Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-lrblm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-01-14T19:39:23.785Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Late Quaternary megafloods from Glacial Lake Atna, Southcentral Alaska, U.S.A.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael Wiedmer ,
David R. Montgomery ,
Alan R. Gillespie  and
Harvey Greenberg
Michael Wiedmer*
Affiliation:
School of Forest Resources, College of the Environment, University of Washington, Box 352100 Seattle, WA 98195, USA
David R. Montgomery
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Alan R. Gillespie
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
Harvey Greenberg
Affiliation:
Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Current address: U.S. Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Cascadia Field Station, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.E-mail address:mwiedmer@u.washington.edu (M. Wiedmer)
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Geomorphic, stratigraphic, geotechnical, and biogeographic evidence indicate that failure of a Pleistocene ice dam between 15.5 and 26 ka generated a megaflood from Glacial Lake Atna down the Matanuska Valley. While it has long been recognized that Lake Atna occupied ⩾9000 km2 of south-central Alaska's Copper River Basin, little attention has focused on the lake's discharge locations and behaviors. Digital elevation model and geomorphic analyses suggest that progressive lowering of the lake level by decanting over spillways exposed during glacial retreat led to sequential discharges down the Matanuska, Susitna, Tok, and Copper river valleys. Lake Atna's size, ∽50 ka duration, and sequential connection to four major drainages likely made it a regionally important late Pleistocene freshwater refugium. We estimate a catastrophic Matanuska megaflood would have released 500–1400 km3 at a maximum rate of ⩾3×106 m3 s–1. Volumes for the other outlets ranged from 200 to 2600 km3 and estimated maximum discharges ranged from 0.8 to 11.3×106 m3 s–1, making Lake Atna a serial generator of some of the largest known freshwater megafloods.

Keywords

AlaskaMatanuskaKnikMegafloodOutburst floodLake AtnaRogen morainesDeGreer morainesPygmy whitefish
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 73 , Issue 3 , May 2010 , pp. 413 - 424
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

(ADF&G) Alaska Department of Fish and Game. (2009a). Alaska Freshwater Fish Inventory. http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/SARR/Surveys/index.cfm. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish.Google Scholar
(ADF&G) Alaska Department of Fish and Game. (2009b). Lake Maps Series. http://www.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/statewide/lakedata/. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish.Google Scholar
AFS (Alaska Fire Service) (1999). Historical fire perimeters. Bureau of Land Management, Alaska Fire Service.Google Scholar
Ager, T.A., Brubaker, L., (1985). Quaternary palynology and vegetational history of Alaska. Bryant, V.M., Holloway, R.G., Pollen Records of late-Quaternary North American Sediments. American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists Foundation. 353–384.Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L., (1963). Asymmetrical ripple marks and the origin of water-laid cosets of cross-strata. Liverp. Manch. Geol. J. 3, Part 2 187–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, J.R.L., (1968). Current Ripples; Their Relation to Patterns of Water and Sediment Motion. North-Holland Pub. Co., .Google Scholar
Allen, J.R.L., Collinson, J.D., (1974). The superimposition and classification of dunes formed by unidirectional aqueous flows. Sed. Geol. 12, 169–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ashley, G.M., (1990). Classification of large-scale subaqueous bedforms; a new look at an old problem. J. Sed. Res. 60, 1 161–172.Google Scholar
Baker, V.R., (1978). Large-scale erosional and depositional features of the Channeled Scabland. Baker, V.R., Nummedal, D., The Channeled Scabland: A Guide to the Geomorphology of the Columbia Basin, Washington. Prepared for the Comparative Planetary Geology Field Conference held in the Columbia Basin, June 5"8, . Planetary Geology Program, Office of Space Science. NASA, 81–115.Google Scholar
Baker, V.R., Benito, G., Rudoy, A.N., (1993). Paleohydrology of Late Pleistocene superflooding, Altay Mountains, Siberia. Science 259, 5093 348–350.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barton, H, Barrett, M., (1973). Cook Inlet inventory report. Cook Inlet data report no. 73-6. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Commercial Fisheries.Google Scholar
Benito, G., O'Connor, J.E., (2003). Number and size of last-glacial Missoula floods in the Columbia River valley between the Pasco Basin, Washington, and Portland, Oregon. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 115, 5 624–638.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bill, D.L., Namtvedt, T.B., Davis, A.S., (1972). Cook Inlet lake and stream inventory,. Progress report Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Commercial Fisheries, .Google Scholar
Bird, F.H., Roberson, K., (1979). Pygmy whitefish, Prosopium coulteri, in three lakes of the Copper River System in Alaska. J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 36, 468–470.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bjerrum, L., (1954). Geotechnical properties of Norwegian marine clays. Geotechnique 4, 49–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bretz, J.H., (1923). The channeled scablands of the Columbia Plateau. J. Geol. 31, 8 617–649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bretz, J.H., Smith, H.T.U., Neff, G.E., (1956). Channeled scabland of Washington; new data and interpretations. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 67, 957–1049.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briner, J.P., (2005). Do long subglacial bedforms indicate fast ice flow? A case study from New York. Abstr. Programs, Geol. Soc. Am. 37, 22.Google Scholar
Buell, , (1991). Alaska Freshwater Fish Inventory report. : Retrieved 08/13/2009 from http://gis.sf.adfg.state.ak.us/fishsurv_IMS/Reports/rptStation.cfm?sid=PEB91CH007. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish.Google Scholar
Carling, P.A., (1989). Hydrodynamic models of boulder berm deposition. Geomorphology 2, 319–340.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, M.A., (1981). Influence of porefluid salinity on instability of sensitive marine clays; a new approach to an old problem. Earth Surf. Process. Land. 6, 499–515.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chereshnev, I.A., Skopets, M.B., (1992). A new record of the pygmy whitefish, Prosopium coulteri, from the Amguem River Basin, (Chukotski Peninsula). J. Ichthyol. 32, 4 46–55.Google Scholar
Danzeglocke, U, J"ris, O, Weninger, , (2010). CalPal-2007online. http://www.calpal-online.de/, accessed 2010-03-09.Google Scholar
Eigenmann, C.H., Eigenmann, R.S., (1892). New fishes from western Canada. Am. Nat. 26, 311 961–964.Google Scholar
Eschmeyer, P.H., Bailey, R.M., (1955). The pygmy whitefish, Coregonus coulteri, in Lake Superior. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 84, 161–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferrians, O.J., (1984). Pleistocene glacial history of the northeastern Copper River Basin, Alaska. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Programs 16, 282.Google Scholar
Ferrians, O.J. Jr., Schmoll, H.R., (1957). Extensive proglacial lake of Wisconsin age in the Copper River Basin, Alaska. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 68, 12, Part 2 1726.Google Scholar
Fisher, T.G., Shaw, J., (1992). A depositional model for Rogen moraine, with examples from the Avalon Peninsula, Newfoundland. Can. J. Earth Sci. 29, 4 669–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Froese, R, Pauly, , (2009). FishBase. World Wide Web electronic publication www.fishbase.org (accessed 04/2009).Google Scholar
Gupta, S., Collier, J.S., Palmer-Felgate, A., Potter, G., (2007). Catastrophic flooding origin of shelf valley systems in the English Channel. Nature 448, 7151 342–345.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hallock, M., Mongillo, P.E., (1998). Washington State Status Report for the Pygmy Whitefish. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, .Google Scholar
Heard, W.R., Hartman, W.L., (1966). Pygmy whitefish Prosopium coulteri in the Naknek River system of southwest Alaska. Fish. Bull. Fish Wildl. Serv. 65, 555–579.Google Scholar
Herget, J., (2005). Reconstruction of Pleistocene ice-dammed lake outburst floods in the Altai Mountains, Siberia. Spec. Pap. Geol. Soc. Am. 386, .Google Scholar
Kerr, M., Eyles, N., (2007). Origin of drumlins on the floor of Lake Ontario and in upper New York State. Sed. Geol. 193, 7–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komar, P.D., (1983). Shapes of streamlined islands on Earth and Mars: experiments and analyses of the minimum-drag form. Geology 11, 651–654.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komatsu, G., Arzhannikov, S.G., Gillespie, A.R., Burke, R.M., Miyamoto, H., Baker, V.R., (2009). Quaternary paleolake formation and cataclysmic flooding along the upper Yenisei River. Geomorphology 104, 143–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kopczynski, E., (2008). Satellite predictions of subglacial hydrology and final collapse of twinned terrestrial"tidewater glaciers. Anchorage lowland, Alaska. Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Lehigh University, .Google Scholar
Kostaschuk, R., Villard, P., (1996). Flow and sediment transport over large subaqueous dunes: Fraser River, Canada. Sedimentology 43, 5 849–863.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambe, T.W., (1958). The structure of compacted clay. Proc. Am. Soc. Civil Eng. 84, SM2 1–34.Google Scholar
Lindsey, C.C., Franzin, W.G., (1972). New complexities in zoogeography and taxonomy of pygmy whitefish (Prosopium coulteri). J. Fish. Res. Board Can. 29, 12 1772–1775.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lonzarich, , (1992). The University of Washington Burke Museum Fish Collection online search engine at. : http://biology.burke.washington.edu/ichthyology/database/search.php.Google Scholar
Lundqvist, J., (1989). Rogen (ribbed) moraine"identification and possible origin. Sed. Geol. 62, 2"4 281–292.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mackay, C., (2000). Status of the pygmy whitefish (Prosopium coulteri) in Alberta. Alberta Environment, Fisheries and Wildlife Management Division, and Alberta Conservation Association, Wildlife Status Report No. 27.Google Scholar
Manley, W.F., (2002). Alaska paleoglacier atlas. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Programs 34, 6 548.Google Scholar
Mathisen, O.A., Sands, N.J., (1999). Ecosystem modeling of Becherof Lake, a sockeye salmon nursery lake in Southwestern Alaska. Ecosystem Approaches for Fisheries Management: Proceedings of the Symposium on Ecosystem Considerations in Fisheries Management, September 30"October 3, 1998, Anchorage, Alaska University of Alaska Sea Grant Program, 685–703.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mayhood, W., (1992). A preliminary assessment of the native fish stocks of Jasper National Park; Part 3 of a Fish Management Plan for Jasper National Park. Canadian Parks Service, Jasper National Park, .Google Scholar
McCart, P., (1970). Evidence for the existence of sibling species of pygmy whitefish (Prosopium coulteri) in three Alaskan lakes. Lindsey, C.C., Woods, C.S., Biology of Coregonid Fishes University of Manitoba Press, 81–98.Google Scholar
Montgomery, D.R., Hallet, B., Yuping, L., Finnegan, N., Anders, A., Gillespie, A., Greenberg, H.M., (2004). Evidence for Holocene megafloods down the Tsangpo River gorge, southeastern Tibet. Quatern. Res. 62, 201–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myers, G.S., (1932). A New Whitefish, Prosopium snyderi, from Crescent Lake, Washington. Copeia 1932, 2 62–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, J.S., Shelast, B., (1998). Pygmy whitefish in the Athabasca River near Whitecourt, Alberta. Ab Nat. 28, 3 59–60.Google Scholar
Nichols, D.R., (1965). Glacial history of the Copper River Basin. P"w", T.L., International Association for Quaternary Research, VIIth Congress Nebraska Academy of Sciences, 360.Google Scholar
Nichols, R, Yehle, A., (1969). Engineering geologic map of the southeastern Copper River Basin. Alaska: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations 524, 1 sheet, scale 1:125,000. USGS.Google Scholar
O'Connor, J.E., (1993). Hydrology, hydraulics, and geomorphology of the Bonneville flood. Geol. Soc. Am. Spec. Pap. 274, 1–83.Google Scholar
O'Connor, J.E., Baker, V.R., (1992). Magnitudes and implications of peak discharges from glacial Lake Missoula. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 104, 3 267–279.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Connor, J.E., Grant, G.E., Costa, J.E., (2002). The geology and geography of floods. House, P.K., Webb, R.H., Baker, V.R., Levish, D.R., Ancient Floods, Modern Hazards: Principals and Application of Paleoflood Hydrology. American Geophysical Union Water Science and Application Series no. 5. 359–385.Google Scholar
Plumb, P., (2006). Ecological factors influencing fish distribution in a large subarctic lake system. M.S. thesis, University of Alaska, .Google Scholar
Poe, H, Cortner, D, Mathisen, A., (1976). Monitoring of the Kvichak spawning and nursery areas in 1975; Final Report. Contract No. 2131, Fisheries Research Institute, College of Fisheries, University of Washington, .Google Scholar
R Development Core Team(2009). R: A Language and Environment for Statistical Computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing http://www.R-project.org.Google Scholar
R & M Consultants, Inc.(1981). Terrain unit maps, photointerpretation, subtask 5.02. Report on Susitna Hydroelectric Project, Alaska Power Authority 1980"81, Geotechnical Report v. 2, Appendix J, Final Draft Acres Inc., .Google Scholar
Rankin, , (2004). Phylogenetic and ecological relationship between giant pygmy whitefish (Prosopium spp.) and pygmy whitefish (Prosopium coulteri) in north-central British Columbia. M.S. thesis, The University of Northern British Columbia, .Google Scholar
Reger, R.D., Hubbard, T.D., (2009). Evidence for Late Wisconsinan outburst floods in the Tok-Tanacross Basin, Upper Tanana River valley, east-central Alaska. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Programs 41, 7 637.Google Scholar
Reger, R.D., Updike, R.G., (1983). Physiographic map and field-trip localities of the Upper Cook Inlet area, Alaska. Pe?we?, T.L., Reger, R.D., Guidebook to Permafrost and Quaternary Geology along the Richardson and Glenn Highways Between Fairbanks and Anchorage, Alaska. Fourth International Conference on Permafrost. American Geophysical Union, .Google Scholar
Reger, R.D., Combellick, R.A., Brigham-Grette, J., (1995). Late-Wisconsin events in the Upper Cook Inlet region, Southcentral Alaska. Combellick, R.A., Tannian, F., Short Notes on Alaska Geology 1995: Professional Report 117 Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, 33–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reger, D, Pinney, S, Burke, M, Wiltse, A., (1996). Catalog and initial analyses of geologic data related to Middle to Late Quaternary deposits. Cook Inlet region, Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Report of Investigation 95-6, Fairbanks, AK.Google Scholar
Reger, R.D., Sturmann, A.G., Berg, E.E., Burns, P.A.C., (2008). A guide to the late Quaternary history of northern and western Kenai Peninsula, Alaska; Guidebook 8. Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys, .Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J., (2004). IntCal04 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration, 0"26 cal kyr BP. Radiocarbon 46, 3 1029–1058.Google Scholar
Roberson, K., Bird, F.H., Fridgen, P.J., Zorich, R.G., (1978). Copper River-Prince William Sound sockeye salmon catalog and inventory. Annual Completion Report AFC-52-3 Alaska Department of Fish and Game, .Google Scholar
Rubin, M., Alexander, C., (1960). U.S. Geological Survey radiocarbon dates V. Radiocarbon 2, 129–185.Google Scholar
Rudoy, A.N., (2002). Glacier-dammed lakes and geological work of glacial superfloods in the Late Pleistocene, Southern Siberia, Altai Mountains. Quatern. Int. 87, 119–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rudoy, A.N., Baker, V.R., (1993). Sedimentary effects of cataclysmic Late Pleistocene glacial outburst flooding, Altay Mountains, Siberia. Sed. Geol. 85, 53–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Russell, R., (1980). A fisheries inventory of waters in the Lake Clark National Monument Area. Alaska Department of Fish and Game, Division of Sport Fish, King Salmon, AK.Google Scholar
Schmoll, H.R., (1984). Late Pleistocene morainal and glaciolacustrine geology in the Upper Copper River-Mentasta Pass area, Alaska. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Programs 16, 5 332.Google Scholar
Schmoll, H.R., Yehle, L.A., Updike, R.G., (1999). Summary of Quaternary geology of the Municipality of Anchorage, Alaska. Quatern. Int. 60, 1 3–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schrader, C., (1900). A reconnaissance of a part of Prince William Sound and the Copper River district, Alaska. In: U. S. Geological Survey 20th Annual Report, 1898"99, Pt. VII-Exploration in Alaska in 1898. Department of the Interior S. Geological Survey, Government Printing Office, 341 423.Google Scholar
Smith, D., (2003). Late Pleistocene glacial Lakes McConnell and Mackenzie and the northwest outlet flood from glacial Lake Agassiz; their paleo environments in northeast Alberta and the Northwest Territories. Reservoir 30, 14.Google Scholar
Teller, J.T., Leverington, D.W., Mann, J.D., (2002). Freshwater outbursts to the oceans from glacial Lake Agassiz and their role in climate change during the last deglaciation. Quatern. Sci. Rev. 21, 8"9 879–887.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorson, R.M., (1989). Late Quaternary paleofloods along the Porcupine River, Alaska: implications for regional correlation. Carter, L.D., Hamilton, T.D., Galloway, J.P., Late Cenozoic history of the Interior Basins of Alaska and the Yukon: U. S. Geological Survey Circular 1026 U. S. Government Printing Office, 51–54.Google Scholar
Thorson, R.M., Dixon, E.J., Smith, G.S., Batten, A.R., (1981). Interstadial proboscidean from south-central Alaska: implications for biogeography, geology, and archeology. Quatern. Res. 16, 3 404–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torrance, J.K., (1979). Post-depositional changes in the pore-water chemistry of the sensitive marine clays of the Ottawa area, eastern Canada. Eng. Geol. 14, 135–147.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Trainer, F.W., (1953). Preliminary Report on the Geology and Ground-Water Resources of the Matanuska Valley Agricultural Area. U.S. Geological Survey Circular, Alaska.2681 sheet.Google Scholar
Updike, R.G., Carpenter, B.A., (1986). Engineering Geology of the Government Hill Area, Anchorage. Bulletin, Alaska.1588USGS.Google Scholar
Updike, G, Ulery, A., (1986). Engineering-geologic map of southwest Anchorage. Alaska: Alaska Division of Geological & Geophysical Surveys Professional Report 89, 1 sheet, scale 1:15, 840.Google Scholar
Updike, R.G., Olsen, H.W., Schmoll, H.R., Kharaka, Y.K., Stokoe, K.H. II, (1988). Geologic and geotechnical conditions adjacent to the Turnagain Heights Landslide, Anchorage. Bulletin, Alaska.1817USGS.Google Scholar
Waitt, R.B., Denlinger, R.P., O'Connor, J.E., (2009). Many monstrous Missoula floods down Channeled Scabland and Columbia Valley. Geol. Soc. Am. Field Guide 15, 775–844.Google Scholar
Walker, K.N., Yu, Z., Evenson, E.B., (2005). Abrupt change in atmospheric circulation in the early Holocene inferred from a calcite oxygen-isotope record from a marl lake in south-central Alaska. Geol. Soc. Am. Abstr. Programs 37, 1 24.Google Scholar
Waythomas, C.F., Walder, J.S., McGimsey, R.G., Neal, C.A., (1996). A catastrophic flood caused by drainage of a caldera lake at Aniakchak Volcano, Alaska, and implications for volcanic hazards assessment. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 108, 7 861–871.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weisel, G.F., Hanzel, D.A., Newell, R.L., (1973). Pygmy whitefish, Prosopium coulteri, in western Montana. Fish. Bull. 71, 2 587–596.Google Scholar
Williams, J.R., (1986). New radiocarbon dates from the Matanuska Glacier bog section. Bartsch-Winkler, S.B., Reed, K.M., Geologic Studies in Alaska by the U. S. Geological Survey During 1985. Circular. vol. 978, USGS, 85–88.Google Scholar
Williams, J.R., (1989). A working glacial chronology for the western Copper River Basin, Alaska. Carter, L.D., Hamilton, T.D., Galloway, J.P., Late Cenozoic History of the Interior Basins of Alaska and the Yukon. Circular. vol. 1026, USGS, 81–85.Google Scholar
Williams, J.R., Ferrians, O.J. Jr., (1961). Late Wisconsin and recent history of the Matanuska Glacier, Alaska. Arctic 14, 2 82–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williams, R, Galloway, P., (1986). Map of western Copper River Basin, Alaska, showing lake sediments and shorelines, glacial moraines, and location of stratigraphic sections and radiocarbon-dated samples. Open-File Report 86-390, 30 p., 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. USGS.Google Scholar
Winkler, R., (1992). Geologic map and summary geochronology of the Anchorage 1" x 3" quadrangle. southern Alaska: Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map I-2283, 1 sheet, scale 1:250,000. USGS.Google Scholar
Woodley, A., (1996). An investigation of pore water in Champlain Sea deposits at Mer Bleue. Ottawa, Canada. M.S. thesis, Carleton University, .Google Scholar
Wynne-Edwards, V.C., (1947). The Yukon Territory. Bull. Fish. Res. Board Can. 72, 6–20.Google Scholar
Zemlak, R.J., McPhail, J.D., (2006). The biology of pygmy whitefish, Prosopium coulterii, in a closed sub-boreal lake: spatial distribution and diel movements. Environ. Biol. Fish. 76, 2"4 317–327.CrossRefGoogle Scholar