Importance of the Rossendale site in establishing a deglacial chronology along the southwestern margin of the Laurentide ice sheet

Abstract

The timing of deglaciation in the Lake Agassiz basin is critical in establishing the routing of meltwater and precipitation runoff from a 2,000,000-km 2 region of central North America and in evaluating the influence this water had on rivers and oceans into which it drained. Dates of 12,400 ± 420 and 12,100 ± 160 yr B.P. for moss at the Rossendale site in Manitoba have long been a key for those advocating an “early” deglacial chronology in this region. However, new dates for wood from this site and paleoecological interpretations of ostracods, molluscs, and the dated moss all support a “young” deglacial scenario. Of particular significance is the fact that the dated moss, Scorpidium scorpioides, is a subaquatic type subject to contamination by old carbon dissolved from bedrock. In fact, most subaquatic moss may be unreliable for radiocarbon dating. For these reasons, the 12,400 and 12,100 yr B.P. dates are rejected. New dates of 9600 ± 70 and 9510 ± 90 yr B.P. for wood from the same organic-rich unit containing the dated moss, ostracods, and molluscs fit well with the “young” deglacial chronology of the southwestern Laurentide ice margin advocated by many. In short, the ice margin appears to have retreated into the southern Lake Agassiz basin after 12,000 yr B.P. and north of the Rossendale site by 11,000 yr B.P. About 10,000 yr B.P., following the Moorhead low-water phase, Lake Agassiz rose to the Campbell level. The dated organic matter at Rossendale was deposited in a lagoon behind the Campbell beach.