Age of the crowfoot advance in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. A glacial event coeval with the Younger Dryas oscillation

Journal Article · Sun May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1994 · Geology; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(1994)022<0439:AOTCAI>2.3.CO;2· OSTI ID:7264589

Reasoner, M A; Rutter, N W ^[1]; Osborn, G ^[2]

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1. Univ. of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta (Canada)
2. Univ. of Calgary, Alberta (Canada)

A suite of sediment core samples was recovered from two lakes, Crowfoot and Bow lakes, that are adjacent to the Crowfoot moraine type locality, to identify and radiocarbon date sediments related to the Crowfoot advance. The Crowfoot moraine system, widely recognized throughout northwestern North America, represents a glacial advance that is post-Wisconsin and pre-Mazama tephra in age. An interval of inorganic sediments bracketed by accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon ages of ca. 11,330 and 10,100 [sup 14]C yr B.P. is associated with the Crowfoot moraine. The Crowfoot advance is therefore approximately synchronous with the European Younger Dryas cold event (ca. 11,000-10,000 [sup 14]C yr B.P.). Furthermore, the termination of the Crowfoot advance also appears to have been abrupt. These findings illustrate that the climatic change responsible for the European Younger Dryas event extended beyond the northern Atlantic basin and western Europe. Equilibrium-line altitude (ELA) depressions associated with the Crowfoot advance are similar to those determined for the Little Ice Age advance, whereas Younger Dryas ELA depressions in Europe significantly exceed Little Ice Age ELA depressions. 26 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab.

• OSTI ID: 7264589
• Journal Information: Geology; (United States), Vol. 22:5; ISSN 0091-7613
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
37 INORGANIC
ORGANIC
PHYSICAL AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
38 RADIATION CHEMISTRY, RADIOCHEMISTRY, AND NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY
SEDIMENTS
ISOTOPE DATING
MASS SPECTROSCOPY
CANADA
CLIMATIC CHANGE
GEOLOGY
GLACIERS
MORAINES
ROCKY MOUNTAINS
AGE ESTIMATION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MOUNTAINS
NORTH AMERICA
SPECTROSCOPY
580000* - Geosciences
400102 - Chemical &amp; Spectral Procedures
400702 - Radiochemistry &amp; Nuclear Chemistry- Properties of Radioactive Materials