Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T08:30:26.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Extensive Early and Middle Wisconsin Glaciation on the Western Olympic Peninsula, Washington, and the Variability of Pacific Moisture Delivery to the Northwestern United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Glenn D. Thackray
Glenn D. Thackray*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho, 83209, E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Large glaciers descended western valleys of the Olympic Mountains six times during the last (Wisconsin) glaciation, terminating in the Pacific coastal lowlands. The glaciers constructed extensive landforms and thick stratigraphic sequences, which commonly contain wood and other organic detritus. The organic material, coupled with stratigraphic data, provides a detailed radiocarbon chronology of late Pleistocene ice-margin fluctuations. The early Wisconsin Lyman Rapids advance, which terminated prior to ca. 54,000 14C yr B.P., represented the most extensive ice cover. Subsequent glacier expansions included the Hoh Oxbow 1 advance, which commenced between ca. 42,000 and 35,000 14C yr B.P.; the Hoh Oxbow 2 advance, ca. 30,800 to 26,300 14C yr B.P.; the Hoh Oxbow 3 advance, ca. 22,000–19,300 14C yr B.P.; the Twin Creeks 1 advance, 19,100–18,300 14C yr B.P.; and the subsequent, undated Twin Creeks 2 advance. The Hoh Oxbow 2 advance represents the greatest ice extent of the last 50,000 yr, with the glacier extending 22 km further downvalley than during the Twin Creeks 1 advance, which is correlative with the global last glacial maximum. Local pollen data indicate intensified summer cooling during successive stadial events. Because ice extent was diminished during colder stadial events, precipitation—not summer temperature—influenced the magnitude of glaciation most strongly. Regional aridity, independently documented by extensive pollen evidence, limited ice extent during the last glacial maximum. The timing of glacier advances suggests causal links with North Atlantic Bond cycles and Heinrich events.

Keywords

glaciersPleistocenePacific Northweststratigraphygeomorphologyradiocarbon
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , May 2001 , pp. 257 - 270
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

Barnosky, C.W., (1984). Late Pleistocene and early Holocene environmental history of southwestern Washington state, U.S.A.. Canadian Journal of Earth Science, 31, 619–629.Google Scholar
Benson, L.V., Lund, S.P., Burdett, J.W., Kashgarian, M., Rose, T.P., Smoot, J.P., Schwartz, M., (1998). Correlation of late-Pleistocene lake-level oscillations in Mono Lake, California, with North Atlantic climate events.. Quaternary Research, 49, 1–10.Google Scholar
Bond, G., Broecker, W., Sigfus, J., McManus, J., Labeyrie, L., Jouzel, J., Bonani, G., (1993). Correlations between climate records from North Atlantic sediments and Greenland ice.. Nature, 365, 143–147.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., (1994). Massive iceberg discharges as triggers for global climate change.. Nature, 372, 421–424.Google Scholar
Chadwick, O.A., Hall, R.D., Phillips, F.M., (1997). Chronology of Pleistocene glacial advances in the central Rocky Mountains.. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 109, 1443–1452.Google Scholar
Clark, P.U., Bartlein, P.J., (1995). Correlation of late Pleistocene glaciation in the western United States with North Atlantic Heinrich events.. Geology, 23, 483–486.Google Scholar
Dyck, W., and Fyles, J. G., (1963). . Geological Survey of Canada radiocarbon dates I and II.. Geological Survey of Canada Paper, 63-21, , 15–31.Google Scholar
Florer, L.E., (1972). Quaternary paleoecology and stratigraphy of the sea cliffs.. Quaternary Research, 2, 202–216.Google Scholar
Gillespie, A., Molnar, P., (1995). Asynchronous maximum advances of mountain and continental glaciers.. Reviews of Geophysics, 33, 311–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gosse, J.C., Klein, J., Evenson, E.B., Lawn, B., Middleton, R., (1995). Beryllium-10 dating of the duration and retreat of the last Pinedale glacial sequence.. Science, 268, 1329–1333.Google Scholar
Hakala, K., (2000). Late Quaternary cold periods at Grass Lake, southern Cascade Range, California.. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 32, 472.Google Scholar
Heinrich, H., (1988). Origin and consequences of cyclic ice rafting in the northeast Atlantic Ocean during the past 130,000 years.. Quaternary Research, 29, 142–152.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1964). Palynology of four bog sections from the western Olympic Peninsula, Washington.. Ecology, 45, 23–40.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1972). Palynology and phytogeographical significance of a late Pleistocene refugium near Kalaloch, Washington.. Quaternary Research, 2, 189–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1973). Environmental sequence following the Fraser advance of the Juan de Fuca lobe, Washington.. Quaternary Research, 3, 284–306.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., (1974). Quaternary vegetation, climate, and glaciation of the Hoh River Valley, Washington.. Geological Society of American Bulletin, 85, 1547–1560.Google Scholar
Heusser, C.J., Heusser, L.E., Peteet, D.M., (1999). Humptulips revisited: A revised interpretation of Quaternary vegetation and climate of western Washington, USA.. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 150, 191–221.Google Scholar
Imbrie, J., Hays, J.D., Martinson, D.G., McIntyre, A., Mix, A.C., Morley, J.J., Pisias, N.G., Prell, W.L., Shackleton, N.J., (1984). The orbital theory of Pleistocene climate: Support from a revised chronology of the marine 18O record.. Berger, A.L., Milankovitch and Climate, Part 1, Reidel, Dordrecht.269–305.Google Scholar
Kutzbach, J.E., Guetter, P.J., Behling, P.J., Selin, R., (1993). Simulated climatic changes: Results of the COHMAP climate-model experiments.. Wright, H.E. Jr., Kutzbach, J.E., Webb, T. III, Ruddiman, W.F., Street-Perrott, F.A., Bartlein, P.J., Global Climates since the Last Glacial Maximum, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.24–93.Google Scholar
Lund, D.C., Mix, A.C., (1998). Millennial-scale deep water oscillations: Reflections of the North Atlantic in the deep Pacific from 10 to 60 ka.. Paleoceanography, 13, 10–19.Google Scholar
Madole, R.F., (1986). Lake Devlin and Pinedale glacial history, Front Range, Colorado.. Quaternary Research, 25, 43–54.Google Scholar
Martinson, D.G., Pisias, N.G., Hays, J.D., Imbrie, J., Moore, T.C., Shackleton, N.J., (1987). Age dating and the orbital theory of the ice ages: Development of a high-resolution 0 to 300,000-year chronostratigraphy.. Quaternary Research, 27, 1–29.Google Scholar
Moore, J.L., (1965). Surficial Geology of Southwestern Olympic Peninsula.. University of Washington, .Google Scholar
Phillips, F.M., Zreda, M.G., Gosse, J.C., Klein, J., Evenson, E.B., Hall, R.D., Chadwick, O.A., Sharma, P., (1997). Cosmogenic 36C1 and 10Be ages of Quaternary glacial and fluvial deposits of the Wind River Range, Wyoming.. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 128, 1453–1463.Google Scholar
Pierce, K.L., Obradovich, J.D., Friedman, I., (1976). Obsidian hydration rind dating and correlation of Bull Lake and Pinedale Glaciations near West Yellowstone, Montana.. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 87, 703–710.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., (1964). Composite Pleistocene snowline of Olympic Mountains and Cascade Range, Washington.. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 75, 477–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, S.C., Swanson, T.W., (1998). Radiocarbon age constraints on rates of advance and retreat of the Puget Lobe of the Cordilleran ice sheet during the last glaciation.. Quaternary Research, 50, 205–213.Google Scholar
Spicer, R.C., (1986). Glaciers in the Olympic Mountains, Washington.. University of Washington, .Google Scholar
Sturchio, N.C., Pierce, K.L., Murrell, M.T., Sorey, M.L., (1994). Uranium-series ages of travertines and timing of the last glaciation in the northern Yellowstone area, Wyoming–Montana.. Quaternary Research, 41, 265–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Swanson, T.W., Porter, S.C., (2000). 36-Cl evidence for maximum late Pleistocene glacier extent in the Cascade Range during marine isotope substage 5d.. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 32, 472.Google Scholar
Thackray, G.D., (1996). Glaciation and Neotectonic deformation on the western Olympic Peninsula, Washington.. University of Washington, .Google Scholar
Thackray, G.D., (1998). Convergent-margin deformation of Pleistocene strata on the Olympic Coast of Washington, USA.. Stewart, I.S., Vita-Finzi, C., Coastal Tectonics, 199–211.Google Scholar
Thackray, G.D., (1999). Pacific moisture delivery and the variability of mountain glacier chronologies in western North America (abstract).. Geological Society of America, Abstracts with Programs, 31, A58.Google Scholar
Thompson, R.S., Whitlock, C., Bartlein, P.J., Harrison, S.P., Spaulding, W.G., (1993). Climatic changes in the western United States since 18,000 yr B.P.. Wright, H.E. Jr., Kutzbach, J.E., Webb, T. III, Ruddiman, W.F., Street-Perrott, F.A., Bartlein, P.J., Global Climates since the Last Glacial Maximum, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis.468–513.Google Scholar
Worona, M.A., Whitlock, C., (1995). Late Quaternary vegetation and climate history near Little Lake, central Coast Range, Oregon.. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 107, 867–876.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar