupt climate change during the last glaciation. Science 293, (2001). 283 287.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clayton, L., (1993). Chronology of Lake Agassiz drainage to Lake Superior. in: Teller, J.T., Clayton, L. (Eds.), Glacial Lake Agassiz, Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 26, St. John’s, pp. 291307.Google Scholar
Elson, J.A. Geology of glacial Lake Agassiz. Mayer-Oakes, W.J. Life, Land and Water. (1967). University of Manitoba Press, Winnipeg. 37 96.Google Scholar
Fenton, M.M., Moran, S.R., Teller, J.T., Clayton, L., (1983). Quaternary stratigraphy and history in the southern part of the Lake Agassiz Basin. in: Teller, J.T., Clayton, L. (Eds.), Glacial Lake Agassiz, Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 26, St. John’s, pp. 4974.Google Scholar
Fisher, T.G., and Smith, D.G. Glacial Lake Agassiz. its northwest maximum extent and outlet in Saskatchewan (Emerson phase). Quaternary Science Reviews 13, (1994). 845 858.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, T.G., and Souch, C. Northwest outlet channels of Lake Agassiz, isostatic tilting and a migrating continental drainage divide, Saskatchewan, Canada. Geomorphology 23, (1998). 57 73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fisher, T.G., Smith, D.G., and Andrews, J.T. Preboreal oscillation caused by a glacial Lake Agassiz flood. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, (2002). 873 878.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hudak, C.M., and Hajic, E.R. Appendix E—geomorphology survey profiles, sections, and lists. Hudak, G.J., Hobbs, E., Brooks, A., Sersland, C.A., and Phillips, C. A predictive model of precontact archaeological site location for the state of Minnesota, Final Report. (2002). Minnesota Department of Transportation, St. Paul.Google Scholar
Leverington, D.W., Mann, J.D., and Teller, J.T. Changes in the bathymetry and volume of glacial Lake Agassiz between 11,000 and 9300 14C yr B.P. Quaternary Research 54, (2000). 174 181.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Licciardi, J.M., Teller, J.T., Clark, P.U., (1999). Freshwater routing by the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last deglaciation. in: Clark, P., Webb, R. S., Keigwin, L. D. (Eds.), Mechanisms of Global Climate Change at Millennial Time Scales, American Geophysical Union, pp. 177201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowell, T.V., Larson, G.J., Hughes, J.D., and Denton, G.H. Age verification of the Lake Gribben forest bed and the Younger Dryas advance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 36, (1999). 383 393.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchitto, T.M., and Wei, K.Y. History of Laurentide meltwater flow to the Gulf of Mexico during the last deglaciation, as revealed by reworked calcareous nannofossils. Geology 23, (1995). 779 782.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matsch, C.L., (1983). River Warren, the southern outlet to glacial Lake Agassiz. in: Teller, J.T., Clayton, L. (Eds.), Glacial Lake Agassiz, Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 26, St. John’s, pp. 231244.Google Scholar
Rayburn, J.R. 1997. “Correlation of the Campbell strandlines along the northwestern margin of glacial Lake Agassiz.” Unpublished M.Sc. thesis, University of ManitobaGoogle Scholar
Smith, D.G., and Fisher, T.G. Glacial Lake Agassiz. the northwestern outlet and paleoflood. Geology 21, (1993). 9 12.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., and Reimer, P.J. Extended 14C data base and revised CALIB 3.0 14C age calibration program. Radiocarbon 35, (1993). 215 230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stuiver, M., Reimer, P.J., Bard, E., Beck, J.W., Burr, G.S., Hughen, K.A., Kromer, B., McCormac, G., van der Plicht, J., and Spurk, M. INTCAL98 radiocarbon age calibration, 24,000-0 cal BP. Radiocarbon 40, (1998). 1041 1083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teller, J.T. Volume and routing of late-glacial runoff from the southern Laurentide Ice sheet. Quaternary Research 34, (1990). 12 23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teller, J.T. Formation of large beaches in an area of rapid differential isostatic rebound. the three-outlet control of Lake Agassiz. Quaternary Science Reviews 20, (2001). 1649 1659.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teller, J.T., Thorleifson, L.H., (1983). The Lake Agassiz-Lake Superior connection. in: Teller, J.T., Clayton, L. (Eds.), Glacial Lake Agassiz, Geological Association of Canada Special Paper 26, pp. 261290.Google Scholar
Teller, J.T., Risberg, J., Matile, G., and Zoltai, S. Postglacial history and paleoecology of Wampum, Manitoba, a former lagoon in the Lake Agassiz basin. Geological Society of America Bulletin 112, (2000). 943 958.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorleifson, L.H., (1996). Review of Lake Agassiz history. in: Teller, J.T., Thorleifson, L.H., Matile, G., Brisbin, W. C. (Eds.), Sedimentology, Geomorphology, and History of the Central Lake Agassiz Basin: Field Trip Guidebook B2, Geological Association of Canada Annual Meeting, pp. 5594.Google Scholar
Upham, W. (1895). The Glacial Lake Agassiz. United States Geological Survey Monograph 25, pp. 1685.Google Scholar
Yansa, C.H., Ashworth, A.C., Fisher, T.G., (2002). Early Holocene plant and animal colonization of the southern basin of glacial Lake Agassiz. in: International Association of Great Lakes Research, Abstract, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba., pp. 126 Google Scholar