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Much of Greenland experienced summers warmer than present in parts of the early to middle Holocene, during a precession-driven positive anomaly in summer insolation. However, the magnitude of that warmth remains poorly known, and its timing and spatial pattern are uncertain. Here we describe the first quantitative Holocene palaeotemperature reconstruction from central East Greenland based upon insect (chironomid) assemblages preserved in lake sediments. We postulate that landscapes like our study site, characterized by minimal soil and vegetation development through the Holocene and thus little influenced by some important secondary gradients, are especially well suited to the use of chironomids to reconstruct Holocene temperatures. The inferred timing of warmth at our study site near Scoresby Sund agrees well with other nearby evidence, including glacial geological reconstructions and temperatures inferred from precipitation isotopes at Renland ice cap, supporting the use of chironomids to reconstruct temperatures at this site. We infer highest temperatures from c. 10 to 5.5 ka, followed by gradual cooling after 5.5 ka and progressively colder and less productive conditions after 3.5 ka. Models based upon two independent training sets yield similar inferred temperature trends, and suggest an average summer temperature anomaly from c. 10 to 5.5 ka of 3 to 4 °C relative to the preindustrial last millennium. The estimated overall rate of Neoglacial cooling averaged over the period from 5.5 to 0.5 ka was 0.6 to 0.8 °C per thousand years, more than twice the rate previously estimated for the Arctic as a whole. Given strong apparent spatial variability in Holocene climate around the Arctic, and the utility of palaeoclimate data for improving climate and ice-sheet models, it should be a priority to further quantify past temperature changes around the margins of the Greenland Ice Sheet, where few quantitative reconstructions exist and future warming will affect global sea level.

Prediction of future Arctic climate and environmental changes, as well as associated ice-sheet behavior, requires placing present-day warming and reduced ice extent into a long-term context. Here we present a record of Holocene climate and glacier fluctuations inferred from the paleolimnology of small lakes near Istorvet ice cap in East Greenland. Calibrated radiocarbon dates of organic remains indicate deglaciation of the region before ~10,500 years BP, after which time the ice cap receded rapidly to a position similar to or less extensive than present, and lake sediments shifted from glacio-lacustrine clay to relatively organic-rich gyttja. The lack of glacio-lacustrine sediments throughout most of the record suggests that the ice cap was similar to or smaller than present throughout most of the Holocene. This restricted ice extent suggests that climate was similar to or warmer than present, in keeping with other records from Greenland that indicate a warm early and middle Holocene. Middle Holocene magnetic susceptibility oscillations, with a ~200-year frequency in one of the lakes, may relate to solar influence on local catchment processes. Following thousands of years of restricted extent, Istorvet ice cap advanced to within 365 m of its late Holocene limit at ~AD 1150. Variability in the timing of glacial and climate fluctuations, as well as of sediment organic content changes among East Greenland lacustrine records, may be a consequence of local factors, such as elevation, continentality, water depth, turbidity, and seabirds, and highlights the need for a detailed spatial array of datasets to address questions about Holocene climate change.

The cause and age of the Moorhead low-water Phase of glacial Lake Agassiz remains uncertain. New geochemical (X-ray fluorescence (XRF) and elemental analysis) and chronological (optically stimulated luminescence (OSL)) data are used to test for evaporative enrichment within lacustrine sediment from Rabbit Lake, a small basin just above the highest Lake Agassiz strandline, and from two Lake Agassiz sediment cores at Fargo, North Dakota. Increases in quartz and gypsum interpreted to be of aeolian origin suggest increased aridity at Rabbit Lake sometime after 13 540–13 750 cal years BP. From the Fargo cores, lacustrine sediment of the Brenna and Sherack formations did not show convincing evidence for evaporative enrichment. However, this result is complicated by an erosional contact at the top of the Brenna Formation. A thin middle sand unit between the Brenna and Sherack formation clays is stratigraphically equivalent to the Poplar River Formation, West Fargo Member, but its properties differ from the fluvial sand of the West Fargo Member. Four OSL ages from the organic-poor, middle sand unit at Fargo range between 12.8 ± 0.2 and 13.5 ± 0.2 ka (with ±1.6 ka uncertainty) and suggest lake level fell at Fargo at, or before, 13.1 ± 0.2 ka, the average of the OSL ages. With different sedimentological properties, and a difference of ∼1750 years between the new OSL ages and previously published ages on the West Fargo Member sand, additional work is required to determine whether the middle sand unit is a new member of the Poplar River Formation, recording an earlier and different depositional environment than the West Fargo Member. From a plot of available ages for the Moorhead Phase, the regression remains poorly constrained in time.

The Greenland Ice Sheet is a major component of the Arctic cryosphere and the magnitude of its response to future climate changes remains uncertain. Longer-term records of climate near the ice sheet margin provide information about natural climate variability and can be used to understand the causes of past changes in the Greenland Ice Sheet. As a proxy for Holocene climate near the ice sheet margin, we reconstruct the fluctuations of Bregne ice cap in the Scoresby Sund region of central east Greenland. Bregne is a small ice cap (2.5 km 2 in area) and responds sensitively to summer temperatures. We employ a multi-proxy approach to reconstruct the ice cap fluctuations using geomorphic mapping, 10 Be ages of boulders and bedrock and lake sediment records. Past extents of Bregne ice cap are marked by moraines and registered by sediments in downvalley lakes. 10 Be ages of bedrock and boulders outboard of the moraines indicate that Bregne ice cap was within ∼250 m of its present-day limit by at least 10.7 ka. Multi-proxy data from sediments in Two Move lake, located downvalley from Bregne ice cap, indicate that the ice cap likely completely disappeared during early and middle Holocene time. Increasing magnetic susceptibility and percent clastic material from ∼6.5 to ∼1.9 cal ka BP in Two Move lake sediments suggest progressively colder conditions and increased snow accumulation on the highlands west of the lake. Laminated silt deposited at ∼2.6 cal ka BP and ∼1.9 cal ka BP to present registers the onset and persistence of Bregne ice cap during the late Holocene. 10 Be ages of boulders on an unweathered, unvegetated moraine in the Bregne ice cap forefield range from 0.74 to 9.60 ka. The youngest 10 Be age (0.74 ka) likely represents the age of the moraine whereas older ages may be due to 10 Be inherited from prior periods of exposure. This late Holocene moraine marks the second largest advance of the ice cap since deglaciation of the region at the end of the last ice age. The oldest moraine in the forefield dates to ≤2.6 cal ka BP. The fluctuations of Bregne ice cap were likely influenced by Northern Hemisphere summer insolation throughout the Holocene and abrupt late Holocene cold events.

Geology v. 42, p. [347–350][1], doi:10.1130/G35245.1 There was an error in determining the number of 10Be atoms per gram of quartz for samples JS-09-20, -24, -14, and -15 and, thus, the calculated 10Be ages. All usage of these samples and their ages has been corrected in the GSA Data Repository (

Mercury (Hg) is a toxic metal that is transported globally through the atmosphere. The emission of Hg from mineral reservoirs and subsequent recycling in surface reservoirs (i.e., soil/biomass, ocean, and atmosphere) are fundamental to the modern global Hg cycle, yet past emissions from anthropogenic and natural sources are not fully constrained. We use a sediment core from Yanacocha, a headwater lake in southeastern Peru, to study the anthropogenic and natural controls on atmospheric Hg deposition during the Holocene. From 12.3 to 3.5 ka, Hg fluxes in the record are relatively constant (mean ± 1σ: 1.4 ± 0.6 μg m-2 a-1, n = 189). Past Hg deposition does not correlate with changes in regional temperature and precipitation, inferred from nearby paleoclimate records, or with most large volcanic events that occurred regionally, in the Andean Central Volcanic Zone (~300-400 km from Yanacocha), and globally. In B.C. 1450 (3.4 ka), Hg fluxes abruptly increased and reached the Holocene-maximum flux (6.7 μg m-2 a-1) in B.C. 1200, concurrent with a ~100-year peak in Fe and chalcophile metals (As, Ag, Tl) and the presence of framboidal pyrite. Continuously elevated Hg fluxes from B.C. 1200-500 suggest a protracted mining-dust source near Yanacocha that is identical in timing to documented pre-Incan cinnabar mining in central Peru. During Incan and Colonial time (A.D. 1450-1650), Hg deposition remains elevated relative to background levels but lower relative to other Hg records from sediment cores in central Peru, indicating a limited spatial extent of preindustrial Hg emissions. Hg fluxes from A.D. 1980 to 2011 (4.0 ± 1.0 μg m-2 a-1, n = 5) are 3.0 ± 1.5 times greater than pre-anthropogenic fluxes and are similar to modern fluxes documented in remote lakes around the world.

Equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) of alpine glaciers are sensitive indicators of climate change and have been commonly used to reconstruct paleoclimates at different temporal and spatial scales. However, accurate interpretations of ELA fluctuations rely on a quantitative understanding of the sensitivity of ELAs to changes in climate. We applied a full surface energy- and mass-balance model to quantify ELA sensitivity to temperature and precipitation changes across the range of climate conditions found in the Andes. Model results show that ELA response has a strong spatial variability across the glaciated regions of South America. This spatial variability correlates with the distribution of the present-day mean climate conditions observed along the Andes. We find that ELAs respond linearly to changes in temperature, with the magnitude of the response being prescribed by the local lapse rates. ELA sensitivities to precipitation changes are nearly linear and are inversely correlated with the emissivity of the atmosphere. Temperature sensitivities are greatest in the inner tropics; precipitation becomes more important in the subtropics and northernmost mid-latitudes. These results can be considered an important step towards developing a framework for understanding past episodes of glacial fluctuations and ultimately for predicting glacier response to future climate changes.

First-order modeling suggests that a low-water phase in late-glacial Lake Agassiz can be explained through changes in the balance between evaporation, precipitation, and runoff, rather than drainage. The low-water Moorhead Phase is often attributed to drainage through outlets opened by isostatic depression and retreat of the Laurentide ice margin. However, new data indicate that the proposed outlets were ice-covered during the Moorhead Phase. Instead, the lake water levels dropped to the Moorhead Phase before the start of the Younger Dryas chronozone and remained there until 11.3 ka. Thus, drainage seems to be an implausible explanation for Younger Dryas-aged low water levels in Lake Agassiz. An alternative explanation is that evaporation equaled or exceeded water inputs from the adjacent ice margin and the deglaciated parts of the drainage basin. To evaluate whether this hypothesis is plausible, we constructed a simple model that considers the paleo-basin geometry, hydrology, and meltwater production from the adjacent ice margin. Modest hydrologic changes (within the range of present-day variability), coupled with low meltwater production, produce a closed basin. Shifts in the location of the polar jet, driven by increased Arctic albedo, may explain our inferred hydrologic changes.

Four traditionally recognized strandline complexes in the southern basin of glacial Lake Agassiz are the Herman, Norcross, Tintah and Campbell, whose names correspond to towns in west-central Minnesota that lie on a linear transect defined by the Great Northern railroad grade; the active corridor for commerce at the time when Warren Upham was mapping and naming the shorelines of Lake Agassiz (ca.1880–1895). Because shorelines represent static water planes, their extension around the lake margin establishes time-synchronous lake levels. Transitions between shoreline positions represent significant water-level fluctuations. However, geologic ages have never been obtained from sites near the namesake towns in the vicinity of the southern outlet. Here we report the first geologic ages for Lake Agassiz shorelines obtained at field sites along the namesake transect, and evaluate the emerging chronology in light of other paleoclimate records. Our current work from 11 sampling sites has yielded 16 independent ages. These results combined with a growing OSL age data set for Lake Agassiz's southern basin provide robust age constraints for the Herman, Norcross and Campbell strandlines with averages and standard deviations of 14.1 ± 0.3 ka, 13.6 ± 0.2 ka, and 10.5 ± 0.3 ka, respectively.

Large glacial lakes modulated the return of meltwater to the ocean during deglaciation, and their drainage may have initiated global climate change. Yet few records of their drainage come from observations within their basins. Sediment cores from nine lakes along a 240-km transect from northwestern Quebec to northeastern Ontario cover a portion of former Lake Ojibway and provide a stratigraphy of the terminal phase of this large glacial lake. Magnetic susceptibility, density, grain size, X-ray fluorescence chemistry and X-ray diffraction data were used to characterize stratigraphic changes within the basin. The basal sequence consists of till and rhythmites, with ice-proximal debris flows overlain by varves. The varves thin up-section and become unrecognizable, which indicates decreased deposition rates. This fine-grained sediment forms the matrix of a clay-pebble conglomerate. The clay-pebbles are ice-rafted debris (IRD). The IRD flux was probably constant, whereas the sedimentation rate of the finer-grained matrix decreased. The end of IRD marks the cessation of icebergs in the lake and is the best indication for drainage of the glacial lake. The conglomerate is capped by laminated to massive gray silt deposited after lake drainage and marks the transition to organic-rich, post-glacial lakes. Such sequences place drainage into the broader context of deglaciation.

The Greenland Ice Sheet is undergoing dynamic changes that will have global implications if they continue into the future. In this regard, an understanding of how the ice sheet responded to past climate changes affords a baseline for anticipating future behavior. Small, independent ice caps adjacent to the Greenland Ice Sheet (hereinafter called “local ice caps”) are sensitive indicators of the response of Greenland ice-marginal zones to climate change. Therefore, we reconstructed late Holocene ice-marginal fluctuations of the local Istorvet ice cap in east Greenland, using radiocarbon dates of subfossil plants, 10 Be dates of surface boulders, and analyses of sediment cores from both threshold and control lakes. During the last termination, the Istorvet ice cap had retreated close to its maximum Holocene position by ∼11,730 cal yr BP. Radiocarbon dates of subfossil plants exposed by recent recession of the ice margin indicate that the Istorvet cap was smaller than at present from AD 200 to AD 1025. Sediments from a threshold lake show no glacial input until the ice cap advanced to within 365 m of its Holocene maximum position by ∼AD 1150. Thereafter the ice cap remained at or close to this position until at least AD 1660. The timing of this, the most extensive of the Holocene, expansion is similar to that recorded at some glaciers in the Alps and in southern Alaska. However, in contrast to these other regions, the expansion in east Greenland at AD 1150 appears to have been very close to, if not at, a maximum Holocene value. Comparison of the Istorvet ice-cap fluctuations with Holocene glacier extents in Southern Hemisphere middle-to-high latitude locations on the Antarctic Peninsula and in the Andes and the Southern Alps suggests an out-of-phase relationship. If correct, this pattern supports the hypothesis that a bipolar see-saw of oceanic and/or atmospheric circulation during the Holocene produced asynchronous glacier response at some localities in the two polar hemispheres.

The geographic expression and phasing of events during the last termination are important for isolating mechanisms that caused Earth to emerge from the last ice age. Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1; 14,600–18,000 yr BP) is a key because of the central role that its far-field effects had on the last termination in the Southern Hemisphere. Here, we present new data from Cordillera Darwin that show rapid glacier recession in southern South America during HS1. This retreat was coeval with ice recession elsewhere in South America and New Zealand, with increased upwelling in the Southern Ocean, with warming of SSTs offshore of Chile, and with a rise in atmospheric CO2. Together, these data indicate a coherent and rapid response to the effects of HS1 in the middle and high latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere.

We present a 10Be chronology of late glacial to early Holocene fluctuations of a Greenland ice sheet outlet glacier and the adjacent Milne Land ice cap in central East Greenland. Ages of boulders on bedrock indicate that both ice masses receded during the Younger Dryas (YD), likely due to rising summer temperatures. Since Greenland ice core records register cold mean annual temperatures throughout the YD, these ice-marginal data support climate conditions characterized by strong seasonality. The ice sheet outlet glacier and ice cap deposited inner Milne Land Stade moraines at 11.4±0.8ka and 11.4±0.6ka, respectively (mean moraine ages and 1σ uncertainties). Based on the coeval moraine ages, we suggest that both ice masses responded to climate conditions acting on the ice margins, specifically ablation. Moreover, the ice sheet responded sensitively (i.e., on the same time scale as a small ice cap) to climate conditions. Key Points: Beryllium-10 ages show deglaciation during the Younger Dryas in central East Greenland The inner Milne Land Stade moraines of the Greenland ice sheet and a local glacier date to ~11.4ka Both ice masses responded in unison to late glacial and early Holocene climate conditions

Reconstructing moisture conditions during the early retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) may help define the phase relationship of deglacial conditions and atmospheric changes over North America. Here, we report two sediment successions near the concurrent ice margins in the Midwest of the U.S.A. to show that dune formation was active from 17.7 to 14.7 and from 12.8 to 11.8 thousand years ago (ka) and lowland soils formed at 14.7 and wetland sediments developed from 13.5 to 12.8 ka. Our results suggest that moisture conditions in the Midwestern U.S.A. were inversely phased with those in the southwestern U.S.A. During the Heinrich event 1 (H1) and Younger Dryas (YD) stadials, the northern area became drier and southern area became wetter, whereas during the Bolling/Allerod (B/A) interstadials, the northern area became wetter and southern area became drier. This pattern is also observed on phase change levels within the H1 interval. In detail, from 17.7 to 16.5 ka during the H1b phase, major aridity in the Midwest corresponded to wet conditions in the Southwest U.S.A. From 16.5 to 15.0 ka during the H1a phase, climate reversed from dry to wet in the Midwest, whereas conditions went from wet to dry in the Southwest. From 15.0 to 14.7 ka during the transition to the Bolling/Allerod (t-B/A) phase, a return of aridity in the Midwest corresponded to a return of humidity in the Southwest.

The last glacial-interglacial transition (ca. 18–11 ka) was interrupted by abrupt climate events that differed in each hemisphere. During the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ca. 14.5–12.9 ka), the Southern Hemisphere high and mid latitudes cooled, while the Northern Hemisphere warmed. The pattern of change then reversed during the Younger Dryas (ca. 12.9–11.7 ka), which was characterized by cold conditions in much of the Northern Hemisphere. Well-dated paleoclimate records serve to reveal the possible mechanisms for these events. Here we present a reconstruction of the late glacial fluctuations of Quelccaya Ice Cap, located in the southern tropics, based on 38 new radiocarbon ages. Quelccaya was retreating from its Last Glacial Maximum (ca. 21 ka) extent by ca. 17.2 ka, and was located upvalley from its late glacial moraines by 13.6–12.8 ka. Quelccaya experienced a significant readvance that culminated at 12.5–12.4 ka, and then receded several kilometers to near, or within, its late Holocene extent by ca. 11.6 ka. This record provides the most detailed evidence yet of glacier fluctuations in the southern tropics during late glacial time.

Varve thickness records from glacial Lake Ojibway provide a detailed picture of ice margin dynamics and paleohydrology for the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the early Holocene. The demise of Lake Ojibway occurred when an ice dam of the shrinking Laurentide Ice Sheet failed, perhaps releasing enough freshwater to impede Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and precipitate the 8200 cal BP climatic cooling event. Previously published records and new information from lacustrine sediment cores are combined to reconstruct a varve record over 2100 years long. Between varves numbered 1 to 1500, average rates of ice margin retreat increased from 140 m/y to as high as 400 m/y. Beginning prior to varve year 1800, and lasting to around year 2000, ice readvanced along a front at least 300 km wide during an episode called the Cochrane. The total distance of the advance was at least 75 km, and averaged around 200 m/y. During the advance, a series of ∼50 anomalously thick varves were deposited, the cause of which is uncertain. A widespread unconformity occurred during the end of the Cochrane advance, which was followed at around varve year 2060 by the return of varves, which thicken abruptly. Unlike previous varves, these varves include ice-rafted pellets of Lake Ojibway sediment. These varves may have resulted from rapid melting and calving, rather than a second advance, and may relate to basin re-filling following a lowstand. There are no direct dates on the Lake Ojibway varves, but a sudden increase in varve thickness at year 1528 is a regional stratigraphic marker that may have resulted from glacial sediment and meltwater (including Lake Agassiz overflow), diverted from routes to the Lake Superior basin, into the Lake Ojibway basin. Dates from the Lake Superior basin suggest that the diversion of this water occurred at around 9040 cal BP. Applying this date to varve 1528 constrains the age of the Lake Ojibway varves numbered 1 to 2100 to between 10,570 and 8470 (±200) cal BP.

Extant data on shorelines and ice margins in the glacial Lake Agassiz basin defines the limits of Lake Agassiz through deglacial time. The ice sheet margin had not retreated far enough northwards by the beginning or end of the Younger Dryas chronozone for the lake to drain northwest. However, once Lake Agassiz reached the Campbell Beach stage at ∼10,800–10,300 cal BP, then projections of Lake Agassiz strandlines were higher than the topography allowing for the first possible pathway to the northwest. This relationship is used to reject the recent assertion that there was northwest drainage from Lake Agassiz at the beginning and end of the Younger Dryas chronozone.

Recent glacial and climate models suggest that glaciers located in contrasting climates could respond with different magnitudes to identical climatic perturbations. This implies that to understand the response of glaciers to a particular climate perturbation or to compare glacial fluctuations between different regions, climate conditions that permit glaciers to exist must be taken into account. In this study we systematize, classify, and identify the spatial distribution of the climates that permit the occurrence of present-day glaciers in the climatically diverse Andes. A first approximation suggests that a sample of 234 Andean glaciers exist under three distinctive combinations of temperature and precipitation conditions: i) cold and dry, ii) intermediate, and iii) warm and wet conditions. Cluster analysis (CA) and Principal Component analysis (PCA) of temperature, precipitation, and humidity reveal seven climatic configurations that support present-day Andean glaciers and suggest that these configurations have a distinctive geographical distribution. The groups are: 1) inner tropics and Tierra del Fuego, 2) wetter outer tropics, 3) drier outer tropics, 4) subtropics, 5) central Chile-Argentina (semi-arid), 6) northern and central Patagonia, and 7) southern Patagonia. This classification provides a basis to examine the spatial variability of glacier sensitivity to climate change, to unravel the causes of past glacial fluctuations, to understand the climatic signals driving present-day glacier fluctuations, and perhaps to predict the response of glaciers to future climate changes.

The statistical distributions of cosmogenic nuclide measurements from moraine boulders contain previously unused information on moraine ages, and they help determine whether moraine degradation or inheritance is more important on individual moraines. Here, we present a method for extracting this information by fitting geomorphic process models to observed exposure ages from single moraines. We also apply this method to 94 10Be apparent exposure ages from 11 moraines reported in four published studies. Our models represent 10Be accumulation in boulders that are exhumed over time by slope processes (moraine degradation), and the delivery of boulders with preexisting 10Be inventories to moraines (inheritance). For now, we neglect boulder erosion and snow cover, which are likely second-order processes. Given a highly scattered data set, we establish which model yields the better fit to the data, and estimate the age of the moraine from the better model fit. The process represented by the better-fitting model is probably responsible for most of the scatter among the apparent ages. Our methods should help resolve controversies in exposure dating; we reexamine the conclusions from two published studies based on our model fits.

Many paleoclimate and landscape change studies in the American Midwest have focused on the Late Glacial and early Holocene time periods (~ 16–11 ka), but little work has addressed landscape change in this area between the Last Glacial Maximum and the Late Glacial (~ 22–16 ka). Sediment cores were collected from 29 new lake and bog sites in Ohio and Indiana to address this gap. The basal radiocarbon dates from these cores show that initial ice retreat from the maximal last-glacial ice extent occurred by 22 ka, and numerous sites that are ~ 100 km inside this limit were exposed by 18.9 ka. Post-glacial environmental changes were identified as stratigraphic or biologic changes in select cores. The strongest signal occurs between 18.5 and 14.6 ka. These Midwestern events correspond with evidence to the northeast, suggesting that initial deglaciation of the ice sheet, and ensuing environmental changes, were episodic and rapid. Significantly, these changes predate the onset of the Bølling postglacial warming (14.8 ka) as recorded by the Greenland ice cores. Thus, deglaciation and landscape change around the southern margins of the Laurentide Ice Sheet happened ~ 7 ka before postglacial changes were felt in central Greenland.

Understanding the evolution of Lake Agassiz is vital to developing a comprehensive late Quaternary history of central North America. Although many of the geomorphic features of the lake are well kn...

10Be terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure ages from moraines on Nevado Illimani, Cordillera Real, Bolivia suggest that glaciers retreated from moraines during the periods 15.5–13.0 ka, 10.0–8.5 ka, and 3.5–2.0 ka. Late glacial moraines at Illimani are associated with an ELA depression of 400–600 m, which is consistent with other local reconstructions of late glacial ELAs in the Eastern Cordillera of the central Andes. A comparison of late glacial ELAs between the Eastern Cordillera and Western Cordillera indicates a marked change toward flattening of the east-to-west regional ELA gradient. This flattening is consistent with increased precipitation from the Pacific during the late glacial period.

Glacial landforms and outwash terraces in the Nenana River valley, Reindeer Hills and Monahan Flat in the central Alaska Range were dated with 60 10 Be exposure ages to determine the timing of Late Pleistocene glaciation. In the Nenana River valley, glaciation occurred at 104-180 ka (Lignite Creek glaciation), ca. 55 ka (Healy glaciation), and ca. 16 ka (Carlo Creek phase); glaciers retreated in the Reindeer Hills and Monahan Flat by ca. 14 ka and ca. 13 ka, respectively. The Carlo Creek moraine is similar in age to at least six other moraines in the Alaska Range, Ahklun Mountains and Brooks Range. The new data suggest that post-depositional geological processes limit the usefulness of 10 Be methods to the latter part (� 60 ka) of the late Quaternary in central Alaska. Ages on Healy and younger landforms cluster well, with the exception of Riley Creek moraines and Monahan Flat-west sites, where boulders were likely affected by post-depositional processes. Copy- right # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Supporting information may be found in the online version of this article.

The evolution of the early Great Lakes was driven by changing ice sheet geometry, meltwater influx, variable climate, and isostatic rebound. Unfortunately none of these factors are fully understood. Sediment cores from Fenton Lake and other sites in the Lake Superior basin have been used to document constantly falling water levels in glacial Lake Minong between 9,000 and 10,600 cal (8.1–9.5 ka) BP. Over three meters of previously unrecovered sediment from Fenton Lake detail a more complex lake level history than formerly realized, and consists of an early regression, transgression, and final regression. The initial regression is documented by a transition from gray, clayey silt to black sapropelic silt. The transgression is recorded by an abrupt return to gray sand and silt, and dates between 9,000 and 9,500 cal (8.1–8.6 ka) BP. The transgression could be the result of increased discharge from Lake Agassiz overflow or the Laurentide Ice Sheet, and hydraulic damming at the Lake Minong outlet. Alternatively ice advance in northern Ontario may have blocked an unrecognized low level northern outlet to glacial Lake Ojibway, which switched Lake Minong overflow back to the Lake Huron basin and raised lake levels. Multiple sites in the Lake Huron and Michigan basins suggest increased meltwater discharges occurred around the time of the transgression in Lake Minong, suggesting a possible linkage. The final regression in Fenton Lake is documented by a return to black sapropelic silt, which coincides with varve cessation in the Superior basin when Lake Agassiz overflow and glacial meltwater was diverted to glacial Lake Ojibway in northern Ontario.

The “type” DeKalb mounds of northeastern Illinois, USA (42.0°N, −88.7°W), are formed of basal sand and gravel overlain by rhythmically bedded fines, and weathered sand and gravel. Generally from 2 to 7 m thick, the fines include abundant fossils of ostracodes and uncommon leaves and stems of tundra plants. Rare chironomid head capsules, pillclam shells, and aquatic plant macrofossils also have been observed.Radiocarbon ages on the tundra plant fossils from the “type” region range from 20,420 to 18,560 cal yr BP. Comparison of radiocarbon ages of terrestrial plants from type area ice-walled lake plains and adjacent kettle basins indicate that the topographic inversion to ice-free conditions occurred from 18,560 and 16,650 cal yr BP. Outside the “type” area, the oldest reliable age of tundra plant fossils in DeKalb mound sediment is 21,680 cal yr BP; the mound occurs on the northern arm of the Ransom Moraine (−88.5436°W, 41.5028°N). The youngest age, 16,250 cal yr BP, is associated with a mound on the Deerfield Moraine (−87.9102°W, 42.4260°N) located about 9 km east of Lake Michigan. The chronology of individual successions indicates the lakes persisted on the periglacial landscape for about 300 to 1500 yr.

Here we combine 10Be depth profile techniques applied to late glacial ice-contact marine and lacustrine deltas, as well as boulder exposure dating of associated features in the Scoresby Sound region, east Greenland, to determine both the surface age and the magnitude of cosmogenic nuclide inheritance. Boulder ages from an ice-contact delta in northern Scoresby Sund show scatter typical of polar regions and yield an average age of 12.8 ± 0.5 ka – about 2 ka older than both our average profile surface age of 10.9 ± 0.7 ka from three depth profiles and a radiocarbon-based estimate. On the other hand, boulder exposure ages from a set of moraines in southern Scoresby Sund show excellent internal consistency for polar regions and yield an average age of 11.6 ± 0.2 ka. The profile surface age from a corresponding ice-contact delta is 8.1 ± 0.9 ka, while a second delta yields an age of 10.0 ± 0.4 ka. Measured 10Be inheritance concentrations from all depth profiles are internally consistent and are between 10% and 20% of the surface concentrations, suggesting a regional cosmogenic inheritance signal for the Scoresby Sound landscape. Based on the profile inheritance concentrations, we explore the first-order catchment-averaged bedrock erosion under the Greenland ice sheet, yielding estimates of total erosion during the last glacial cycle of the order of 2–30 m. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper is the first to summarize research on fluctuations of local glaciers in Greenland (e.g. ice caps and mountain glaciers independent of the Greenland Ice Sheet) during latest Pleistocene and Holocene time. In contrast to the extensive data available for fluctuations of the Greenland Ice Sheet, surprisingly little data exist to constrain local glacier extents. Much of the available research was conducted prior to wide-spread use of AMS radiocarbon dating and the advent of surface-exposure and luminescence dating. Although there is a paucity of data, generally similar patterns of local glacier fluctuations are observed in all regions of Greenland and likely reflect changes in paleoclimate, which must have influenced at least the margins of the Inland Ice. Absolute-age data for late-glacial and early Holocene advances of local glaciers are reported from only two locations: Disko (island) and the Scoresby Sund region. Subsequent to late-glacial or early Holocene time, most local glaciers were smaller than at present or may have disappeared completely during the Holocene Thermal Maximum. In general, local glacier advances that occurred during Historical time (1200–1940 AD) are the most extensive since late-glacial or early Holocene time. Historical documents and more recent aerial photographs provide useful information about local glacier fluctuations during the last ∼100 yrs. In all but one area (North Greenland), local glaciers are currently receding from Historical extents.

A field-based reconstruction of the deglacial paleogeography in the Fort McMurray area permits: 1) constraining the timing of meltwater routing to the Arctic from the present Hudson Bay drainage basin; and 2) minimum-age estimates for ice-margin positions that can be used to constrain ice-sheet modeling results. A downslope recession of the Laurentide Ice Sheet resulted in a series of proglacial lakes forming between the ice margin and higher land to the southwest. The paleogeography of these lakes is poorly constrained in part from the masking effect of boreal forest vegetation and map-scale issues. However, recent space-shuttle based DEMs increase the number and spatial extent of moraines identified within the study area resulting in a coherent pattern of ice margin retreat focused on the Athabasca River valley. An intensive lake-coring program resulted in a minimum ten-fold increase in the radiocarbon database used to limit moraine ages. Results indicate that deglaciation in this region was younger than previously reported, and it is likely that the meltwater could not drain northward to the Arctic Ocean from any source southeast of the Fort McMurray area until approximately 9850‐9660 14 CBP.

The sensitivity of ice sheets to climate change influences the return of meltwater to the oceans. Here we track the Laurentide Ice Sheet along a w400 km long transect spanning about 6000 yr of retreat during the major climate oscillations of the lateglacial. Thunder Bay, Ontario is near a major topographic drainage divide, thus terrestrial ablation processes are the primary forcers of ice margin recession in the study area. During deglaciation three major moraine sets were produced, and have been assigned minimum ages of 13.9 � 0.2, 12.3 � 0.2–12.1 � 0.1, and 11.2 � 0.2 cal ka BP from south to north. These define a slow retreat (w10–50 m/a) prior to major climate oscillations which was then followed by

Thirty-eight new cosmogenic ( 10 Be) exposure ages from the Scoresby Sund region of east Greenland indicate that prominent moraine sets deposited by mountain glaciers date from 780 to 310 yr, approximately during the Little Ice Age, from 11 660 to 10 630 yr, at the end of the Younger Dryas cold interval or during Preboreal time, and from 13 010 to 11 630 yr, during lateglacial time. Equilibrium line altitudes (ELAs) interpreted from lateglacial to Early Holocene moraines indicate summertime cooling between ∼3.9 and 6.6 °C relative to today's value, much less than the extreme Younger Dryas cooling registered by Greenland ice cores (mean-annual temperatures of ∼15 °C colder than today's value). This apparent discrepancy between paleotemperature records supports the contention that Younger Dryas cooling was primarily a wintertime phenomenon. 10 Be ages of lateglacial and Holocene moraines show that mountain glaciers during the Little Ice Age were more extensive than at any other time since the Early Holocene Epoch. In addition, 10 Be ages of lateglacial moraines show extensive reworking of boulders with cosmogenic nuclides inherited from prior periods of exposure, consistent with our geomorphic observations and cosmogenic-exposure dating studies in other Arctic regions.

Comparisons of palaeo-equilibrium line altitudes between the Western and Eastern Cordilleras in the Central Andes are commonly based on the assumption that the tall outermost moraines visible in remotely sensed images of the Western Cordillera date to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). However, field investigation and geomorphic mapping at Nevado Sajama, Bolivia, indicates the tall moraines are relic features with shorter moraines overlying and in some cases extending beyond them. 36Cl exposure ages from the shorter moraines suggest that they date to Lateglacial times ca. 16.9–10.2 ka. Although Lateglacial deposits have been found throughout the Central Andes, the extent of these deposits relative to LGM deposits varies both between the Western and Eastern Cordilleras and north-to-south along the Western Cordillera. In the Western Cordillera in the zone of easterly winds, the Lateglacial appears to be the most extensive glacial advance of the last glacial cycle. Geomorphic evidence also suggests that some Lateglacial moraines were deposited by cold-based ice, a previously unreported finding in the tropical Andes. Retreat from other glacial features occurred at about 7.0–4.4 ka and 4.7–3.3 ka. These are the first directly dated Holocene glacial deposits in the Western Cordillera of Bolivia, and their presence suggests that the mid Holocene may not have been as warm and dry as previously thought. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Rapid drainage of glacial Lake Agassiz to the North Atlantic Ocean has been implicated as a triggering mechanism for the Younger Dryas (YD) cold event (13–11.6 ka cal). A key component to this hypothesis is the interpretation that the Ojata Beach of Lake Agassiz in North Dakota, USA, formed during a regression of the lake at the beginning of the YD. This paper reviews the chronological data for the lowwater Moorhead Phase, presents new radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages for the Ojata Beach, and utilizes plant and insect macrofossils to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental conditions during the Moorhead Phase in eastern North Dakota. The integrated analysis of the geochronologic data emphasizes the need to distinguish between in situ and reworked plant macrofossils. New ages obtained stratigraphically below the Ojata Beach sediments, and reinterpreted chronologic data for the Moorhead Phase, suggest that contrary to previous interpretations, the Ojata Beach is a record of transgression of the lake in the later part of the YD, and the oldest, in situ minimum age for the Moorhead Phase is 10.47775 ka 14 C BP. Paleoenvironmental analysis indicates that a

Despite the application of radiocarbon dating for more than three decades along the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, fundamental questions about the timing of glacial advances remain. For one of its sublobes, the Miami, we undertook areal mapping, detailed lithostratigraphic analysis, and radiocarbon dating to interpret four pulses of ice advance. On top of the undated sediments deposited during the first advance is a major unconformity. The second advance occurred about 20,000 BP and marks the beginning of the late Wisconsin glaciation. A minor recession (more than 30 km) ensued, but plants did not reoccupy the landscape. A third advance of the ice margin produced a stone-rich lodgement till to within 20 km of the late Wisconsin maximum. The final ice motion only occurred in the northern part of the study area and may be of local extent. Large accumulations of supraglacial gravity flowtills and outwash mark the final ice-margin retreat. Of these. only the second advance is well dated. This study implies that the number of advances of the ice margin is fewer than previously suggested. Consequently we argue that several of the sublobes across the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet acted in unison for the interval of 22.000 to 18.000 BP implying ice-sheet external forcing.

Comparisons of temperature sensitive climate proxy records with tree-ring, lichen and radiocarbon dated histories from land-terminating, non-surging glaciers for the last two millennia from southern Alaska identify summer temperature as a primary driver of glacial expansions. Two major intervals in the Alaskan chronology of glaciation, during the First Millennium AD (FMA) and again during the Little Ice Age (LIA), are evident as broad times of cooling and ice expansion. These two intervals are respectively followed by ice retreat coincident with the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and contemporary warming, and together correspond with millennial-scale variations recognized in the North Atlantic. The FMA advance appears to be of similar extent as the subsequent LIA expansions indicating a uniformity of forcing over the past two millennia.

We propose a radiometric chronology bracket for the last glacial advance/retreat, called the Marquette readvance, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan (Upper Peninsula) using organic material from kettle lakes and previously published age determinations on wood buried by glaciofluvial sediments. The lakes are located both inside and outside the ice-contact margin of the Marquette readvance. Wood buried in glaciofluvial sediments from the Marquette readvance was previously dated at 10,025 ± 100 14C yr BP (Hughes and Merry 1978, Lowell et al. 1999, and Pregitzer et al. 2000). Ackerman Lake, a kettle lake located inside the ice-contact margin, yielded a basal radiocarbon date of 9,495 ± 70 14C yr BP representing the time of organic accumulation after ice retreat. These dates above and below the glacial deposit bracket the age of the Marquette readvance/retreat to 360–700 14C yr, or the midpoint of 530 14C yr. Ackerman Lake yielded multiple radiocarbon dates, including an average date of 8,811 ± 11 14C yr BP (9,736–9,913 cal yr BP) at a change in stratigraphy from red clay to gray silt. This transition along the northern Upper Peninsula is interpreted to represent ice sheet retreat into Lake Superior and the reworking of older glacial sediments by ∼8,500 14C yr BP. Organic material from the kettle lake sediments spanning multiple geomorphic locations (both inside and outside of the ice-contact margin) and previous radiocarbon dates from the entire Upper Peninsula yielded dates concentrating around 9,500 14C yr BP. We attribute this synchronous organic accumulation in the Upper Peninsula to be a result of climatic signature corresponding with the Preboreal Oscillation, so the duration of the Marquette glacial cover may have been less then implied by the Ackerman Lake basal age.

Many Northern Hemisphere paleoclimatic records, including ice cores, speleothems, lake sediments, ocean cores and glacier chronologies, indicate an abrupt cooling event about 8200 cal yr BP. A new well-dated series of sediment cores taken from Brown's Lake, a kettle in Northeast Ohio, shows two closely spaced intervals of loess deposition during this time period. The source of loess is uncertain; however, it is likely from an abandoned drainage and former glacial lake basin located to the north of the stagnant ice topography that gave rise to the kettle lake. Strong visual stratigraphy, loss on ignition data and sediment grain size analyses dated with 3 AMS radiocarbon dates place the two intervals of loess deposition between 8950 and 8005 cal yr BP. The possibility of a two-phase abrupt climate change at this time is a finding that has been suggested in other research. This record adds detail to the spatial extent and timing as well as possible structure of the 8.2-ka abrupt climate change event.

The stratigraphy of sites within the Lake Agassiz basin that constrain the timing of the onset of the Moorhead low-water Phase is reexamined. Stratigraphic interpretation of the oldest date (10,960 14 C yr BP) from cross-bedded sand of the Ojata Beach is questioned, particularly in light of demonstrated long-distance transport and reworking of older organic material from elsewhere in the basin. A maximum onset age for the Moorhead Phase is suggested from a 10,675±60 14 C yr BP age from wood in gravel from the base of the southern outlet, whereas radiocarbon dates from in situ peat indicate a later minimum onset age of 10,340±100 14 C BP.