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The Holocene glacial retreat is a geographical phenomenon that involved the global deglaciation of glaciers that previously had advanced during the Last Glacial Maximum. The retreat of glaciers altered landscapes in many ways and is currently still acting as a result of climate change.
Geographical alterations
editAntarctica
editRadiocarbon dating has been used to date the start of glacial retreat on Alexander island 18 thousand years ago.[1] The outermost locations like Marguerite Bay were fully deglaciated 12 thousand years ago and the further inland locations continued deglaciating for an additional 3,000 years.[1] The Larsen ice shelf was formed in the early Holocene at a latest estimation of 10.7 thousand years ago.[2] Certain segments of the ice shelf have collapsed as recently as 1995 for Larsen A and a large segment of Larsen B collapsed in 2002. [2]
Europe
editThe many valleys of the Cairngorms, a mountainous region in the Eastern Scottish Highlands are littered with deposits from this period.
In northwestern Iceland, the Icelandic ice sheet began its non-uniform retreat about 15,000 years ago.[3] Surface exposure dating using 36Cl isotopes was the primary means of dating boulders and terminal moraines in the Drangajökull area in Iceland.[3] Ages of erratic boulders found near the Leirufj€orður valley and moraine range from 7-12 thousand years old.[3] The average ages for the groupings of boulders in the Leirufj€orður area is 9.3 thousand years ago.[3] Meltwater from the glacial lake Lake Agassiz contributed to the neoglaciation during the holocene which resulted in an uptick of glacial activity.[3] Directly south of Leirufj€orður in the Kaldalon Valley the average age of the boulders is 15,000 years old.[3] The two different average ages are a result of different rates of glacial activity in Iceland.[3]
The Nuup Kangerlua and Sermilik regions in southwestern and southeastern Greenland respectively are two localities that experienced deglaciation after the Holocene warming period started.[4] Warming atmospheric temperatures as well as warming waters in the Labrador Sea accelerated the speed of deglaciation which started on the coasts of Greenland before heading inland.[4] Moraines located in the interior of the Nuup Kangerlua area have been dated to 8.1-8.3 thousand years ago which mark a local cooling that caused glaciers to readvance and leave moraines behind.[4]
Another area that has experienced deglaciation during the Holocene is the Spitsbergen island within Svalbard archipelago in Norway.[5] For the last 12,000 years exposed rockwalls have been eroding due to a mixture of biogenic flaking, frost shattering, and stress relaxation that results when glaciers retreat.[5] One way the rate of rockwall retreat is measured is by examing the diameters of local lichen to establish an age of growth.[5]
North America
editThe retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in Canada led to the formation of moraines and up to 26 different glacial lakes scattered throughout central Canada. The deglaciation occurred during the last glacial maximum, and some of the lakes the the southern Ungava Bay area was fully deglaciated c. 6,000 years ago.[6]
The modern Ohio River was formed when the river was temporarily dammed just southwest of Louisville, Kentucky, creating a large lake until the dam burst. The Ohio River largely supplanted the former Teays River drainage system, which was disrupted by the glaciers.
Ancient Lake Chicago, on the southern margin of the Wisconsin Glacier, found successive lower outlets as the glacier retreated, until the Saint Lawrence River route was uncovered. Corresponding to each level, remnant lake shore features may be found in many areas. One prehistoric shoreline is delineated by Bluff Avenue, a north-south street on the La Grange, Illinois east side.
Current river delta positioning and sediment composition in northern Michigan were created by a glacial lake. The lake resulted from retreating glaciers.[7]
South America
editThe Northern Patagonian Icefield is one of the locations that experienced a surge in glacial activity during the neoglaciation period. Terminal moraines formed 5.7 thousand years ago in the San Rafael Glacier and around 4.96 thousand years ago they formed in the nearby Colonia glacier.[8] In the Southern Patagonian Icefield located in Argentina and Chile, some glaciers have actually been advancing to their peak extents as recently as the 19th century as evidenced by morraines.[9] Another remnant of glacial activity in the southern Patagonian icefield is the creation of meltwater channels within the El Canal spillway found near the Lago del Toro in Chile. The different layers of stratification have been used to date different occurrences of glacial lakes in the region. [10]
New Zealand
editWithin the last 30 years while most locations have experienced continue glacial retreat, glaciers located in the Southern Alps of New Zealand have advanced in position. Glaciers located near coasts such as those in New Zealand are especially responsive of climate change and serve as an indicator of local climate change. The anticipated warming waters near New Zealand in the Tasman sea will lead to a reduction in glacial mass balance.[11]
References
edit- ^ a b Roberts, S. J.; Hodgson, D. A.; Bentley, M. J.; Sanderson, D. C. W.; Milne, G.; Smith, J. A.; Verleyen, E.; Balbo, A. (2009-11-01). "Holocene relative sea-level change and deglaciation on Alexander Island, Antarctic Peninsula, from elevated lake deltas". Geomorphology. 112 (1–2): 122–134. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2009.05.011.
- ^ a b Curry, Philip; Pudsey, Carol J. (2007). "New Quaternary sedimentary records from near the Larsen C and former Larsen B ice shelves; evidence for Holocene stability". Antarctic Science. 19 (3): 355–364. doi:10.1017/S0954102007000442. ISSN 1365-2079.
- ^ a b c d e f g Brynjólfsson, Skafti; Schomacker, Anders; Ingólfsson, Ólafur; Keiding, Jakob K. (2015-10-15). "Cosmogenic 36Cl exposure ages reveal a 9.3 ka BP glacier advance and the Late Weichselian-Early Holocene glacial history of the Drangajökull region, northwest Iceland". Quaternary Science Reviews. 126: 140–157. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.09.001.
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at position 43 (help) - ^ a b c Larsen, Nicolaj K.; Funder, Svend; Kjær, Kurt H.; Kjeldsen, Kristian K.; Knudsen, Mads F.; Linge, Henriette (2014-05-15). "Rapid early Holocene ice retreat in West Greenland". Quaternary Science Reviews. APEX II: Arctic Palaeoclimate and its Extremes. 92: 310–323. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2013.05.027.
- ^ a b c André, Marie-Françoise (1997-05-01). "Holocene Rockwall Retreat in Svalbard: A Triple-Rate Evolution". Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. 22 (5): 423–440. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1096-9837(199705)22:53.0.CO;2-6. ISSN 1096-9837.
- ^ Jansson, Krister N (2003-05-01). "Early Holocene glacial lakes and ice marginal retreat pattern in Labrador/Ungava, Canada". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 193 (3): 473–501. doi:10.1016/s0031-0182(03)00262-1.
- ^ Schaetzl, Randall J.; Lepper, Kenneth; Thomas, Sarah E.; Grove, Leslie; Treiber, Emma; Farmer, Alison; Fillmore, Austin; Lee, Jordan; Dickerson, Bethany (2017-03-01). "Kame deltas provide evidence for a new glacial lake and suggest early glacial retreat from central Lower Michigan, USA". Geomorphology. 280: 167–178. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.11.013.
- ^ Nimick, David A.; McGrath, Daniel; Mahan, Shannon A.; Friesen, Beverly A.; Leidich, Jonathan (2016-08-01). "Latest Pleistocene and Holocene glacial events in the Colonia valley, Northern Patagonia Icefield, southern Chile". Journal of Quaternary Science. 31 (6): 551–564. doi:10.1002/jqs.2847. ISSN 1099-1417.
- ^ Strelin, Jorge A.; Kaplan, Michael R.; Vandergoes, Marcus J.; Denton, George H.; Schaefer, Joerg M. (2014-10-01). "Holocene glacier history of the Lago Argentino basin, Southern Patagonian Icefield". Quaternary Science Reviews. 101: 124–145. doi:10.1016/j.quascirev.2014.06.026.
- ^ García, Juan-Luis; Strelin, Jorge A.; Vega, Rodrigo M.; Hall, Brenda L.; Stern, Charles R. (2015-05-13). "Deglacial ice-marginal glaciolacustrine environments and structural moraine building in Torres del Paine, Chilean southern Patagonia". Andean Geology. 42 (2): 190–212. doi:10.5027/andgeov42n2-a03. ISSN 0718-7106.
- ^ Mackintosh, Andrew N.; Anderson, Brian M.; Lorrey, Andrew M.; Renwick, James A.; Frei, Prisco; Dean, Sam M. (2017-02-14). "Regional cooling caused recent New Zealand glacier advances in a period of global warming". Nature Communications. 8: ncomms14202. doi:10.1038/ncomms14202. PMC 5316876. PMID 28195582.
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External links
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