Western Canadian glaciers advance in concert with climate change circa 4.2 ka

Menounos, Brian; Clague, John J.; Osborn, Gerald; Luckman, Brian H.; Lakeman, Thomas R.; Minkus, Ryan

doi:10.1029/2008gl033172

Cited by 55 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…yr BP (Menounos et al, 2008;Ryder and Thomson, 1986). There is limited detrital and in situ evidence suggesting that glaciers may have repeatedly advanced into living forests in the southern Coast Mountains over this time (Koch et al, 2007b;Koehler and Smith, 2011;Mathews, 1951;Osborn et al, 2007).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Mid-Holocene glacier expansion between 7500 and 4000 cal. yr BP in the British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

et al. 2012

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The mid-Holocene behaviour of five glaciers in the British Columbia Coast Mountains was reconstructed from radiocarbon ages and stratigraphic analysis. Subfossil wood evidence at Canoe, Fyles, Jacobsen, Tchaikazan and Icemaker glaciers suggests these glaciers were expanding into standing forests prior to 6630, 4900 and 4200 cal. yr BP. Stratigraphically constrained woody detritus at Fyles Glacier records the progradational history of a Gilbert-type delta forming in response to glacial expansion between 7020 and 5470 cal. yr BP. This research provides the first evidence for mid-Holocene glacial expansion in the central and northern British Columbia Coast Mountains. Proxy records describing mid-Holocene climates in the British Columbia Coast Mountains indicate a trend towards slightly cooler and possibly wetter conditions than present. Glacial expansion occurring between 7500 and 4000 cal. yr BP has regional correlatives, suggesting coherent broad-scale climate forcing mechanisms influenced glacial mass balance at this time.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Mid-Holocene glacier expansion between 7500 and 4000 cal. yr BP in the British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

et al. 2012

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“…Hence, there is no record of a substantial treeline drop around 2200 BC at MWA. The 2209 BC treeline decline at SHP corresponds temporally to the apparent 4.2-3.9 ka BP abrupt climate change event indicated in many widely distributed proxy records (Zhang and Hebda 2005;Booth et al 2006;Fischer et al 2008;Menounos et al 2008;Baker et al 2009). This ''event'' may have been a major contributing factor for massive old-world cultural change (Stanley et al 2003;An et al 2005;Staubwasser and Weiss 2006).…”

Section: Treeline Elevation and Temperature Inferencementioning

confidence: 99%

Five millennia of paleotemperature from tree-rings in the Great Basin, USA

et al. 2013

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The instrumental temperature record is of insufficient length to fully express the natural variability of past temperature. High elevation tree-ring widths from Great Basin bristlecone pine (Pinus longaeva) are a particularly useful proxy to infer temperatures prior to the instrumental record in that the tree-rings are annually dated and extend for millennia. From ring-width measurements integrated with past treeline elevation data we infer decadal-to millennial-scale temperature variability over the past 4,500 years for the Great Basin, USA. We find that twentieth century treeline advances are greater than in at least 4,000 years. There is also evidence for substantial volcanic forcing of climate in the preindustrial record and considerable covariation between high elevation tree-ring widths and temperature estimates from an atmosphereocean general circulation model over much of the last millennium. A long-term temperature decline of *-1.1°C since the mid-Holocene underlies substantial volcanic forcing of climate in the preindustrial record.

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“…6.2-6.0 and 7.5-6.8 ka in the Canadian Rockies. Menounos et al (2008) identified a regional period of glacier advance across western North America ca. 4.2 ka based on glacial and lacustrine evidence.…”

Section: Regional Correlation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neoglacial history of Robson Glacier, British Columbia

2017

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As glaciers in the Canadian Rockies recede, glacier forefields continue to yield subfossil wood from sites overridden by these glaciers during the Holocene. Robson Glacier in British Columbia formerly extended below tree line, and recession over the last century has progressively revealed a number of buried forest sites that are providing one of the more complete records of glacier history in the Canadian Rockies during the latter half of the Holocene. The glacier was advancing ca. 5.5 km upvalley of the Little Ice Age terminus ca. 5.26 cal ka BP, at sites ca. 2 km upvalley ca. 4.02 cal ka BP and ca. 3.55 cal ka BP, and 0.5-1 km upvalley between 1140 and 1350 A.D. There is also limited evidence based on detrital wood of an additional period of glacier advance ca. 3.24 cal ka BP. This record is more similar to glacier histories further west in British Columbia than elsewhere in the Rockies and provides the first evidence for a post-Hypsithermal glacier advance at ca. 5.26 cal ka BP in the Rockies. The utilization of the wiggle-matching approach using multiple 14 C dates from sample locations determined by dendrochronological analyses enabled the recognition of 14 C outliers and an increase in the precision and accuracy of the dating of glacier advances.Résumé : Au fil du retrait des glaciers dans les Rocheuses canadiennes, les avant-fronts glaciaires continuent de produire du bois subfossile de sites recouverts par ces glaciers durant l'Holocène. Le glacier Robson en Colombie-Britannique s'étalait auparavant jusque sous la limite des arbres et son retrait au cours du dernier siècle a graduellement révélé différents sites boisés enfouis qui fournissent un des registres les plus complets de l'histoire glaciaire dans les Rocheuses canadiennes durant la deuxième moitié

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Western Canadian glaciers advance in concert with climate change circa 4.2 ka

Cited by 55 publications

References 26 publications

Mid-Holocene glacier expansion between 7500 and 4000 cal. yr BP in the British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

Mid-Holocene glacier expansion between 7500 and 4000 cal. yr BP in the British Columbia Coast Mountains, Canada

Five millennia of paleotemperature from tree-rings in the Great Basin, USA

Neoglacial history of Robson Glacier, British Columbia

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