Dynamics of the Late Pleistocene Big Timber Glacier, Crazy Mountains, Montana, U.S.A.

Abstract

AbstractThe late Pleistocene Big Timber glacier of west-central Montana was used as the test case for a model which calculates the mass balance of a paleoglacier using glacial flow theory. Application of Glen’s flow law to a detailed reconstruction of the glacier provided an estimate of the component of mass flux due to internal deformation. Assuming basal slip to be zero where mass flux due to deformation was a maximum, the mass flux at the equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) an ablation gradient of 3.0 ± 0.6 mm/m, and an accumulation gradient of 1.0 ± 0.2 mm/m were determined. Application of the continuity model above and below the ELA generated a second estimate of mass flux at discrete points along the glacier. The difference between deformation flux and continuity flux yields a first approximation of slip, which is highly variable along the glacier. Since the mass-balance gradients are climatically controlled, this model provides information on the paleoclimatic setting of the glacier. The low gradients indicate that, during the last glacial maximum, the east side of the central Rocky Mountains experienced a cold, dry environment much like that of modern-day glaciers in the Brooks Range of Alaska.