A Vanishing Landscape: Current Trends for the Glaciers of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington, Usa

Beason, Scott R.; Kenyon, Taylor; Jost, Robert P.

doi:10.1130/abs/2022am-381984

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Twenty-eight named glaciers extend partway down the flanks of the mountain and have a total area of about 75 km 2 as of 2021 (Beason et al, 2022). Additionally, the volcano is spotted with dozens of unnamed permanent ice patches and snowfields (Beason et al, 2022). The present retracted state of glaciers exposes extensive lateral-moraine complexes with proximal flanks sloping up to 60°, and to heights locally exceeding 100 m (Mills, 1978).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Glacier fluctuation chronology since the latest Pleistocene at Mount Rainier, Washington, USA

Samolczyk,

Osborn,

Menounos

et al. 2024

Quat. res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Large stratovolcanoes in the Cascade Range have high equilibrium-line altitudes that support glaciers whose Holocene and latest Pleistocene advances are amenable to dating. Glacier advances produced datable stratigraphic sequences in lateral moraines, which complement dating of end moraines. New mapping of glacial deposits on Mount Rainier using LIDAR and field observations supports a single latest Pleistocene or early Holocene advance. Rainier R tephra overlies deposits from this advance and could be as old as >11.6 ka; the advance could be of Younger Dryas age. Radiocarbon ages on wood interbedded between tills in the lateral moraines of Nisqually, Carbon, and Emmons glaciers and the South Tahoma glacier forefield suggest glacier advances between 200 and 550 CE, correlative with the First Millennium Advance in western Canada, and during the Little Ice Age (LIA) beginning as early as 1300 CE. These results resolve previous contradictory interpretations of Mount Rainier's glacial history and indicate that the original proposal of a single pre-Neoglacial cirque advance is correct, in contrast to a later interpretation of two advances of pre- and post-Younger Dryas age, respectively. Meanwhile, the occurrence of the pre-LIA Burroughs Mountain Advance, interpreted in previous work as occurring 3–2.5 ka, is questionable based on inherently ambiguous interpretations of tephra distribution.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%