ALBERT

Description: Four glacial drifts that are interstratified with lava flows and tephra layers on the upper slopes of Mauna Kea demonstrate that an ice cap formed repeatedly at the summit of the volcano during the middle and late Pleistocene. The oldest drift (Pohakuloa Formation) probably was deposited shortly after eruption of a lava flow having a K/Ar age of 278,500 ± 68,500 yr. Drift of the Waihu Formation, marked by a belt of subdued end moraines, is correlated with hyaloclastite cones and associated lava flows that were erupted beneath an ice cap about 170,000–175,000 yr ago. One of four younger subglacially erupted lavas at the crest of the volcano has a K/Ar age of 41,300 ± 8300 yr. Tephra layers that antedate the last glaciation are about 29,700 to 37,200 14C yr old and underlie dune sand that is believed to correlate with drift of the Makanaka Formation deposited during the last ice advance. The late Makanaka ice cap, which covered an area of about 70 km2 and was as much as 100 m thick, is reconstructed from end moraines and limits of erratic stones that encircle the summit region. The ice cap disappeared from the summit before about 9080 yr ago. Postglacial lavas and tephra overlie the youngest drift on the upper south flank of the mountain and buried a widespread post-Makanaka soil on the lower south rift zone about 4500 14C yr ago. The island of Hawaii is subsiding isostatically due to crustal loading by Quaternary volcanic rocks, with subsidence near the midpoint of Mauna Kea estimated as about 2.5 ± 0.5 mm/yr. A curve depicting an inferred long-term subsidence rate has been used to adjust equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) of former ice caps that are calculated on the basis of reconstructed glacier topography and an assumed accumulation-area ratio of 0.6 ± 0.05. The results indicate that ELA depression was greatest during Waihu glaciation, least during Pohakuloa glaciation, and that the ELA during late Makanaka glaciation was somewhat lower than that of the early Makanaka advance. Available radiometric dates show that late Makanaka glaciation correlates with stage 2 of the marine oxygen-isotope record, and suggest that early Makanaka, Waihu, and Pohakuloa glaciations correlate, respectively, with isotope stages 4, 6, and 8. Because ice caps could have formed on Mauna Kea only after the snowline was lowered many hundreds of meters below its inferred present level, episodes of Hawaiian glaciation probably were restricted to times of maximum ice volume on the continents. The asymmetry of the late Makanaka ice cap and the southeast-descending gradient of its equilibrium line are consistent with a southeast (tradewinds) source of precipitation during the last glaciation. Although departures of glacial-age temperature and precipitation from present values are difficult to assess quantitatively, growth of former ice caps on Mauna Kea most likely was due to enhanced winter snowfall and to reduced ablation rates brought about by lower air temperature and increased cloudiness.

Description: Pumiceous tephra, resulting from multiple eruptions of Glacier Peak volcano in late-glacial time, mantles much of the landscape in the eastern North Cascade Range and extends eastward beyond the Columbia River as a thinner discontinuous deposit. Within about 25 km of the source, the tephra is divisible into as many as nine layers, distinguishable in the field on the basis of color, grain size, thickness, and stratigraphic position. Three principal layers, designated G (oldest), M, and B, are separated from one another by thinner, finer layers. Layer G has been found as far east as Montana and southern Alberta, whereas layer B has been identified as far as western Wyoming. By contrast, layer M trends nearly south, paralleling the crest of the Cascade Range. Available 14C dates indicate that the tephra complex was probably deposited between about 12,750 and 11,250 years ago. Glacier Peak tephra overlies moraines and associated outwash east of the Cascade Crest that were deposited about 14,000 years ago. Unreworked tephra occurs within several kilometers of many valley heads implying that major valley glaciers had nearly disappeared by the time of the initial tephra fall. Distribution of tephra indicates that the southern margin of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet had retreated at least 80 km north of its terminal moraine on the Waterville Plateau by the time layer G was deposited. Late-glacial moraines of the Rat Creek advance lie within the fallout area of layer M but lack the tephra on their surface implying that they were built subsequent to the eruption of this unit. Moraines of the Hyak advance at Snoqualmie Pass, which are correlated with the Rat Creek moraines farther north, were constructed prior to 11,000 14C years ago. The late-glacial advance along the Cascade Crest, therefore, apparently culminated between about 12,000 and 11,000 14C years ago and was broadly in phase with the Sumas readvance of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet in the Fraser Lowland which occurred between about 11,800 and 11,400 14C years ago.

Description: During the Itkillik Glaciation the Brooks Range supported an extensive mountain-glacier complex that extended for 750 km between 141° and 158°W longitude. Individual ice streams and piedmont lobes flowed as much as 50 km beyond the north and south margins of the range. Glaciers in the southern Brooks Range were longer than those farther north because of a southerly precipitation source, whereas those in the central and eastern part of the range were larger than glaciers at the extremities of the mountain system because of higher and more-extensive accumulation areas. Glacier equilibrium-line altitudes (ELAs) at the time of greatest advance were depressed 600 ± 100 m below present levels, whereas during a less-extensive late-glacial readvance (Alapah Mountain) ELA depression was about 300 ± 30 m. Radiocarbon dates indicate that Itkillik drift correlates with Late Wisconsin drift along the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and with drift of Cordilleran glaciers in southern Alaska and the western conterminous United States deposited during the last glaciation. Itkillik I moraines represent the maximum ice advance under cold full-glacial conditions between about 24,000 and 17,000 14C y. a. Itkillik II sediments, probably deposited close to 14,000 y. a., are characterized by abundant outwash and ice-contact stratified drift implying a milder climate than that of the Itkillik I phase. Alapah Mountain moraines at the heads of valleys draining high-altitude (≥1800 m) source areas record a possible late Itkillik readvance that is not yet closely dated. Itkillik glaciers may have largely disappeared from Brooks Range valleys by the beginning of the Holocene.

Description: Equilibrium-line altitudes (ELA's) of former glaciers in the Tasman River-Lake Pukaki drainage basin of the Southern Alps were reconstructed from glacial-geologic data on former ice limits by using an assumed accumulation-area ratio of 0.6 ± 0.05. Late Holocene (Neoglacial) ELA's were depressed 140 m below present levels, whereas those of four late Pleistocene ice advances were depressed 500 m (Birch Hill), 750 m (Tekapo), 875 m (Mt. John), and 1050 m (Balmoral). Reconstructed ELA gradients are approximately parallel to one another and range from 19 to 23 m km−1. Although vertical movement on active faults and isostatic tilting due to deglaciation have both contributed to modification of reconstructed ELA gradients from their original values, the maximum resulting effect probably amounts to less than 2.0 m km−1 and is undetectable from present data.