Radiocarbon deglaciation chronology of the Thunder Bay, Ontario area and implications for ice sheet retreat patterns

Abstract

The sensitivity of ice sheets to climate change influences the return of meltwater to the oceans. Here we track the Laurentide Ice Sheet along a ∼400 km long transect spanning about 6000 yr of retreat during the major climate oscillations of the lateglacial. Thunder Bay, Ontario is near a major topographic drainage divide, thus terrestrial ablation processes are the primary forcers of ice margin recession in the study area. During deglaciation three major moraine sets were produced, and have been assigned minimum ages of 13.9 ± 0.2, 12.3 ± 0.2–12.1 ± 0.1, and 11.2 ± 0.2 cal ka BP from south to north. These define a slow retreat (∼10–50 m/a) prior to major climate oscillations which was then followed by a factor of ∼2 increase during the Bölling–Alleröd, and an additional increase during the early Holocene. When compared to retreat rates in other terrestrial settings of the ice sheet, nearly identical patterns emerge. However this becomes problematic because a key control on retreat rates is the surface slope of the ice sheet and this should vary considerably over areas of so-called hard and soft beds. Further these ice margin reconstructions would not allow meltwater sourced in the Hudson Basin to drain into the Atlantic basin until after Younger Dryas time.