Vashon Glaciation | ||
19,000 – 16,000 BP | ||
An artist's depiction of a landscape adjacent to the ice sheet during the glaciation. | ||
Vashon occurred at... | ||
Continent: | North America | |
Present-day country: | United States of America | |
Present-day state: | Washington | |
Region: | Western Washington | |
Geologic Formation: | Crescent Terrane (see Siletzia) | |
Vashon Glaciation occurred within the... | ||
Phanerozoic Eon | 541,000,000 BP – Present | |
Cenozoic Era | 66,000,000 BP – Present | |
Quaternary Period | 2,580,000 - Present | |
Pleistocene Epoch | 2,580,000 - 11,700 BP | |
Late Pleistocene | 129,000 – 11,700 BP | |
Vashon Glaciation was a part of the... | ||
Late Cenozoic Ice Age | 33,900,000 BP to present | |
Quaternary glaciation | 2,580,000 BP to present | |
Last glacial period | 110,000 – 12,000 BP | |
Wisconsin glaciation | 85,000 – 11,000 BP | |
Fraser glaciation | 20,000 – 10,000 BP | |
Vashon glaciation | 19,000 – 16,000 BP | |
The Vashon Glaciation, Vashon Stadial or Vashon Stade is a local term for the most recent period of very cold climate in which during its peak, glaciers covered the entire Salish Sea as well as present day Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia and other surrounding areas in the western part of present-day Washington (state) of the United States of America. [1] This occurred during a cold period around the world known as the last glacial period. This was the most recent cold period of the Quaternary glaciation, the time period in which the arctic ice sheets have existed. The Quaternary Glaciation is part of the Late Cenozoic Ice Age, which began 33.9 million years ago and is ongoing. It is the time period in which the Antarctic ice cap has existed.
The Vashon Glaciation lasted from about 19,000 – 16,000 BP (Before Present – present defined as January 1, 1950 for this scale). The Cordilleran Ice Sheet was an ice sheet that covered present-day southern Alaska and parts of western Canada. The Fraser Glaciation began when the Cordilleran Ice Sheet advanced out of the mountains of British Columbia [2] following the Fraser River and Fraser Valley. The Vashon Glaciation is an extension of the Fraser Glaciation in which the Cordilleran Ice Sheet advanced south of the present day Canada–United States border into the Puget Sound region. By following the Fraser Valley, the ice reached the Puget Sound Region using the same pathway that cold arctic air takes during a present-day winter cold snap.
The Cordilleran, Laurentide, Innuitian, and the currently existing Greenland Ice Sheet all made up the North American ice sheet complex, which covered present day Canada and much of the northern U.S. This cold glaciated time for North America was called the Wisconsin glaciation.
During the Vashon glaciation, the climate in Western Washington, like most places, was much colder than today. As well as being cold, it was also much drier than in current times, which was characteristic of some places, and opposite of others.
Pollen data collected from Battleground Lake in southwest Washington (state) shows that from 20,000 – 16,000 BP, annual temperatures in the area were about 6 ± 1 °C (10.8 ± 1.8 °F) colder than in present times (present times as of 1990), and precipitation was around 1 meter (39.4 inches) less. [3] The Battle Ground area averaged 52.14 inches (132.44 cm) of precipitation per year for the period of 1961–1990. [4] A meter less precipitation means that during period of 20,000 – 16,000 BP, the average precipitation would have only been around 24.5% of what it was in the near present 1961–1990 period.
The Laurentide Ice Sheet had a major effect on the climate. It was an ice sheet covering much of Canada, and parts of the northern United States in the Midwest and east. The Rocky Mountains separated the Laurentide Ice Sheet from the Cordilleran Ice Sheet. The Laurentide Ice Sheet had a cooling effect on the middle latitudes. [3] This caused the jet stream over North America to split in two. [3] The southern branch was pushed further south than it is in present times meaning that the storm tracks were missing the Pacific Northwest most of the time. [3] Because of this, Southern and Central California had wetter climates than in present times. [5]
Average Annual Temperatures and Precipitation from 20,000 – 16,000 BP | ||||
City/Location | Average Annual Temperature | Average Annual Precipitation | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Aberdeen | 39.7 °F (4.3 °C) | 20.26 inches (51.46 cm) | ||
Battle Ground | 40.2 °F (4.6 °C) | 12.77 inches (32.44 cm) | ||
Centralia | 40.8 °F (4.9 °C) | 11.52 inches (29.26 cm) | ||
Vancouver | 40.4 °F (4.7 °C) | 10.12 inches (25.69 cm) | ||
Table is based on temperatures being 6 °C colder and precipitation only being 24.5% of what it was in the 1961–1990 period. Source for 1961–1990 averages: Western Regional Climate Data Center The locations listed are areas not covered by the glacier. Calculating climate on top of the glacier is more complicated due to the elevation difference and the effect that ice has on temperature. | ||||
Average annual temperatures in the lowlands of Western Washington were above 0 °C (32 °F). This means that there was more summer thawing than there was winter freezing. This would seem to be a climate too warm to support glaciers, but the ice was pushing in from the north faster than it could melt.
The advance of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet actually began long before 19,000 years ago. However, 19,000 years ago marks the approximate time when glaciers crossed the present-day Canada–United States border into Western Washington, [6] which is generally considered to be the beginning of the Vashon Glaciation. This southern part of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet is called the Puget Lobe. During the Vashon Glaciation, the Cordilleran Ice Sheet grew and advanced southwards at a rate of about 135 metres (443 ft) per year. [7] [6] The Vashon Glaciation actually began after the planet's Last Glacial Maximum. Glaciers were retreating throughout most of the world, but growing in Western Washington. Around 18,350 BP, the Puget Lobe blocked the Puget Sound from reaching the Strait of Juan de Fuca, [6] turning the Puget Sound into Glacial Lake Russell. [8] By around 17,950 BP, the glacier reached present-day Seattle. [6] By around 17,650 BP, the Puget Lobe reached present-day Tacoma. [6] By around 17,350 BP, the glacier reached present-day Olympia. [6] The Puget Lobe reached its maximum extent in the vicinity of the present-day city of Tenino [9] around 16,950 BP. [7]
The Puget Lobe remained at its maximum extent in the vicinity of present-day Tenino from around 16,950 BP to around 16,850 BP, a total of about 100 years. [7] The ice depths were about 1.6 kilometres (0.99 mi) at the present-day Canada–United States border, 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) in Seattle, and 200 metres (660 ft) at the glacier's terminus in the Tenino area. [7]
Around 16,850 BP, the Puget Lobe began retreating northward at a rate of about 340 meters (1,120 feet) per year. [7] By about 16,650 BP, the glacier only came down to present-day Olympia. [6] The Puget Lobe began to uncover Glacial Lake Russell. By 16,450 BP, the Puget Lobe only came down to Tacoma. By 16,150 BP, the glacier only came down to Seattle. [6] By about 16,000 BP, the Puget Lobe retreated far enough north that Glacial Lake Russell and the Strait of Juan de Fuca became connected, making Glacial Lake Russell the salt water body of Puget Sound again. [6]
For areas on land, as the Puget Lobe receded, blocks of ice broke off and became separate. The melting glacier produced streams which carried sediment. The bottom of the ice blocks became buried in sediment. As the blocks of ice melted, it left depressions in the ground called kettles. Some of these kettles filled up with water to become kettle lakes and kettle ponds. (see Kettle (landform))
Glacial Lake Carbon was a lake created by the Puget Lobe damming the Carbon River. Around 16,850 BP when the glacier began retreating, the ice dam holding back the lake became breached causing a major glacial outburst flood. [10] The flood covered present day central and northern Thurston County, part of Pierce County, and small parts of Lewis and Grays Harbor Counties. [11]
Domain | Kingdom | Phylum / Division | Class | Order | Family | Genus & Species | Life Form Name (common) | Location & Time Period | Current Status |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Artiodactyla | Bovidae | Bison [12] | Bison | Genus no longer exists in Western Washington. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Artiodactyla | Camelidae | Classical Latin: Camelops hesternvs Medieval Latin: Camelops hesternus | Extinct Western Camel, Yesterday's Camel | Genus is extinct worldwide. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Artiodactyla | Bovidae | Classical Latin: Ovibos moschatvs Medieval Latin: Ovibos moschatus [12] | Muskox | Species no longer exists in Western Washington. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Carnivora | Canidae | Classical Latin: Aenocyon dirvs Medieval Latin: Aenocyon dirus [13] | Dire wolf | Genus is extinct worldwide. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Carnivora | Canidae | Classical Latin: Canis lvpvs Medieval Latin: Canis lupus | Grey wolf | Species no longer exists in Western Washington due to hunting during the latter half of the 1800s century up until the 1930s. [14] | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Carnivora | Felidae | Classical Latin: Homotherivm servm Medieval Latin: Homotherium serum [15] | American scimitar cat | Genus is extinct worldwide. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Carnivora | Felidae | Panthera leo atrox [16] | American lion | Subspecies is extinct worldwide. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Carnivora | Felidae | Smilodon fatalis [17] | Saber-toothed tiger | Genus is extinct worldwide. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Carnivora | Classical Latin: Vrsidae Medieval Latin: Ursidae | Classical Latin: Arctodvs simvs Medieval Latin: Arctodus simus | North American short-faced bear | Genus is extinct worldwide. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Proboscidea | Elephantidae | Classical Latin: Mammvthvs colvmbi Medieval Latin: Mammuthus columbi [18] | Columbian mammoth | Genus is extinct worldwide. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Proboscidea | Classical Latin: Mammvtidae Medieval Latin: Mammutidae | Classical Latin: Mammvt americanvm Medieval Latin: Mammut americanum [12] | American mastodon | Family is extinct worldwide. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Pilosa | Megalonychidae | Classical Latin: Megalonyx ieffersonii Medieval Latin: Megalonyx jeffersonii [12] | Jefferson's ground sloth | Genus is extinct worldwide. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Animalia | Chordata | Mammalia | Rodentia | Geomyidae | Thomomys mazama melanops [19] | Mazama pocket gopher | Species does currently exist in this area, but not abundantly. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | Pinophyta | Pinopsida | Pinales | Pinaceae | Abies lasiocarpa [3] | Subalpine fir | Puget Sound Region, 21,000 – 17,000 BP | Species no longer grows in the Puget Sound Region as a native plant. |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | Pinophyta | Pinopsida | Pinales | Pinaceae | Picea [3] | Spruce | Olympic Peninsula – west side lowlands, 20,000 – 16,000 BP | Genus does currently grow in this area as a native plant. |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | Pinophyta | Pinopsida | Pinales | Pinaceae | Picea engelmannii [3] | Engelmann spruce | Puget Sound Region, 21,000 – 17,000 BP | Species no longer grows in the Puget Sound Region as a native plant. |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | Pinophyta | Pinopsida | Pinales | Pinaceae | Classical Latin: Pinvs Medieval Latin: Pinus [3] | Pine | Olympic Peninsula – west side lowlands, 20,000 – 16,000 BP | Genus does currently grow in this area as a native plant. |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | Pinophyta | Pinopsida | Pinales | Pinaceae | Classical Latin: Pinvs contorta Medieval Latin: Pinus contorta [3] | Lodgepole pine | Puget Sound Region, 21,000 – 17,000 BP | Species does currently grow in this area as a native plant. |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | Pinophyta | Pinopsida | Pinales | Pinaceae | Classical Latin: Tsvga heterophylla Medieval Latin: Tsuga heterophylla [3] | Western hemlock | Olympic Peninsula – west side lowlands, 20,000 – 16,000 BP | Species does currently grow in this area as a native plant. |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | Pinophyta | Pinopsida | Pinales | Pinaceae | Classical Latin: Tsvga mertensiana Medieval Latin: Tsuga mertensiana [3] | Mountain hemlock | Olympic Peninsula – west side lowlands, 20,000 – 16,000 BP | Species does currently grow in this area as a native plant. |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | Pinophyta | Pinopsida | Pinales | Taxaceae | Classical Latin: Taxvs brevifolia Medieval Latin: Taxus brevifolia [3] | Pacific yew | Puget Sound Region, 21,000 – 17,000 BP | Species does currently grow in this area as a native plant. |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | N/A | N/A | Asterales | Asteraceae | Artemisia [3] | Sagebrush | Puget Sound Region, 21,000 – 17,000 BP; Olympic Peninsula – west side near the alpine glaciers, 20,000 – 16,000 BP | Genus no longer grows in the Puget Sound Region as a native plant. |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | N/A | N/A | Fagales | Classical Latin: Betvlaceae Medieval Latin: Betulaceae | Classical Latin: Alnvs Medieval Latin: Alnus [3] | Alder | Olympic Peninsula – west side lowlands, 20,000 – 16,000 BP | Genus does currently grow in this area as a native plant. |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | N/A | N/A | Poales | Cyperaceae [3] | Sedges | Puget Sound Region, 21,000 – 17,000 BP | Family does currently grow in this area as a native plant. | |
Classical Latin: Evkaryota Medieval Latin: Eukaryota | Plantae | N/A | N/A | Poales | Poaceae [3] | Grass | Puget Sound Region, 21,000 – 17,000 BP; Olympic Peninsula – west side near the alpine glaciers, 20,000 – 16,000 BP | Family does currently grow in this area as a native and non-native plant. | |
Pollen data collected from Battleground Lake shows that between 16,000 and 15,000 BP, temperatures were around 4 ± 2 °C (7.2 ± 3.6 °F) colder than present (present as of 1990). [3] The amount of precipitation was similar to that of the present. [3]
From about 14,000 to 12,000 BP, the area got more Pinus contorta (lodgepole pine), but was still an open area. [3] Currently, the earliest human beings known to be in Western Washington were there in 13,800 BP. [20] A mastodon kill site from that time period was excavated in Sequim in 1977. [20]
From 12,000 BP to 10,000 BP, the area got a bigger variety of trees, and became a closed forest. [3] The vegetation was similar to today with Alnus rubra (red alder), Picea sitchensis (sitka spruce), Pinus contorta (lodgepole pine), Pseudotsuga (Douglas fir), and Tsuga heterophylla (Western hemlock). [3]
The official end of the Pleistocene Epoch and the beginning of the Holocene Epoch occurred in 11,700 BP.
Between 9,500 and 4,500 BP during the Holocene climatic optimum, temperatures in the area were around 2 ± 1 °C (3.6 ± 1.8 °F) warmer than present with 45 ± 5% less precipitation. [3] Between 9,500 and 5,000 BP, there was Alnus (alder), Pseudotsuga (Douglas fir), Pteridium (bracken fern), and high amounts of Chrysolepis (chinkapin) and Quercus (oak trees). [3]
Date (years before present) | Event [21] |
---|---|
18800 | The weight of the ice begins to depress the earth crust. The Puget Sound troughs and basin had been created previously. |
18300 | Corderillian Ice Sheet has filled the Strait of Georgia southward out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, where it floats on the ocean. The glacial front is north of the junction of the Hood Canal to Admiralty Inlet and fills the Whidbey Basin. The outwash plains fill the entrance of the Hood Canal, Admiralty Inlet and Possession Sound from north of Everett to the southern end of Whidbey Island. The ice continued to move southward at an average rate of 450 feet (140 m) per year. |
Three freshwater lakes filled the basin. Nearly the entire length of the Hood Canal was open water. To the east the largest body of water filled the East Passage, the Dalco Passage (Tacoma) with a river like basin along the west of Vashon Island. A separate lake flowed from the Case Inlet and Nisqually Reach west of Tacoma through the narrows into the river running north through the Colvos Passage. | |
18100 | The ice sheet continues its southward progression, separating the Hood Canal from the other basins in Puget Sound. The ice front is just north of Seattle and the outwash plain covers all of Elliott Bay, from just north of West Point south to Blake Island. |
Three freshwater lakes that had been created early continued to exist, growing small as the ice front moved south. | |
17800 | The ice sheet has created a uniform arched front running from Dosewallips River mouth, southeast across the Kitsap Peninsula, through Bremerton, arcing across the southern tip of Vashon Island, ending in the Green River valley in the area of Kent. Outwash plains fill the mid reaches of the Hood Canal, the Clifton Channel and 3 to 5 miles (4.8 to 8.0 km) in the Carr Inlet, Colvos Channel, Quartermaster Harbor, and the East Passage of Puget Sound and a similar plain in the valley of the Green River from Kent to Auburn. |
A single freshwater lake extends across the glacial front, covering the lower Hood Canal and the lower hills north of the Black Hills north of Olympia. A smaller body of water fills the valleys of the Puyallup and White Rivers. | |
17500 | The ice front reached to just north of Olympia. The entire basin of the Puget Sound was filled with ice. A small outwash plain covered 2 to 3 miles (3.2 to 4.8 km) in an arch from the heights south of the Hood Canal south and eastward to the Eastern bluffs of the Nisqually River mouth. A narrow band of water lay to the south of this plain and covered the area where Olympia now stands. |
16900 | The ice front reached its southernmost most point. It skirted the east face of the Olympic Mountains, south to the plains north of the Black Hills, skirting their northern hills, reaching southward into the Black River Valley to its junction with the Chehalis River. The front rested on the flanks of Mount Rainier, turning northward, joined by numerous small glaciers in the valleys of the eastern front of the Cascade Mountains. There was 3,000 feet (910 m) of ice over Seattle and the land was depressed 275 feet (84 m) Pioneer Sq. |
16600 | The ice began to retreat after 16900 ya. By 16600, it had returned to north of Olympia, as it was 1000 years earlier. |
16500 | The ice continued to retreat. Still standing south of Tacoma, substantial freshwater bodies had formed. Lake Skokomish stood in the southern bend of the Hood Canal and the lower reaches of the Skokomish River. Early Lake Russell or a late version of Lake Nisqually. |
16400 | Continuing to recede to the north, the ice front reaches from the south side of Tacoma in a northwest arc across the Kitsap Peninsula, exposing the southern hook of Hood Canal, reaching the Olympic Mountains near Quilcene Bay. |
A large freshwater body formed. | |
16300 | The ice front became anchored on the west among the Olympic Mountains near Quilecene Bay. Lake Russell spread across the southern basins of Puget Sound. Lake Hood drained across its southern outlets into Lake Russell. From Tacoma, the ice lay ice front lay 7 to 10 miles (11 to 16 km) to the north and lay across the Green River at Kent. |
16300 | Within a very short period, the glacier retreated up to 15 miles (24 km) in a few decades. Bremerton and Renton are now ice free. |
16200 | Continuing the advanced rate of retreat, Seattle becomes the southern tip of the ice sheet. The Hood Canal has fully joined with Lake Russell, leaving only the highest points the Kitsap Peninsula standing above the shore. |
16100 | The retreat appears to have slowed or halted with evidence that the ice sheet was thinning, rather than receding. The water levels of Lake Russell have dropped correspondingly. |
The upper end of the Stillaguamish River has formed a freshwater lake. Lake Washington and Lake Sammamish appear as water bodies along the southern margin of the lake. | |
16000 | The ice front has receded north opening the mouth of Hood Canal and lies just south of the southern end of Whidbey Island. |
The length of the Stillaguamish River is a freshwater lake. Lake Sammamish has linked to Lake Washington along its present watercourse with Lake Washington draining across Lake Union and then only through the Duwamish River at its south end. | |
15900 | The ice front has receded north into the Strait of Juan de Fuca, linking the Puget Sound Basin to the ocean. The Duwamish-Green River Valley was salt-water reach of the sound. The Stillaguamish River is also a salt-water branch of the sound. |
7500 | Except for the Duwamish-Green River saltwater embayment, the modern waterways have formed into the waterways known today. The Whidbey basin has taken a rudimentary form, with the Stillaguamish River flowing into Port Susan Passage and Skagit Bay has appeared. |
5500 | Mt Rainier's northern crest collapsed sending a lahar down the White River. This creates the Auburn delta in the Duwamish Embayment, separating the Puyallup River valley from the Green River valley. |
2100 | An eruption of Mt Rainier sends sand lahars down White River to its junction with he Duwamish at Tukwila. |
1100 | Duwamish valley earthquake lifts the Duwamish valley by 20 feet (6.1 m) draining what was left of the salt-water embayment, creating the Duwamish delta and what has become the Port of Seattle. |
The Pleistocene is the geological epoch that lasted from c. 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by the International Union of Geological Sciences, the cutoff of the Pleistocene and the preceding Pliocene was regarded as being 1.806 million years Before Present (BP). Publications from earlier years may use either definition of the period. The end of the Pleistocene corresponds with the end of the last glacial period and also with the end of the Paleolithic age used in archaeology. The name is a combination of Ancient Greek πλεῖστος (pleîstos), meaning "most", and καινός, meaning "new".
The Wisconsin Glacial Episode, also called the Wisconsin glaciation, was the most recent glacial period of the North American ice sheet complex. This advance included the Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which nucleated in the northern North American Cordillera; the Innuitian ice sheet, which extended across the Canadian Arctic Archipelago; the Greenland ice sheet; and the massive Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered the high latitudes of central and eastern North America. This advance was synchronous with global glaciation during the last glacial period, including the North American alpine glacier advance, known as the Pinedale glaciation. The Wisconsin glaciation extended from approximately 75,000 to 11,000 years ago, between the Sangamonian Stage and the current interglacial, the Holocene. The maximum ice extent occurred approximately 25,000–21,000 years ago during the last glacial maximum, also known as the Late Wisconsin in North America.
The Last Glacial Period (LGP), also known colloquially as the last ice age or simply ice age, occurred from the end of the Eemian to the end of the Younger Dryas, encompassing the period c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago. The LGP is part of a larger sequence of glacial and interglacial periods known as the Quaternary glaciation which started around 2,588,000 years ago and is ongoing. The definition of the Quaternary as beginning 2.58 million years ago (Mya) is based on the formation of the Arctic ice cap. The Antarctic ice sheet began to form earlier, at about 34 Mya, in the mid-Cenozoic. The term Late Cenozoic Ice Age is used to include this early phase. The previous ice age, the Saale glaciation, which ended about 128,000 years ago, was more severe than the Last Glacial Period in some areas such as Britain, but less severe in others.
A jökulhlaup is a type of glacial outburst flood. It is an Icelandic term that has been adopted in glaciological terminology in many languages. It originally referred to the well-known subglacial outburst floods from Vatnajökull, Iceland, which are triggered by geothermal heating and occasionally by a volcanic subglacial eruption, but it is now used to describe any large and abrupt release of water from a subglacial or proglacial lake/reservoir.
The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), also referred to as the Late Glacial Maximum, was the most recent time during the Last Glacial Period that ice sheets were at their greatest extent 26 ka - 20 ka, during an interval of low obliquity. Ice sheets covered much of Northern North America, Northern Europe, and Asia and profoundly affected Earth's climate by causing a major expansion of deserts, along with a large drop in sea levels. Based on changes in position of ice sheet margins dated via terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides and radiocarbon dating, growth of ice sheets commenced 33,000 years ago and maximum coverage was between 26,500 years and 19–20,000 years ago, when deglaciation commenced in the Northern Hemisphere, causing an abrupt rise in sea level. Decline of the West Antarctica ice sheet occurred between 14,000 and 15,000 years ago, consistent with evidence for another abrupt rise in the sea level about 14,500 years ago. Glacier fluctuations around the Strait of Magellan suggest the peak in glacial surface area was constrained to between 25,200 and 23,100 years ago. Continental ice sheets never reached their isostatic equilibrium during the LGM, as evidenced by high variability in ice volume over short spans of time.
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered millions of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the Northern United States, multiple times during the Quaternary glacial epochs, from 2.58 million years ago to the present.
The Cordilleran ice sheet was a major ice sheet that periodically covered large parts of North America during glacial periods over the last ~2.6 million years.
The Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began 2.58 Ma and is ongoing. Although geologists describe this entire period up to the present as an "ice age", in popular culture this term usually refers to the most recent glacial period, or to the Pleistocene epoch in general. Since Earth still has polar ice sheets, geologists consider the Quaternary glaciation to be ongoing, though currently in an interglacial period.
A tunnel valley is a U-shaped valley originally cut under the glacial ice near the margin of continental ice sheets such as that now covering Antarctica and formerly covering portions of all continents during past glacial ages. They can be as long as 100 km (62 mi), 4 km (2.5 mi) wide, and 400 m (1,300 ft) deep.
The glacial history of Minnesota is most defined since the onset of the last glacial period, which ended some 10,000 years ago. Within the last million years, most of the Midwestern United States and much of Canada were covered at one time or another with an ice sheet. This continental glacier had a profound effect on the surface features of the area over which it moved. Vast quantities of rock and soil were scraped from the glacial centers to its margins by slowly moving ice and redeposited as drift or till. Much of this drift was dumped into old preglacial river valleys, while some of it was heaped into belts of hills at the margin of the glacier. The chief result of glaciation has been the modification of the preglacial topography by the deposition of drift over the countryside. However, continental glaciers possess great power of erosion and may actually modify the preglacial land surface by scouring and abrading rather than by the deposition of the drift.
The proglacial lakes of Minnesota were lakes created in what is now the U.S. state of Minnesota in central North America in the waning years of the last glacial period. As the Laurentide Ice Sheet decayed at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation, lakes were created in depressions or behind moraines left by the glaciers. Evidence for these lakes is provided by low relief topography and glaciolacustrine sedimentary deposits. Not all contemporaneous, these glacial lakes drained after the retreat of the lobes of the ice sheets that blocked their outlets, or whose meltwaters fed them. There were a number of large lakes, one of which, Glacial Lake Agassiz, was the largest body of freshwater known to have existed on the North American continent; there were also dozens of smaller and more transitory lakes filled from glacial meltwater, which shrank or dried as the ice sheet retreated north.
Boulder Park National Natural Landmark, of Douglas County, Washington, along with the nearby McNeil Canyon Haystack Rocks and Sims Corner Eskers and Kames natural landmarks, illustrate well-preserved examples of classic Pleistocene ice stagnation landforms that are found in Washington. These landforms include numerous glacial erratics and haystack rocks that occur near and on the Withrow Moraine, which is the terminal moraine of the Okanogan ice lobe.
The Weichselian glaciation was the last glacial period and its associated glaciation in northern parts of Europe. In the Alpine region it corresponds to the Würm glaciation. It was characterized by a large ice sheet that spread out from the Scandinavian Mountains and extended as far as the east coast of Schleswig-Holstein, northern Poland and Northwest Russia. This glaciation is also known as the Weichselian ice age, Vistulian glaciation, Weichsel or, less commonly, the Weichsel glaciation, Weichselian cold period (Weichsel-Kaltzeit), Weichselian glacial (Weichsel-Glazial), Weichselian Stage or, rarely, the Weichselian complex (Weichsel-Komplex).
Glacial Lake Columbia was the lake formed on the ice-dammed Columbia River behind the Okanogan lobe of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet when the lobe covered 500 square miles (1,300 km2) of the Waterville Plateau west of Grand Coulee in central Washington state during the Wisconsin glaciation. Lake Columbia was a substantially larger version of the modern-day lake behind the Grand Coulee Dam. Lake Columbia's overflow – the diverted Columbia River – drained first through Foster Coulee, and as the ice dam grew, then through Moses Coulee, and finally, the Grand Coulee.
New England is a region in the North Eastern United States consisting of the states Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Maine. Most of New England consists geologically of volcanic island arcs that accreted onto the eastern edge of the Laurentian Craton in prehistoric times. Much of the bedrock found in New England is heavily metamorphosed due to the numerous mountain building events that occurred in the region. These events culminated in the formation of Pangaea; the coastline as it exists today was created by rifting during the Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. The most recent rock layers are glacial conglomerates.
Deglaciation is the transition from full glacial conditions during ice ages, to warm interglacials, characterized by global warming and sea level rise due to change in continental ice volume. Thus, it refers to the retreat of a glacier, an ice sheet or frozen surface layer, and the resulting exposure of the Earth's surface. The decline of the cryosphere due to ablation can occur on any scale from global to localized to a particular glacier. After the Last Glacial Maximum, the last deglaciation begun, which lasted until the early Holocene. Around much of Earth, deglaciation during the last 100 years has been accelerating as a result of climate change, partly brought on by anthropogenic changes to greenhouse gases.
The last glacial period and its associated glaciation is known in southern Chile as the Llanquihue glaciation. Its type area lies west of Llanquihue Lake where various drifts or end moraine systems belonging to the last glacial period have been identified. The glaciation is the last episode of existence of the Patagonian Ice Sheet. Around Nahuel Huapi Lake the equivalent glaciation is known as the Nahuel Huapi Drift.
Lake Jordan was a glacial lake formed during the late Pleistocene along the Jordan River. After the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated, water melting off the glacier accumulated between the Rocky Mountains and the ice sheet. The lake drained along the front of the ice sheet, eastward towards the Yellowstone River and Glacial Lake Glendive.
Lake Chouteau was a glacial lake formed during the late Pleistocene along the Teton River. After the Laurentide Ice Sheet retreated, water melting off the glacier accumulated between the Rocky Mountains and the ice sheet. The lake drained along the front of the ice sheet, eastward towards the Judith River and the Missouri River.
Rocky Prairie is a prairie that is about 56 miles (90 km) southwest of Seattle, Washington, United States, and about 10 miles (16 km) south of Washington's capital city of Olympia. It sits very close to the Millersylvania State Park, the community of Maytown, and the city of Tenino.