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Abstract: Large outlet glaciers draining the Greenland Ice Sheet significantly influence overall ice sheet mass balance. Considerable short term (years to decades) retreat and fluctuations in velocity of Jakobshavn Isbræ, western Greenland, illustrate the complex nature by which large outlet glaciers respond to climate change, making predictions of future ice sheet change challenging. To provide a longer-term view (centuries), we investigate the geological record of Jakobshavn Isbræ change. We use continuous sediment records from lakes that were influenced by the recent advance of Jakobshavn Isbræ, which took place during the Little Ice Age. In particular, we explore the use of annually laminated lake sediments (varves) to precisely constrain the advance of the ice margin as it approached its late Holocene maximum extent. We find that the ice margin advanced recently, at least after ∼1650 to ∼1700 AD, and more likely ∼1800 AD. We suggest that during this period Jakobshavn Isbræ advanced at a rate that was similar to its historically documented average retreat since ∼1850 AD. Our results indicate that Jakobshavn Isbræ, and presumably other large marine calving glaciers, have the ability to advance quickly in response to climate forcing. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The future response of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) and its potential contribution to sea level rise are uncertain. Rapid changes of Greenland’s outlet glaciers over the past decade have made it difficult to extrapolate ice sheet change into the future. This significant short-term variability highlights the need for longer-term, geologic (e.g., Holocene) records of ice margin fluctuations. However, a major challenge with reconstructing the GIS during the Holocene stems from it having been smaller than it is at present, thus traditional glacial geologic approaches are not suitable. We use radiocarbon-dated sediment sequences from seven proglacial-threshold lakes spanning ∼50 km of the western GIS margin near Jakobshavn Isbræ to constrain the timing of early Holocene deglaciation, the duration that this sector of the western GIS was smaller than its present configuration, and the timing of its advance during Neoglaciation. Our reconstructions suggest deglaciation ∼7300 cal yr BP, minimum ice extent ∼6000–5000 cal yr BP and smaller-than-present ice configuration until at least ∼2300 cal yr BP for the ice margin south of Jakobshavn Isbræ, and until ∼400 cal yr BP for the ice margin north of Jakobshavn Isbræ. One relatively large proglacial lake that became briefly ice-free during the middle Holocene lies in a catchment that likely extends 10s of km inland beneath the GIS, suggesting significant middle Holocene retreat of this portion of the GIS. The overall pattern of ice sheet change is inconsistent with existing ice sheet model reconstructions for this region, but is consistent with numerous paleoclimate proxy and relative sea level data. These continuous lacustrine records corroborate, but provide closer age control than, existing non-continuous records of radiocarbon-dated reworked bivalves from historical moraines in the region. Reconstructing ice margin change from proglacial-threshold lakes is one of few approaches with the potential to constrain smaller-than-present ice sheet extent. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: We present 10Be exposure ages from moraines in the Delta River Valley, a reference locality for Pleistocene glaciation in the northern Alaska Range. The ages are from material deposited during the Delta and Donnelly glaciations, which have been correlated with MIS 6 and 2, respectively. 10Be chronology indicates that at least part of the Delta moraine stabilized during MIS 4/3, and that the Donnelly moraine stabilized ∼17ka. These ages correlate with other dates from the Alaska Range and other regions in Alaska, suggesting synchronicity across Beringia during pulses of late Pleistocene glaciation. Several sample types were collected: boulders, single clasts, and gravel samples (amalgamated small clasts) from around boulders as well as from surfaces devoid of boulders. Comparing 10Be ages of these sample types reveals the influence of pre/post-depositional processes, including boulder erosion, boulder exhumation, and moraine surface lowering. These processes occur continuously but seem to accelerate during and immediately after successive glacial episodes. The result is a multi-peak age distribution indicating that once a moraine persists through subsequent glaciations the chronological significance of cosmogenic ages derived from samples collected on that moraine diminishes significantly. The absence of Holocene ages implies relatively minor exhumation and/or weathering since 12ka. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A long-standing debate regarding the reconstruction of former ice sheets revolves around the use of relative weathering of landscapes, i.e., the assumption that highly weathered landscapes have not been recently glaciated. New cosmogenic isotope measurements from upland bedrock surfaces and erratics along the northeastern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) shed light on this debate. 10Be and 26Al concentrations from three perched erratics, yielding cosmogenic exposure ages of 17–11 ka, are much lower than those measured in two unmodified, highly weathered tors upon which they lie, which yield cosmogenic exposure ages of >60 ka. These findings suggest that non-erosive ice covered weathered upland surfaces along the northeastern margin of the LIS during the last glacial maximum. These data challenge the use of relative weathering to define the margins of Pleistocene ice sheets. The juxtaposition of non-erosive ice over upland plateaus and erosive ice in adjacent fiords requires strong gradients in basal thermal regimes, suggestive of an ice-stream mode of glaciation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Constraining the history of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) is important for improving our understanding of ice sheet dynamics and landscape evolution processes. We analyzed in situ cosmogenic 10 Be and 26 Al in 26 rock samples from two high-elevation landscapes adjacent to the GIS, minimally eroded by past glaciations and of differing character in Uummannaq (n = 16) and Sukkertoppen (n = 10), western Greenland. The Uummannaq region is characterized by a marine embayment with islands and peninsulas, where the margin of the GIS is marine-based, whereas the Sukkertoppen landscape resides within the wide terrestrial fringe outboard of the land-terminating portion of the southwestern GIS margin. We targeted landscapes for sampling with highly weathered surfaces adjacent to cold-based portions of extant ice caps (indicated by preservation of fragile, dead vegetation emerging from beneath retreating ice margins). Paired isotope results require differing surface histories between the two areas. Many surfaces in the Uummannaq region have minimum exposure durations up to ca. 300 kyr, but with no significant burial. Most surfaces in the Sukkertoppen region, however, yield complex exposure histories with minimum cumulative exposure durations up to ca. 100 kyr and minimum cumulative burial durations up to ca. 400 kyr, yielding minimum total surface histories of up to 500 ka. These findings suggest that parts of the Uummannaq landscape may have been continuously exposed throughout much of the middle and late Quaternary. On the other hand, the high-altitude surfaces in the Sukkertoppen region were largely preserved beneath minimally-erosive, cold-based ice during the same period. Data from the Uummannaq region thus stand in contrast not only to the Sukkertoppen region, but also to other sites surrounding Baffin Bay reported in previous studies. We hypothesize that surfaces in the Uummannaq region may have remained as nunataks above the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ice sheet surface, as well as prior glacial maxima, due to significant ice surface drawdown by the Uummannaq Ice Stream System (UISS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]