Contrasting glacial sedimentation processes and sea-level changes in two adjacent basins on the Pacific margin of Canada

Abstract

Abstract During the late Wisconsin Fraser Glaciation on the Pacific Margin of Canada, ice moved offshore from the Coast Mountains of the Canadian Cordillera and south into the Strait of Georgia, reaching a maximum extent at about 14 000 14 C bp . Most of the strait was ice-free by 11 300 14 C bp . Deglaciation was very rapid with regional downwasting and widespread stagnation. This resulted in a stratigraphy of thick till (30–60 m), overlain by ice-proximal glacimarine sediments and a thin and discontinuous ice-distal glacimarine unit. Glaciation of Queen Charlotte Basin reached a maximum sometime after 21 000 14 C bp . Deglaciation in this region began sometime after 16 000 to 15 000 14 C bp and ice had retreated fully onto mainland British Columbia by 13 500 14 C bp . Deglaciation was rapid, with the eastward retreat of an ice shelf. This resulted in a stratigraphy of a till up to 50 m in thickness, usually turbated by iceberg scour and overlain in some areas by thin, ice-proximal glacimarine sediments and much thicker (20 m) widespread ice-distal glacimarine sediments. A significant difference between these two regions is the deglacial relative sea-level history. Rapid regression of the outer Queen Charlotte Islands shelf occurred between approximately 14 600 and 12 500 14 C bp , primarily due to rapid isostatic rebound and contemporaneous with deglaciation of the continental shelf. Sea-level reached a maximum lowstand of greater than 150 m and remained low until approximately 12 400 14 C bp . In Georgia Basin, sea-level was at a relative high stand of 50 to 200 m during initial deglaciation, falling to between 0 to 50 m below present sometime after 10 000 14 C bp . We suggest that rapid emergence on the northern margin of the outer shelf was due to forebulge effects. Further, the very limited extent of glacial ice on the Queen Charlotte Islands and the exposure to the open Pacific forced the retreat of the Cordilleran ice-sheet margin eastwards thereby resulting in dominantly ice-distal glacimarine sedimentation. In contrast, the initial relative sea-level highstand during deglaciation between the Vancouver Island and Cordilleran glaciers in the Strait of Georgia resulted in significant ice-proximal deposition and limited ice-distal glacimarine deposition.