Application of 14C AMS dating to the chronology of Holocene glacier fluctuations in the high Arctic, with special reference to Leffert Glacier, Ellesmere Island, Canada

Abstract

A series of radiocarbon age determinations obtained by Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS) shows that the front of Leffert Glacier, a major outlet glacier from the Prince of Wales Icefield, Ellesmere Island, was 18+km behind (west of) its present position for a period of at least 1500 radiocarbon years. A subsequent readvance occurred close to 2000 radiocarbon years ago, as a consequence of the climatic cooling that followed the warm Hypsithermal Interval. A number of other glaciers in the region appear to have behaved in similar fashion. -Author