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Nature and origin of a Pleistocene-age massive ground-ice body exposed in the Chapman Lake moraine Complex, central Yukon Territory, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Denis Lacelle ,
Bernard Lauriol ,
Ian D. Clark ,
Raphaelle Cardyn  and
Christian Zdanowicz
Denis Lacelle*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, 140 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5
Bernard Lauriol
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Ottawa, 60 University St., Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5
Ian D. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, 140 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5
Raphaelle Cardyn
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, 140 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5
Christian Zdanowicz
Affiliation:
National Glaciology Programme, Geological Survey of Canada (NRCan), 601 Booth St., Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0E8
*
*Corresponding author. Current address: Canadian Space Agency, 6767 route de l'aéroport, St-Hubert, QC, Canada J3Y 8Y9.E-mail addresses:[email protected] (D. Lacelle), [email protected] (B. Lauriol), [email protected] (I.D. Clark), [email protected] (R. Cardyn), [email protected] (C. Zdanowicz).
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Abstract

A massive ground-ice body was found exposed in the headwall of a thaw flow developed within the Chapman Lake terminal moraine complex on the Blackstone Plateau (Ogilvie Mountains, central Yukon Territory), which is contemporaneous to the Reid glaciation. Based on visible cryostructures in the 4-m-high headwall, two units were identified: massive ground ice, overlain sharply by 2 m of icy diamicton. The nature and origin of the Chapman Lake massive ground ice was determined using cryostratigraphy, petrography, stable O–H isotopes and the molar concentration of occluded gases (CO2, O2, N2 and Ar) entrapped in the ice, a new technique in the field of periglacial geomorphology that allows to distinguish between glacial and non-glacial intrasedimental ice. Collectively, the results indicate that the Chapman Lake massive ground ice formed by firn densification with limited melting–refreezing and underwent deformation near its margin. Given that the massive ground-ice body consists of relict glacier ice, it suggests that permafrost persisted, at least locally, on plateau areas in the central Yukon Territory since the middle Pleistocene. In addition, the d value of Chapman Lake relict glacier ice suggests that the ice covering the area during the Reid glaciation originated from a local alpine glaciation in the Ogilvie Mountains.

Keywords

Massive ground ice bodyOxygen isotopesMolar gas ratiosYukon TerritoryMiddle PleistocenePaleo-climateRelict permafrost
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 68 , Issue 2 , September 2007 , pp. 249 - 260
Copyright
University of Washington

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