Deglacial Cycle Research Articles

Dating and rhythmicity from the last deglacial cycle in the British Isles

In northern Britain glaciotectonically thickened sediment piles represent the sediment flux transferred to ice margins by phases of fast ice flow and drumlin streamlining during the last deglacial cycle. Radiocarbon dating of marine faunas within deglacial muds age-constrain phases of drumlinisation (shaping) to between 19 and 14.5 ka bp . Individual phases of drumlinization can be correlated with millennial time scale discharge events documented from the circum-North Atlantic which are probably climate-driven. The overall deglacial cycle records at least five major millennial time-scale ice-margin oscillations and phases of sediment sequence rhythmicity.

A LATE PLEISTOCENE INTERTIDAL BOULDER PAVEMENT FROM AN ISOSTATICALLY EMERGENT COAST, DUNDALK BAY, EASTERN IRELAND

Late Pleistocene sequences around Dundalk Bay, eastern Ireland, record glaciomarine sedimentation near the margin of a grounded ice lobe around 15 ka sp. A coastal exposure at Cooley Point consists of four major facies deposited outside this ice limit. (1) A basal mud facies deposited from sediment plumes accumulated following the initial ice marginal retreat inland. It contains a well-preserved Arctic microfauna dominated by the foram Elphidium clavatum and the ostracod Roundstonia globulifera. (2) A flat to undulating boulder facies (pavement), mostly one clast thick, is found pressed into the mud and is characterized by bevelled and striated upper clast surfaces. Pavement attributes are a result of intertidal activity in a cold climate. The boulder source is due to rafting by ice flees from glacigenic debris deposited during an ice advance. (3) Laminated sand facies drape the pavement and are a result of variable current activity. (4) The overlying gravel facies is separated from the sand facies by a marine erosion surface. The gravel facies is subaqueous, channelized and is overlain by late glacial raised beach ridges. Locally the gravels have been deformed by ice pressure from partially floating ice flees. Facies changes record terrestrial submergence and provide evidence for changes in relative sea level during part of the last deglacial cycle. The boulder pavement and deformed gravel facies suggest that ice flees and sea ice effects may be more common within stratigraphies along emergent coasts than previously thought, though they have a low preservation potential. Extreme conditions during the deglacial favoured opportunistic microfaunas during mud deposition. This event may be related to a major meltwater event within the Irish Sea Basin.

Upper Pleistocene Facies Sequences and Relative Sea-level Trends Along the South Coast of Ireland

Upper Pleistocene sequences, deposited around 20 ka provide a record of sedimentation during the last glacial/deglacial cycle along the south coast of Ireland. A stratigraphy based on eight lithofacies associations is recognized. Typically, the facies sequences overlie a glaciated shore platform furrowed by subglacial meltwaters. Elements within the stratigraphy comprise: (1) ice advance southwards onto the continental shelf; (2) stagnation-zone retreat triggered by rising sea level related to isostatic depression coupled with subglacial meltwater events that furrowed the platform; (3) progressive rise in relative sea level recorded by a submergent facies sequence on an isostatically depressed slope (beach gravels -->2 subaqueous jet afflux sediments -->2 wave-influenced sands -->2 glaciomarine mud drape); ice-marginal oscillation is recorded by glaciotectonically deformed gravels, sands, and foliated diamict; (4) terrestrial emergence is marked by angular breccias derived from local slopes by periglacial weathering. There is a clear facies transition between the breccias and underlying wave-influenced sands. Facies sequences suggest that the local deglacial cycle was out of phase with the global eustatic cycle along the south coast of Ireland. Stagnation-zone retreat was largely dependent on magnitudes of isostatic depression, high relative sea level, and meltwater events, and not on climatic forcing.

The Quaternary geology of the Labrador Shelf

The regional distribution of glacial and postglacial sediments on the Labrador Shelf was mapped by medium- and high-resolution seismics and shows a succession of tills that extend to the continental shelf edge at approximately 600 m. The uppermost of these tills is less laterally extensive and does not occur on the Labrador Shelf bank tops in water depths less than 160 m. We infer that the last glacial episode was less extensive than the preceding ones. Glaciomarine stratified silts and postglacial muds are found overlying the upper till in the deep basins that separate the banks. The upper till, glaciomarine silts, and postglacial muds are interpreted to constitute one complete deglacial cycle. Radiocarbon age determination suggests this deglacial sequence began at approximately 20 000 years BP. On the northernmost Labrador Shelf and Hudson Strait, seismic evidence indicates a late glacial readvance locally deposited a till that overlies the glaciomarine sediments associated with the last glacial advance on the Labrador Shelf. The stratigraphic position of this Hudson Strait till suggests the local readvance occurred at approximately 8000 years BP. The acoustic stratigraphic framework (data) is ground truthed by a regionally extensive piston core and grab sample network. Multidisciplinary analysis of these sediment samples included X-ray, textural, geotechnical, paleontological, lithological, trace-element, and 14C analyses. The results confirm the acoustic interpretations and show that each of the stratigraphic units defined have unique and regionally consistent properties. Geotechnical analyses from the upper till indicate low shear strengths (± 25 kPa) and low to normal consolidation ratios (0.8–2.8), which we interpret to indicate deposition under low basal loading as a result of hydrostatic support on an ice shelf in a marine setting. Provenance studies on the sands and gravels from each of the stratigraphic units of the last deglacial sequence (i.e., till, glaciomarine silts, postglacial muds) indicate that the till is mostly derived from mainland Labrador and transported by an easterly ice flow. Since limestone outcrops are rare to absent on the Labrador mainland and continental shelf, high limestone concentrations (up to 80%) within the glaciomarine sediments that overlie the upper till indicate a northern and distal source for that unit. We interpret an active ice margin overlying the Paleozoic limestone outcrops in Hudson Strait and Ungava Bay as being the dominant source for the glaciomarine silts. The absence of limestone within the postglacial muds that overlie the glaciomarine silts indicates a significant change in provenance, which we attribute to the disappearance of the active ice margin over the limestone terranes. The depositional style and sedimentary structures within the glaciomarine silts indicate low bottom currents and a uniform rain out of ice-rafted (limestone) debris that extends to the southernmost part of the Labrador Shelf. The depositional style of the postglacial muds indicates a significant increase in bottom currents, with deposition restricted to the deep basins. We suggest these increased currents resulted from the disappearance of the Hudson Strait ice barrier, which allowed the Canadian current to develop and combine with the west Greenland current. This combination of currents occurred at approximately 8000 years BP and marks the inception of the Labrador current, which presently traverses the Labrador Shelf.