Holocene glacier activity in the British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

Abstract

The Coast Mountains flank the Pacific Ocean in western British Columbia, Canada. Subdivided into the southern Pacific Ranges, central Kitimat Ranges and northern Boundary Ranges, the majority of large glaciers and icefields are located in the Boundary and Pacific ranges. Prior descriptions of the Holocene glacial history of this region indicate the Holocene was characterized by repeated episodes of ice expansion and retreat. Recent site-specific investigations augment our understanding of the regional character and duration of these events. In this paper, previously reported and new radiocarbon evidence is integrated to provide an updated regional assessment.The earliest evidence of glacier expansion in the Coast Mountains comes from the Boundary Ranges at 8.9 and 7.8 ka and in the Pacific Ranges at 8.5–8.2 ka, with the latter advance corresponding to an interval of rapid, global climate deterioration. Although generally warm and dry climates from 7.3 to 5.3 ka likely limited the size of glaciers in the region, there is radiocarbon evidence for advances over the interval from 7.3 to 6.0 and at 5.4–5.3 ka in the Pacific Ranges. Following these advances, glaciers in the Pacific Ranges expanded down valley at 4.8–4.6, 4.4–4.0, 3.5–2.6, 1.4–1.2, and 0.8–0.4 ka, while glaciers in Boundary Ranges were advancing at 4.1–4.0, 3.7–3.4, 3.1–2.8, 2.3, 1.7–1.1, and 0.8–0.4 ka. After 0.4 ka, it appears that most glaciers in the Coast Mountains continued to expand to attain their maximum Holocene extents by the early 18th to late 19th centuries. This enhanced record of Holocene glacier activity highlights the temporal synchrony in the Coast Mountains. Individual expansion events in the mid-to late Holocene broadly correspond to intervals of regional glacier activity reported in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, in Alaska, and on high-elevation volcanic peaks in Washington State.