Southern Coast Mountains Research Articles

Did rock avalanche deposits modulate the late Holocene advance of Tiedemann Glacier, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada?

Most glaciers in western North America with reliable age control achieved their maximum Holocene extents during final advances of the Little Ice Age. Tiedemann Glacier, a large alpine glacier in western Canada, is an enigma because the glacier constructed lateral moraines that are up to 90 m higher, and extend 1.8 km farther downvalley, than those constructed during the Little Ice Age. Our data show that the activity of the glacier is more complex than originally documented and that the glacier advanced many times during the past six thousand years. Surface exposure dating and radiocarbon ages of stumps beneath till demonstrate that the glacier achieved its maximum Holocene extent at about 2.7 ka. We hypothesize that one or more rock avalanches delivered surface debris to the glacier and caused the 2.7 ka glacier advance to be much larger than can be explained by climate forcing. To test our hypothesis, we developed and used a surface debris advection routine coupled to an ice dynamics model. Our results show that even a moderately sized rock avalanche (10×106 m3) delivered to the top of the ablation zone could cause the glacier to thicken and advance far beyond its Little Ice Age limit.

The southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia: New interpretations from geological, seismic reflection, and gravity data

The southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia are characterized by voluminous plutonic and gneissic rocks of mainly Middle Jurassic to Eocene age (the Coast Plutonic Complex), as well as metamorphic rocks, folds, and thrust and reverse faults that mostly diverge eastward and westward from an axis within the present mountains, and by more localized Eocene and younger normal faults. In the southeastern Coast Mountains, mid-Cretaceous and younger plutons intrude Bridge River, Cadwallader, and Methow terranes and overlap Middle Jurassic through Early Cretaceous marine clastic rocks of the Tyaughton–Methow basin. The combination of geological data with new or reanalyzed geophysical data originating from Lithoprobe and related studies enables revised structural interpretations to be made to 20 km depth. Five seismic profiles show very cut-up and chaotic reflectivity that probably represents slices and segments of different deformed and rearranged rock assemblages. Surface geology, seismic interpretations, physical properties, and gravity data are combined in two profiles across the Coast Mountains to generate two new 2-D density models that are interpreted in terms of the geological units. The western part of the southern Coast Mountains consists primarily of Jurassic to mid-Cretaceous plutons to depths of 20 km with slices of Wrangellia (in the west) and Early Cretaceous volcanic and sedimentary rocks (Gambier group) in the upper 10 km. The eastern part, east of the Owl Creek fault, consists of slices of Cadwallader and Bridge River terranes and Tyaughton–Methow basin strata with limited slices of plutonic rocks at depths less than 10 km. Below that, Eocene and Late Cretaceous plutons dominate for another 10 km.

Paleogeography of the Insular and Intermontane terranes reconsidered: Evidence from the southern Coast Mountains Batholith, British Columbia

New geologic and paleomagnetic data from Knight Inlet in the southwestern Coast Mountains Batholith, British Columbia, support signifi cant revision to the paleogeography of the Insular and Intermontane terranes. Recompilation of radiometric ages confi rms that after 100 Ma, a magmatic arc migrated northeastward across the Coast Mountains Batholith at ~2 km/m.y. Magmatic age patterns suggest that plutons older than 100 Ma intruded the Intermontane terrane, not the expected Insular terrane. The distribution of brittle faults along Knight Inlet defi nes a structurally intact central domain, ~45 km wide, fl anked to the SW and NE by faulted domains, with no evidence of the widespread Tertiary extension affecting the batholith farther north. Al-in-hornblende geobarometry yields emplacement depths of ~2.5‐4 kbar and does not reveal systematic postemplacement tilting. Plutons in the central structural domain yield a consistently oriented paleomagnetic remanence presumably acquired as the Late Cretaceous arc cooled from ca. 110 to 85 Ma. In the absence of recognizable tilting, this result indicates ~1700 km of northward translation since ca. 85 Ma, which is signifi cantly less than predicted for the Insular terrane in the “Baja British Columbia” model but similar to results from the Intermontane terrane. The pluton ages and the paleomagnetic results suggest that the Intermontane terrane, not the Insular terrane, underlies the southwestern fl ank of the Coast Mountains Batholith. This conclusion is compatible with a paleogeographic model in which the Vancouver Island fragment of Wrangellia was juxtaposed against the Intermontane terrane prior to ca. 120‐100 Ma and emplaced in southern British Columbia after ca. 75 Ma.

Late Holocene glacial activity at Bromley Glacier, Cambria Icefield, northern British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

Retreating and downwasting glaciers in the British Columbia Coast Mountains are exposing the remains of forests buried during Holocene-age glacial advances. Despite recent progress in discerning the extent of these advances in the Pacific and Kitimat ranges of the southern and central Coast Mountains, comparatively little is known about the character of these advances in the Boundary Ranges of northwestern British Columbia. This research uses dendroglaciologic and radiocarbon analyses to describe late Holocene glacial advances at Bromley Glacier in the Cambria Icefield area. Four intervals of glacial expansion were identified at ca. 2470–2410, 1850, 1450, and 830 14C years BP. Absent were wood remains associated with mid-Holocene episodes of glacier expansion recorded at nearby sites. The late Holocene deposits described at Bromley Glacier are contemporaneous with those found at other glaciers in the southern Boundary Ranges and contribute to a growing understanding of the synchronous response of glaciers in this region to mass balance fluctuations during the Holocene.

Late-Holocene fluctuations of the Bear River Glacier, northern Coast Ranges of British Columbia, Canada

During Holocene advances of the Bear River Glacier, in northwestern British Columbia, ice pushed against a bedrock slope on the north side of Bear River Pass as it was being diverted eastward and westward along the pass. The result is a series of till sheets plastered against the rock slope and separated by wood mats. This sequence of tills provides an unusually detailed record of early-Neoglacial history and shows that Neoglacial expansion in the northern Coast Mountains began earlier than previously known. Moraines show the extent of ‘Little Ice Age’ expansion, and documents related to the long mining history of the area provide records of post-LIA recession. The oldest deposits in the area are a small lateral moraine outside of a prominent LIA moraine, and a till in the pass older than c. 3500 14C yr BP. The small moraine is undated; it may be equivalent to the latest-Pleistocene Crowfoot Advance which produced similar moraines in the southern Coast Mountains and eastern Cordillera. Wood mats in the pass show that Neoglacial advances occurred at c. 3700, 3500, 3300, and 1000 14C yr BP; each advance was slightly more extensive than the previous one. Documentary evidence indicates that the pass was still filled with ice in 1913, and diverging both eastward and westward, but glacier retreat has been rapid since then. Retreat from the pass in the mid-20th century resulted in the creation of Strohn Lake, through which meltwater from the glacier passes; a complicated lake history includes switching of discharge from eastward to westward and a series of jokuhlaups that damaged highway infrastructure to the west. A comparison of the history recorded at Bear River Pass with that recorded at the Todd Icefield 15 km to the north shows that different components of glacial history are preserved in different places, and many sites need to be examined to obtain a relatively complete regional history.

Elemental and Isotopic Evidence for Granitoid Genesis From Deep-Seated Sources in the Coast Mountains Batholith, British Columbia

Major element, trace element and Nd^Sr isotopic data are presented for 82 plutonic rocks from the southern Coast Mountains Batholith (CMB) in British Columbia, Canada, ranging in emplacement age from 210 to 50 Ma. The rocks are part of a large composite magmatic arc batholith, which the major element data show to be of calc-alkaline affinity. The majority of CMB samples lack the depletion in Eu that would be consistent with equilibration of magmas and plagioclase-bearing crystalline residues or fractionates, suggesting that equilibration took place deeper than the pressure limit of plagioclase stability at 35^40 km depth. The CMB samples show a wide variation in the slope of normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns, with chondrite-normalized La/Yb ratios above 10 being mostly confined to periods of high magmatic flux in the arc at 160^140, 120^80, and 60^50 Ma. The clearest relationships between major and trace elements are negative correlations between SiO2 and each of Sc, Y, and the heavier REE Gd to Lu. Nd and Sr isotopes mostly document juvenile origins for the granitoids, but show variations to higher Sr/Sr and lower eNd during high-flux periods.The results are interpreted to indicate a deep origin for most CMB magmas, below 40 km where mafic to intermediate rock assemblages previously added to the arc crust by mantle melting were transformed to an (amphibole-bearing)eclogite facies cumulate or restite, such that melting residues consisted mainly of two pyroxenes, garnet and variable proportions of amphibole. Thickened orogenic crust, for which there is clear geological evidence during the period 100^80 Ma, promoted this process. During high-flux periods, larger amounts of older rocks, mostly mafic rocks and some metasediments added to the base of the arc during orogenic shortening, became involved in magma genesis.

Comparison of modeled and geodetically-derived glacier mass balance for Tiedemann and Klinaklini glaciers, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada

Predicting the fate of mountain glaciers requires reliable observational data to test models of glacier mass balance. Using glacier extents and digital elevation models (DEMs) derived from aerial photographs and ASTER satellite imagery, we calculate changes in area, elevation, and volume of Tiedemann and Klinaklini glaciers. Between 1949 and 2009, Tiedemann and Klinaklini glaciers lost approximately 10% of their area. The total area-averaged thinning of Klinaklini was 40.1±1.5m water equivalent (w.e.) and total mass loss equaled 20.24±1.36km3 w.e., whereas Tiedemann Glacier thinned by 25.7±1.9m w.e. and lost 1.69±0.17km3 w.e. of ice. We attribute lower observed rates of thinning at Tiedemann Glacier to thick debris cover in the ablation area. Both glaciers thickened at mid-elevations after the year 2000. Glacier mass balance and volume change were modeled using temperature, precipitation and evapotranspiration fields dynamically downscaled to the mesoscale (8km resolution) using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) model and further statistically downscaled to the glacier scale (100m elevation bands) using modeled surface lapse rates. The mass balance model over-predicts total volume loss by 1.1 and 6.3 times the geodetic loss for Klinaklini and Tiedemann glaciers respectively. Differences in modeled and observed total ice loss are due to (1) the coarse resolution of the downscaled climate fields, and (2) extensive debris cover in the ablation area of Tiedemann Glacier. Future modeling efforts should dynamically downscale at resolutions that capture the topographic complexity of a region and employ strategies to account for time-evolving debris cover.

Late‐summer thermal regime of a small proglacial lake

AbstractThis study was motivated by an interest in understanding the potential effects of climate change and glacier retreat on late summer water temperatures in alpine areas. Fieldwork was carried out between July and September 2007 at Place Lake, located below Place Glacier in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. Place Lake has an area of 72 000 m2, a single inlet and outlet channel, and an approximate residence time of 4 days. Warming between the inlet and outlet of the lake ranged up to 3 °C and averaged 1.8 °C, which exceeds the amount of warming that occurred over the 1 km reach of Place Creek between the lake outlet and tree line. Over a 23‐day period, net radiation totalled about 210 MJ·m–2, with sensible heat flux adding another 56 MJ m‐2. The latent heat flux consumed about 8% of the surface heat input. The dominant heat sink was the net horizontal advection associated with lake inflow and outflow. Early in the study period, temperatures between the surface and 6‐m depth were dominantly at or above 4 °C and were generally neutral to thermally stable, whereas temperatures decreased with depth below 6 m and exhibited irregular sub‐diurnal variations. The maximum outflow temperature of almost 7 °C occurred in this period. We hypothesize that turbidity currents associated with cold, sediment‐laden glacier discharge formed an underflow and influenced temperatures in the deeper portion of the lake but did not mix with the upper layers. Later in the study period, the lake was dominantly well mixed with some near‐surface stability associated with nocturnal cooling. Further research is required to examine the combined effects of sediment concentrations and thermal processes on mixing in small proglacial lakes to make projections of the consequences of glacier retreat on alpine lake and stream temperatures. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Late Holocene glacial activity in Manatee Valley, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada

The dendroglaciologic and lichenometric research methodologies employed in this study provide a perspective of glaciological conditions from 5 ka to present in a remote headwater area of the British Columbia Coast Mountains. Since Holocene ice fronts of four glaciers at this site periodically extended below treeline, previous glacier advances overrode and buried forests beneath till deposits. This study suggests that glaciers were expanding into standing forests at 4.76 and 3.78 ka. Following glacier expansion at 3.78 ka, a period of recession ensued when glaciers withdrew upvalley long enough for the development of deep pedogenic surfaces and the growth of trees exceeding 300 years. Investigations at Beluga and Manatee glaciers benchmark a subsequent episode of significant glacial expansion at 2.42 ka referred to as the “Manatee Advance”. This advance has regional correlatives and is distinguished from the Tiedemann Advance at Manatee Glacier by documentation of substantive ice front retreat between the two episodes. Examination of Little Ice Age (LIA) deposits in the study area allowed for presentation and application of a revised Rhizocarpon spp. lichen growth curve. Lichenometric surveys of lateral moraines associated with Beluga, Manatee, and Oluk glaciers provided limited insight into their early LIA behaviour but record advances during the 15th and 16th centuries. Locally, glaciers achieved their maximum LIA size prior to an early to mid 18th century moraine-building event. This reconstruction of Holocene glacial history offers insights consistent with the emerging record of glacier activity described for other southern British Columbia Coast Mountain glaciers.

Prediction of spatially distributed regional‐scale fields of air temperature and vapor pressure over mountain glaciers

Physically based models of glacier melt require fields of near‐surface air temperature (Tg) and vapor pressure (eg) for estimating turbulent heat exchanges. However, katabatic boundary layer (KBL) processes limit the effectiveness of standard interpolation or extrapolation routines for estimating Tg and eg from regional weather station networks. Climate data collected from nine automatic weather stations operated over three ablation seasons at three glaciers in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia are analyzed in this study. On‐glacier observations were compared to ambient values (Ta and ea) estimated from a regional network of off‐glacier weather stations. Piecewise regressions of Tg versus Ta at each AWS site reveal (1) a critical threshold temperature (T*) that denotes the onset of katabatic boundary layer (KBL) development and (2) a temperature damping that is consistent at each site, but variable between sites. Variations in near‐surface vapor pressure are related to processes of condensation or evaporation/sublimation at the glacier surface, which are controlled by the vapor pressure gradient between the surface and the ambient air. Statistical relations with flow path lengths calculated from glacier digital elevation models are used to predict the strength of KBL effects on Tg and eg, and examples of the approach for generating distributed fields of Tg and eg are given.

Downscaling and Bias Correcting a Cold Season Precipitation Climatology over Coastal Southern British Columbia Using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS)

Abstract Thirty years of the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR) are dynamically downscaled to an 8-km grid spacing using the Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS) to generate a climatology of glacier winter accumulation over the southern Coast Mountains in British Columbia (BC), Canada. RAMS precipitation fields are bias corrected using observations from Environment Canada (EC) synoptic and climate stations and BC provincial snow pillow stations. Raw and bias-corrected model output is compared with observations from EC Reference Climate Network stations, BC provincial Ministry of Transportation and Highways stations, BC Hydro stations, snow course data, and glacier mass balance studies. A water balance is also applied to 12 drainage basins located within the modeling domain to test the consistency of both the raw and bias-corrected precipitation fields with observed streamflow. Model output is compared with the Parameter-Elevation Regressions on Independent Slopes Model (PRISM) and bias-corrected NARR. Isotropic spectral power densities are examined to compare the effective spatial resolution of the various precipitation fields. The spatial distribution of the bias-correction field suggests that RAMS underpredicts precipitation on the western edge of Vancouver Island, Canada, and overpredicts along the southern Coast Mountains. The bias correction helps close the water balance budgets in all basins except the Somass on Vancouver Island. The bias correction generally improves the agreement between RAMS and observed snow water equivalent amounts at the glacier and snow course sites, and observed precipitation amounts at the synoptic, climate, and snow pillow stations. The RAMS and NARR isotropic spectral power densities show a loss of variability at approximately 45 and 63 km, while PRISM shows little falloff down to 16 km.

Dendrogeomorphic reconstruction of Little Ice Age paraglacial activity in the vicinity of the Homathko Icefield, British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

Moraine and glacier dams bordering the Homathko Icefield in the southern British Columbia Coast Mountains failed in the 1980s and 1990s, causing catastrophic downstream floods. The largest of the floods occurred in August 1997 and was caused by overtopping and rapid breaching of the moraine dam that impounds Queen Bess Lake. The floodwaters from Queen Bess Lake eroded Holocene-age sedimentary deposits along the west fork of Nostetuko River and caused a steep rise in the hydrograph of Homathko River at the head of Bute Inlet, ∼ 115 km downstream. A field investigation of the eroded valley fill in 2008, revealed multiple paraglacial valley-fill units, many of which are capped by in situ stumps and woody detritus. Dendrogeomorphological field techniques were employed to develop a chronology for the buried forests. A regional tree-ring chronology spanning the interval CE 1572–2007 was constructed from living subalpine fir ( Abies lasiocarpa) trees at seven sites in the southern Coast Mountains. In cases where subfossil stumps and boles predated the regional chronology, relative death dates constrained by radiocarbon ages were assigned to floating chronologies. By combining these dendrogeomorphological dating methods, we identified six floodplain aggradation episodes within the past 1200 years. Comparison to local and regional glacial histories suggests that these events reflect climate-induced Little Ice Age changes in local glacier cover.

Interdecadal patterns of total sediment yield from a montane catchment, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada

We reconstruct sediment yield for a mountain watershed of western Canada since the mid-twentieth century from studies of annually laminated lake sediments, delta progradation, and solute transfer. Total yield averaged 320 ± 40 Mg km − 2 a − 1 and comprised ∼ 35% suspended load, 50% bedload, and 15% dissolved load. Ratios between the individual yield components varied approximately threefold at interannual timescales because of significant variability in the suspended and bedload fractions. Asynchronous flux in suspended and bedload fractions through time arise from differences in sediment availability and transitory sediment storage in the channel. Periods of elevated yield coincide with rapid glacier recession, an extreme rainstorm, and a landslide. Our results indicate that in montane environments, extrapolation from even decade-long monitoring programs may lead to biased projections of long-term yield and delivery mode proportions if variations in sediment supply and catchment response to hydroclimatic and geomorphic controls are not considered.

Fluvial response to Holocene glacier fluctuations in the Nostetuko River valley, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia

Abstract Mountain rivers, like alpine glaciers, are sensitive indicators of climate change. Some rivers may provide a more complete record of Holocene climate change than the glaciers in their headwaters. We illustrate these points by examining the record preserved in the upper part of the alluvial fill in the Nostetuko River valley in the southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia (Canada). Glacier advances in the upper part of the watershed triggered valley-wide aggradation and complex changes in river planform. Periods when glaciers were restricted in extent coincide with periods of incision of the valley fill and floodplain stability. As many as 10 overbank aggradation units are separated by peat layers containing tree roots and stems in growth position. Twenty-five radiocarbon ages on roots, tree stems and woody plant detritus in several of the peat layers closely delimit periods of aggradation. The oldest phase of aggradation occurred about 6500 years bp and coincides with the Garibaldi Advance documented elsewhere in the southern Coast Mountains. A second phase of aggradation, recorded by several units of clastic sediment, dates to about 2500 years bp , near the peak of the middle Neoglacial Tiedemann Advance. The third phase occurred shortly after 1400 years bp during or shortly after the First Millennium Advance, which has been recently documented in coastal British Columbia and Alaska. The most recent phase of aggradation began about 800 years bp and continued until recently. It coincides with the Little Ice Age, when glaciers in the Nostetuko River basin and elsewhere in the southern Coast Mountains attained their greatest Holocene size. Several periods of peat deposition during the Little Ice Age indicate periods of floodplain stability separated by brief intervals of floodplain aggradation that coincide with Little Ice Age glacier advances in western Canada. The results imply that the west fork of Nostetuko River is sensitive to upvalley glacier fluctuations and, indirectly, to relatively minor changes in climate.

Paraglacial geomorphology of Quaternary volcanic landscapes in the southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia

Abstract An important paradigm in geomorphology is paraglacial sedimentation , a phrase first used almost 40 years ago to describe reworking of glacial sediment by mass wasting and streams during and after continental-scale deglaciation. The concept has been extended to include non-glacial landforms and landscapes conditioned by glaciation. In this paper we apply the paraglacial concept to volcanoes in southern British Columbia, Canada, that formed, in part, in contact with glacier ice. The Cheekye River basin, a small watershed on the flank of a volcano that erupted against the decaying Cordilleran ice sheet, has a Holocene history marked by an exponential decay in debris-flow activity and sediment yield. Its history is consistent with the primary exhaustion model of the paraglacial cycle. At larger spatial scales, this primary sediment is reworked by rivers and transported downstream and augmented by stochastic geomorphic events. Repeated large landslides from Mount Meager volcano in southern British Columbia have delivered a disproportionate volume of sediment to the fluvial system: although occupying only 2% of the watershed area, 25–75% of the 10 km 3 of sediment deposited in Lillooet River valley during the Holocene originated from the volcano. In these cases a significant overall reduction in sediment yield must await the removal, by erosion, of volcanic edifices, a process that could take up to millions of years. These examples of paraglacial activity on Quaternary volcanoes are end members in the spectrum of landscape response to Pleistocene deglaciation.

Latest Pleistocene and Holocene glacier fluctuations in western Canada

We summarize evidence of the latest Pleistocene and Holocene glacier fluctuations in the Canadian Cordillera. Our review focuses primarily on studies completed after 1988, when the first comprehensive review of such evidence was published. The Cordilleran ice sheet reached its maximum extent about 16 ka and then rapidly decayed. Some lobes of the ice sheet, valley glaciers, and cirque glaciers advanced one or more times between 15 and 11 ka. By 11 ka, or soon thereafter, glacier cover in the Cordillera was no more extensive than at the end of the 20th century. Glaciers were least extensive between 11 and 7 ka. A general expansion of glaciers began as early as 8.4 ka when glaciers overrode forests in the southern Coast Mountains; it culminated with the climactic advances of the Little Ice Age. Holocene glacier expansion was not continuous, but rather was punctuated by advances and retreats on a variety of timescales. Radiocarbon ages of wood collected from glacier forefields reveal six major periods of glacier advance: 8.59–8.18, 7.36–6.45, 4.40–3.97, 3.54–2.77, 1.71–1.30 ka, and the past millennium. Tree-ring and lichenometric dating shows that glaciers began their Little Ice Age advances as early as the 11th century and reached their maximum Holocene positions during the early 18th or mid-19th century. Our data confirm a previously suggested pattern of episodic but successively greater Holocene glacier expansion from the early Holocene to the climactic advances of the Little Ice Age, presumably driven by decreasing summer insolation throughout the Holocene. Proxy climate records indicate that glaciers advanced during the Little Ice Age in response to cold conditions that coincided with times of sunspot minima. Priority research required to further advance our understanding of late Pleistocene and Holocene glaciation in western Canada includes constraining the age of late Pleistocene moraines in northern British Columbia and Yukon Territory, expanding the use of cosmogenic surface exposure dating techniques, using multi-proxy paleoclimate approaches, and directing more of the research effort to the northern Canadian Cordillera.

Glacier change in Garibaldi Provincial Park, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia, since the Little Ice Age

Fluctuations of glaciers during the 20th century in Garibaldi Provincial Park, in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia, were reconstructed from historical documents, aerial photographs, and fieldwork. Over 505 km 2, or 26%, of the park, was covered by glacier ice at the beginning of the 18th century. Ice cover decreased to 297 km 2 by 1987–1988 and to 245 km 2 (49% of the early 18th century value) by 2005. Glacier recession was greatest between the 1920s and 1950s, with typical frontal retreat rates of 30 m/a. Many glaciers advanced between the 1960s and 1970s, but all glaciers retreated over the last 20 years. Times of glacier recession coincide with warm and relatively dry periods, whereas advances occurred during relatively cold periods. Rapid recession between 1925 and 1946, and since 1977, coincided with the positive phase of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), whereas glaciers advanced during its negative phase (1890–1924 and 1947–1976). The record of 20th century glacier fluctuations in Garibaldi Park is similar to that in southern Europe, South America, and New Zealand, suggesting a common, global climatic cause. We conclude that global temperature change in the 20th century explains much of the behaviour of glaciers in Garibaldi Park and elsewhere.

Improving age estimates for late Holocene glacial landforms using dendrochronology – Some examples from Garibaldi Provincial Park, British Columbia

Dating of late Holocene landforms below treeline in high mountains is commonly done using dendrochronology. Four factors can reduce the accuracy of ages obtained by dendrochronology: (1) locating the oldest living tree on a surface; (2) the method of counting the rings; (3) the age-height correction factor; and (4) ecesis, which is the time it takes trees to successfully germinate on a bare surface. A review of published studies from the western Cordillera of the Americas shows that some of these issues have not been fully addressed. Research in Garibaldi Provincial Park in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia shows that the accuracy of tree-ring ages can be improved if (1) crossdating and chronology construction, rather than simple ring counts, are done; (2) individual age-height correction factors are applied; and (3) site-specific ecesis estimates are made. While these suggestions are not always necessary to their fullest extent, researchers should at least report their methods in more detail and provide uncertainties in their age estimates that take into account age-height and ecesis corrections.

Reconstructing hydro-climatic events and glacier fluctuations over the past millennium from annually laminated sediments of Cheakamus Lake, southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia, Canada

We recovered sediment cores from Cheakamus Lake in the southern Coast Mountains, southwest British Columbia, to reconstruct late Holocene environmental conditions in the watershed. The cored sediments are inorganic, rhythmically laminated clayey silt. Radiocarbon ages and correlation of lamina thickness with the magnitude of the annual flood recorded at a nearby gauging station indicate that the laminae are varves. We discriminate seven types of varves on the basis of couplet thickness and internal structure, and compare them to annual hydrographs over the period of record. The seven varve types record summer snowmelt floods, autumn floods, mid-season floods, years with two major floods, years with three major floods, years with more than three major floods, and periods of sustained glacier runoff. Varves attributed to autumn storms and glacier runoff are dominant, exhibit serial dependence, and are most common during six periods: AD 1300–1320, 1380–1410, 1470–1500, 1710–1730, 1880–1906, and 1916–1945. In contrast, varves attributed to summer snowmelt floods are randomly distributed through time. Thickest varves occur during the decades AD 1090–1110, 1120–1170, 1210–1250, 1310–1330, 1390–1450, 1720–1780, 1860–1900, and 1920–1945. The relation between Little Ice Age glacier activity and lake sedimentation is complex, but the thickest varves coincide with times of rapid glacier retreat and periods when air temperatures were warmer than average. The results confirm the importance of sediment transfers during the summer and autumn runoff season in the British Columbia Coast Mountains.

Holocene Sedimentary Environments of the Goat Meadows Watershed, Southern Coast Mountains, British Columbia

This paper presents the results of an investigation of Holocene erosion and sedimentation in a small subalpine watershed in the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. The study involved determinations of the volume and mass of lake sediments accumulated during each of four time periods (10,510-6700 BP; 6700-6340 BP; 6340-2400 BP; and, 2400 BP to the present); analysis of physical, chemical and mineralogical properties of the sediments and palaeoenvironmental interpretations of erosion and sedimentation rates, sediment sources and organic productivity. Indications are that the paraglacial period was complete by ca. 10,000 BP and that there followed a period of low sedimentation (10,000-6700 BP); higher sedimentation rates determined for the period 6700-6340 BP may reflect accelerated rates of erosion during the warmer/drier xerothermic interval. Rates declined again during the period 6340-2400 to be followed by higher rates in the most recent period (post 2400 BP). It is hypothesised that progressively cooler and wetter conditions have activated the older weathered slope materials. Analysis of slope sediments is consistent with this hypothesis.