Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-8bhkd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-13T03:23:52.979Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Nature and origin of a Pleistocene-age massive ground-ice body exposed in the Chapman Lake moraine Complex, central Yukon Territory, Canada

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Denis Lacelle ,
Bernard Lauriol ,
Ian D. Clark ,
Raphaelle Cardyn  and
Christian Zdanowicz
Denis Lacelle*
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, 140 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5
Bernard Lauriol
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Ottawa, 60 University St., Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5
Ian D. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, 140 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5
Raphaelle Cardyn
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Ottawa, 140 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, ON, Canada K1N 6N5
Christian Zdanowicz
Affiliation:
National Glaciology Programme, Geological Survey of Canada (NRCan), 601 Booth St., Ottawa, ON, Canada K1A 0E8
*
*Corresponding author. Current address: Canadian Space Agency, 6767 route de l'aéroport, St-Hubert, QC, Canada J3Y 8Y9.E-mail addresses:denis.lacelle@space.gc.ca (D. Lacelle), blauriol@uottawa.ca (B. Lauriol), idclark@uottawa.ca (I.D. Clark), rcardyn@isotrace.co.nz (R. Cardyn), czdanowi@nrcan.gc.ca (C. Zdanowicz).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

A massive ground-ice body was found exposed in the headwall of a thaw flow developed within the Chapman Lake terminal moraine complex on the Blackstone Plateau (Ogilvie Mountains, central Yukon Territory), which is contemporaneous to the Reid glaciation. Based on visible cryostructures in the 4-m-high headwall, two units were identified: massive ground ice, overlain sharply by 2 m of icy diamicton. The nature and origin of the Chapman Lake massive ground ice was determined using cryostratigraphy, petrography, stable O–H isotopes and the molar concentration of occluded gases (CO2, O2, N2 and Ar) entrapped in the ice, a new technique in the field of periglacial geomorphology that allows to distinguish between glacial and non-glacial intrasedimental ice. Collectively, the results indicate that the Chapman Lake massive ground ice formed by firn densification with limited melting–refreezing and underwent deformation near its margin. Given that the massive ground-ice body consists of relict glacier ice, it suggests that permafrost persisted, at least locally, on plateau areas in the central Yukon Territory since the middle Pleistocene. In addition, the d value of Chapman Lake relict glacier ice suggests that the ice covering the area during the Reid glaciation originated from a local alpine glaciation in the Ogilvie Mountains.

Keywords

Massive ground ice bodyOxygen isotopesMolar gas ratiosYukon TerritoryMiddle PleistocenePaleo-climateRelict permafrost
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 68 , Issue 2 , September 2007 , pp. 249 - 260
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

Beirle, B.D. (2002). Late Quaternary glaciation in the Northern Ogilvie Mountains: revised correlations and implications for the stratigraphic record. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 39, 1709–1717.Google Scholar
Berger, G.W., Pewe, T.L., Westgate, J.A., and Preece, S.J. (1996). Age of Sheep Creek tephra (Pleistocene) in central Alaska from thermoluminescence dating of bracketing loess. Quaternary Research 45, 263–270.Google Scholar
Bostock, H.S. (1966). Notes on glaciation in central Yukon Territory. Geological Survey of Canada Paper 65-36.Google Scholar
Briner, J.P., Kaufman, D.S., Manley, W.F., Finkel, R.C., and Caffee, M.W. (2005). Cosmogenic exposure dating of late Pleistocene moraine stabilization in Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin 117, 1108–1120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burn, C.R. (1994). Permafrost, tectonics and past and future regional climate change, Yukon and adjacent Northwest Territories. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 31, 182–191.Google Scholar
Burn, C.R., Michel, F.A., and Smith, M.W. (1986). Stratigraphic, isotopic, and mineralogical evidence for an early Holocene thaw unconformity at Mayo, Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 23, 794–803.Google Scholar
Cardyn, R., Clark, I.D., Lacelle, D., Lauriol, B., Zdanowicz, C.M., and Calmels, F. (2007-this issue). )Molar gas ratios of air entrapped in ice: a new tool to determine the nature and origin of relict massive ground-ice bodies in permafrost. Quaternary Research 68, 239–248.Google Scholar
Clark, I.D., and Lauriol, B. (1997). Aufeis of the Firth River Basin, Northern Yukon, Canada: Insights into Permafrost Hydrogeology and Karst. Arctic and Alpine Research 29, 240–252.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Craig, H. (1961). Isotopic variations in meteoric waters. Science 133, 1702–1703.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dansgaard, W. (1964). Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus 16, 436–468.Google Scholar
Duk-Rodkin, A. (1996). Surficial geology,. Dawson, Yukon Territory, 1:250,000. Geological Survey of Canada,, Open file 3288.Google Scholar
Duk-Rodkin, A., and Hughes, O.L. (1992). Pleistocene montane glaciations in the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire 46, 69–83.Google Scholar
Duk-Rodkin, A., Barendregt, R.W., Tarnocai, C., and Phillips, F.M. (1996). Late Tertiary to late Quaternary record in the Mackenzie Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada; stratigraphy, paleosols, paleomagnetism and chlorine-36. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 33, 875–895.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duk-Rodkin, A., Barendregt, R.W., Froese, D.G., Weber, F., Enkin, R., Smith, I.R., Zazula, G.D., Waters, P., and Klassen, R. (2004). Timing and extent of Plio-Pleistocene glaciations in north-western and east-central Alaska.Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L. Quaternary Glaciations—Extent and Chronology, Part II: North America Elsevier, The Netherland.313–345.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., and Savelle, J.M. (2000). Major end moraines of Younger Dryas age on Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic: implications for paleoclimate and for formation of hummocky moraine. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 37, 601–619.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Andrews, J.T., Clark, P.U., England, J.H., Miller, G.H., Shaw, J., and Veillette, J. (2002). The Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets during the last glacial maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, 9–31.Google Scholar
(2004). Environment Canada, 2004. Canadian Climate Normals 1971–2001. Canada Atmospheric Environment Service, Minister of Supply and Services Canada,.Ottawa, ON, Canada..Google Scholar
Fisher, D.A. (1990). A zonally averaged stable isotope model coupled to a regional variable elevation stable isotope model. Annals of Glaciology 14, 65–71.Google Scholar
Fisher, D.A., Wake, C., Kreutz, K., Yalcin, K., Steig, E., Mayewski, P., Anderson, L., Zheng, J., Rupper, S., Zdanowicz, C., Demuth, M., Waszkiewicz, M., Dahl-Jensen, D., Goto-Azuma, K., Bourgeois, J.B., Koerner, R.M., Sekerka, J., Osterberg, E., Abbott, M.B., Finney, B.P., and Burns, S.J. (2004). Stable isotope records from Mount Logan and Eclipse ice cores and nearby Jellybean Lake; Water cycle of the north Pacific over 2000 years and over 5 vertical kilometers; sudden shifts and tropical connections. Geographie Physique et Quaternaire 58, 337–352.Google Scholar
French, H.M., and Harry, D.G. (1990). Observation on buried glacier ice and massive segregated ice, Western Arctic Coast, Canada. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 1, 31–43.Google Scholar
French, H.M., and Pollard, W.H. (1986). Ground-ice investigations, Klondike District, Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 23, 550–560.Google Scholar
Froese, D.G., Barendregt, R.W., Enkin, R.J., and Baker, J. (2000). Paleomagnetic evidence for multiple late Pliocene—early Pleistocene glaciations in the Klondike area, Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 37, 863–877.Google Scholar
Froese, D.G., Westgate, J.A., Preece, S.J., Mayer, B., Zazula, G.D., and Reyes, A.V. (2004). Relict middle Pleistocene permafrost in central Yukon Territory. 34th Annual International Arctic Workshop, March 2004, Institute of Arctic & Alpine Research, Boulder, Colorado, U.S.A..64–65.Google Scholar
Green, L.H. (1972). Geology of Nash Creek, Larsen Creek, and Dawson map areas.. Geological Survey of Canada,, Memoir 364, 157 p.Google Scholar
Harris, S.A. (2005). Thermal history of the Arctic Ocean environs adjacent to North America during the last 3.5 Ma and a possible mechanism for the cause of the cold events (major glaciations and permafrost events). Progress in Physical Geography 29, 218–237.Google Scholar
Heginbottom, J.A., Dubreil, M.A., and Harker, P.T. (1995). Canada Permafrost Map, 1:5,000,000, scale.. National Atlas of Canada, 5th edition,Government of Canada,, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Holdsworth, G., and Krouse, R.H. (2002). Altitudinal variation of the stable isotopes of snow in region of high relief. Journal of Glaciology 48, 31–41.Google Scholar
Hughes, O.L., Harington, C.R., Schweger, C., Matthews, J.V. Jr.(1987). Stop 15: Ash Bend Section.Morison, S.R., Smith, C.A.S. Guidebook for field excursion A20, Quaternary research in Yukon. 12th International Quaternary Congress (INQUA), National Research Council of Canada, Ottawa 50–53.Google Scholar
Hughes, O.L., Rutter, N.W., and Clague, J.J. (1989). Yukon Territory (Quaternary stratigraphy and history, Cordilleran Ice Sheet).Fulton, R.J. Chapter 1 of Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland Geological Survey of Canada, Geology of Canada vol. 1, 58–62.Google Scholar
Huscroft, C.A., Ward, B.C., Barendregt, R.W., Jackson, L.E. Jr., and Opdyke, N.D. (2004). Pleistocene volcanic damming of Yukon River and the maximum age of the Reid Glaciation, west-central Yukon. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 41, 151–164.Google Scholar
(2004). IAEA/WMO, 2004. Global Network of Isotopes in Precipitation.. The GNIP Database.Accessible at: http://isohis.iaea.org..Google Scholar
Jackson, L.E. Jr., Ward, B., Duk-Rokin, A., and Hughes, O.L. (1991). The last Cordilleran Ice Sheet in southern Yukon Territory. Géographie Physique et Quaternaire 45, 341–354.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, P.G. (1997). The basal ice layer of glaciers and ice sheets. Quaternary Science Reviews 16, 975–993.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knight, P.G., Patterson, C.J., Waller, R.I., Jones, A.P., and Robinson, Z.P. (2000). Preservation of basal-ice sediment texture in ice-sheet moraines. Quaternary Science Reviews 19, 1255–1258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kotler, E., and Burn, C.R. (2000). Cryostratigraphy of the Klondike “muck” deposits, west-central Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 37, 849–861.Google Scholar
Lacelle, D., Bjornson, J., Lauriol, B., Clark, I.D., and Troutet, Y. (2004). Segregated-intrusive ice of subglacial meltwater origin in retrogressive thaw flow headwalls, Richardson Mountains, N.W.T., Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews 23, 681–696.Google Scholar
Langway Jr, C.C. (1958). Ice fabrics and the universal stage.. US Army Snow Ice and Permafrost Research Establishment. Technical Report 62, 16 pp.Google Scholar
Lauriol, B., Duchesne, C., and Clark, I.D. (1995). Systématique du remplissage en eau des fentes de gel: les résultats d'une étude oxygene-18 et deutérium. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 6, 47–55.Google Scholar
Lauriol, B., Ford, D., Cinq-Mars, J., and Morris, W.A. (1997). The chronology of speleothem deposition in northern Yukon and its relationships to permafrost. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 34, 902–911.Google Scholar
Lorrain, R.D., and Demeur, P. (1985). Isotopic evidence for relic Pleistocene glacier ice on Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Arctic and Alpine Research 17, 89–98.Google Scholar
Mackay, J.R. (1966). Segregated epigenetic ice and slumps in permafrost, Mackenzie Delta area, N.W.T.. Geographical Bulletin 8, 59–80.Google Scholar
Mackay, J.R. (1971). The origin of massive ice beds in permafrost, western Arctic Coast, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 8, 397–422.Google Scholar
Mackay, J.R., and Dallimore, S.R. (1992). Massive ice of the Tuktoyaktuk area, western Arctic coast, Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 29, 1235–1249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinson, D.G., Pisias, N.G., Hays, J.D., Imbrie, J., Moore, T.C. Jr., and Shackleton, N.J. (1987). Age dating and the orbital theory of ice ages: development of a high-resolution 0 to 300,000 years chronostratigraphy. Quaternary Research 27, 1–29.Google Scholar
Matthews, J.V., Schweger, C.E., and Hughes, O.L. (1990). Plant and insect fossils from the Mayo Indian Village Section (central Yukon): new data on middle Wisconsinan environments and glaciations. Géographie physique et Quaternaire 44, 15–26.Google Scholar
Meyer, H., Dereviagin, A., Siegert, C., Schirrmeister, L., and Hubberten, H.-W. (2002). Paleoclimate reconstruction on Big Lyakhovsky Island, north Siberia-Hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in ice wedges. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 13, 91–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Michel, F.A. (1982). Isotope investigations of permafrost waters in northern Canada. Unpublished PhD thesis,. University of Waterloo,, Waterloo, Canada.Google Scholar
Michel, F.A. (1983). Isotope variations in permafrost waters along the Dempster Highway pipeline corridor. Proceeding, 4th International Conference on Permafrost, Fairbanks, Alaska vol. 1, National Academy Press, Washington DC, USA.843–848.Google Scholar
Moorman, B.J., Michel, F.A., and Wilson, A.T. (1998). The development of tabular massive ground ice at Peninsula Points, N.W.T., Canada. Proceeding, 7th International Conference on Permafrost, Yellowknife, Canada. Collection Nordicana vol. 55, 757–762.Google Scholar
Murton, J.B., and French, H.M. (1994). Cryostructures in permafrost, Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands, western Arctic Canada. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 31, 737–747.Google Scholar
Murton, J.B., Waller, R.I., Hart, J.K., Whiteman, C.A., Pollard, W.H., and Clark, I.D. (2004). Stratigraphy and glaciotectonic structures of permafrost deformed beneath the northwest margin of the Laurentide ice sheet, Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands, Canada. Journal of Glaciology 50, 399–412.Google Scholar
Murton, J.B., Whiteman, C.A., Waller, R.I., Pollard, W.H., Clark, I.D., and Dallimore, S.R. (2005). Basal ice facies and supraglacial melt-out till of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, Tuktoyaktuk Coastlands, western Arctic Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, 681–708.Google Scholar
Rampton, V.N. (1988). Origin of massive ground ice on Tuktoyaktuk peninsula, Northwest Territories, Canada: a review of stratigraphic and geomorphic evidence. Proceedings, 5th International Conference on Permafrost, August 1988, Trondheim, Norway.850–855.Google Scholar
Rampton, V.N. (2001). Major end moraines of Younger Dryas age on Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island, Canadian Arctic: implications for paleoclimate and for formation of hummocky moraine: discussion. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 38, 1003–1006.Google Scholar
Schumskii, P.A. (1964). Principles of Structural Glaciology, The Petrography of Fresh-Water Ice as a Method of Glaciological Investigation. Dover Publications, New York, NY, USA.497 p.Google Scholar
Sharpe, D.R. (1992). Quaternary geology of Wollaston Peninsula, Victoria Island, Northwest Territories.. Geological Survey of Canada,, Memoir 434.. 84 pp.Google Scholar
Smith, S.L., and Burgess, M.M. (2000). Ground temperature database for northern Canada.. Geological Survey of Canada,, Open File report 3954.Google Scholar
St-Onge, D., and McMartin, I. (1995). Quaternary geology of the Inman River area, Northwest Territories. Geological Survey of Canada, Bulletin vol. 446, 59 pp.Google Scholar
Tarnocai, C. (1987). Quaternary soils.Morison, S.R., Smith, C.A.S Guidebook to Quaternary research in the YukonInternational Union for Quaternary Research, XII Congress, August 1987, Ottawa, Canada16–21.Google Scholar
Vernon, O.L., Hughes, (1966). Surficial geology, Dawson, Larsen Creek and Nash Creek map-areas.. Geological Survey of Canada,, Bulletin 136,.25 pp.Google Scholar
Vogan, N.W., Kreutz, K.J., Wake, C.P., Zdanowicz, C.M., Copland, L., Fisher, D., Osterberg, E., Wanamaker, A., and Yalcin, K. (2006). Meteorological snow chemistry relationships at Divide site, St-Elias Mountains, Yukon Territory. Abstract AGU.Google Scholar
Westgate, J.A., Preece, S.J., Froese, D.G., Pearce, N.J.G., Roberts, N.G., Demuro, D., Hart, W.K., Perkins, W.in press. Changing ideas on the identity and stratigraphic significance of the Sheep Creek tephra beds in Alaska and the Yukon Territory, northwestern North America.. Quaternary International..Google Scholar
Wolfe, S.A., Kotler, E., and Dallimore, S.R. (2001). Surficial characteristics and the distribution of thaw landforms (1970 to 1999), Shingle Point to Kay Point, Yukon Territory.. Geological Survey of Canada, Open File 4115, 18 pp.Google Scholar