The Cordilleran Ice Sheet in northern British Columbia

Abstract

Dates from lavas associated with tills and erratics indicate that ice-sheet glaciations occurred between 4 and 0.6 Ma BP. The few radiocarbon dates that are available suggest that the chronology of the Late Wisconsinan (Fraser Glaciation) ice sheet of northern British Columbia was similar to that of the southern part of the province. During what may have been a long, early phase of this glaciation, Glacial Lake Stikine was dammed by advancing valley glaciers in the Coast Mountains, and alpine glaciers developed on the intermontane plateau. At the climax of Fraser Glaciation, ice-flow patterns were dominated by outflow from a neve centred over the northern Skeena Mountains. Deglaciation occurred partly by frontal retreat of ice tongues and partly by downwasting of stagnant ice. Recessional moraines mark one of more resurgences of stillstands of the ice margin. During deglaciation, Stikine River valley was occupied by an active outlet glacier and a major subglacial drainage system. -Authors