isotopic fractionation at the base of polar and sub polar glaciers by g s boulton school of environmental sciences university of east anglia norwich nr4 7tj england and fysisch geografisch en bodemkundig laboratorium university of amsterdam amsterdam holland and u spring electrowatt ch 8022 zurich switzerland abstract the melting of ice and the subsequent production of regelation ice from the melt water in a large scale closed system beneath sub polar and polar glaciers produces progressive fractionation between the melt water and the re gelation ice derived from it a theory is developed which predicts the change of isotopic composition in regelation ice in a subglacial zone of freezing and in the water from which it is derived the theory is tested against data from the byrd station bore hole in west antarctica and applied to explain features of the isotopic composition in several other glaciers where thick sequences of regelation ice have formed the principal conclusions are

seawater ph pco2 and co2 3 variations in the caribbean sea over the last 130 kyr a boron isotope and b ca study of planktic foraminifera abstract here a new analytical methodology is described for measuring the isotopic composition of boron in foraminifera using multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry mc icpms this new approach is fast 10 samples analysed in duplicate per analytical session and accurate to better than 0 25 at 95 confidence with acceptable sample size requirements 1 3 mg of carbonate a core top calibration of several common planktic and two benthic species from geographically widespread localities shows a very close agreement between the isotopic composition measured by mc icpms and the isotopic composition of b oh 4 in seawater as predicted using the recently measured isotopic equilibrium factor of 1 0272 at the depth of habitat a down core and core top investigation of boron concentration b ca ratio shows that the partition coefficient is influenced by co2 3 complicating the application of this proxy nevertheless it is demonstrated that these two proxies can be used to fully constrain the carbonate system of surface water in the caribbean sea odp site 999a over the last 130 kyr this reconstruction shows that during much of the holocene and the last interglacial period surface water at site 999a was in equilibrium with the atmosphere with respect to co2 during the intervening colder periods although the surface water pco2 was lower than the holocene it was a minor to significant source of co2 to the atmosphere possibly due to either an expansion of the eastern equatorial atlantic upwelling zone or a more local expansion of coastal upwelling in the southern caribbean such reorganisation of the oceanic carbonate system in favour of a larger source of co2 to the atmosphere from the equatorial ocean may require mechanisms responsible for lowering atmospheric co2 during glacial periods to be more efficient than previously supposed

modern and late pleistocene b ca ratios of the benthic foraminifer planulina wuellerstorfi determined with laser ablation icp ms incorporation of boron into foraminiferal shells is thought to be primarily governed by the carbonate chemistry of the ambient seawater suggesting that it can be reconstructed from b ca ratios to this end b ca ratios of the benthic foraminifer planulina wuellerstorfi from south atlantic core top samples have been analyzed using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectroscopy la icp ms to provide additional information on intratest trace element heterogeneity results show that boron is heterogeneously distributed within and between shells with content variations of approximately 43 displayed within a single shell b ca is higher in the youngest chambers opposite to the observed between chamber variability of mg ca this may be explained by ontogenetic changes of physiological processes that increase the ph of the calcifying fluid and thus the borate concentration while decreasing mg ca to promote calcification despite this heterogeneity mean b ca ratios are positively correlated with the deepwater calcite saturation state co32 in line with previous studies we apply this empirical relationship to reconstruct co32 for the late pleistocene to holocene using samples from a depth transect in the equatorial atlantic reconstructed co32 values confirm previous studies suggesting that caco3 oversaturated north atlantic deep water was reduced during glacial periods whereas caco3 undersaturated antarctic bottom water expanded vertically and propagated northwards in summary our data demonstrate that bulk b ca in p wuellerstorfi reliably reflects variations in co32 despite the strong physiological control of boron incorporation

a method for computing shallow ice core depths sipre style hand augers usually recover core sections whose bottom is somewhat shallower than the drill depth a procedure for calculating the range of possible core depths is presented in the field the drill barrel is lowered down the hole by means of a series of rigid extension rods the apparatus is then rotated to drill through debris left behind by the prior run and into fresh firn or ice care is taken to ensure that the total penetration of debris and firn does not exceed about half the length of the drill barrel otherwise the barrel s capacity for core and chips will be exceeded and the drill likely jammed the entire apparatus is then recovered the workers record the run number the total drill length barrel and extensions the exposed length of extensions above the hole top at the end of drilling and the length of recovered core the cycle is then repeated an example is shown in table i these data are then used to calculate drill depth which is drill length minus the exposed length plus an adjustment if drilling is from the base of a pit distance drilled is then obtained by comparison with the drill depth of the prior run the apparent core loss is the distallce drilled minus the length of recovered core the actual core loss is not readily calculated it is the sum of true core loss ground up core and the collapse of friable strata and the amount of core

modern and pleistocene boron isotope composition of the benthic foraminifer cibicidoides wuellerstorfi abstract here we present the first species specific study of boron isotopes in the epibenthic foraminifer species cibicidoides wuellerstorfi coretop samples from a water depth profile from 1000 to 4500 m on the northern flank of the walvis ridge are 4 4 lower than the values expected based on calculations of the 11bborate of ambient seawater similar values for this foraminifer species are presented from odp site 668b at the sierra leone rise in the equatorial atlantic the consistency between data of the same species suggests the offsets are primary rather than diagenetic glacial c wuellerstorfi from odp 668b and walvis ridge have boron isotope compositions only slightly different to interglacial samples that is no larger than 0 10 ph units or 23 mol kg 1 in co32 above the reconstructed glacial lysocline and 0 07 ph units or 14 mol kg 1 in co32 below we use these results to suggest that glacial deep water ph in the atlantic was similar to interglacial ph the new data resolve the inconsistency between the previously reported high bottom water ph and the lack of significant carbonate preservation of the glacial deep ocean

tephrochronology of late wisconsin deglaciation and holocene glacier fluctuations near glacier peak north cascade range washington abstract tephra layers near glacier peak in the north cascade range provide limiting dates for four periods of alpine glacier advance field relations suggest that late wisconsin alpine glaciers last advanced prior to the eruption of tephra layers from glacier peak about 11 250 yr b p late wisconsin deglaciation in the central north cascades was complete prior to the glacier peak tephra eruptions glaciers again expanded in the early holocene about 8400 8300 yr b p soil formed in alpine meadows during an episode of mild climate in the middle holocene prior to at least two intervals of glacier expansion an older episode between 5100 and 3400 yr b p and a younger episode within the last 1000 yr

weertman regelation multiple refreezing events and the isotopic evolution of the basal ice layer a simple model is developed to s imulate the isotopic fractionation which accompanies weertman regelation at the bed of temperate based glaciers the fractionation equations of jouzel and souchez 1 982 are applied to multiple refreezing events over measured glacier bed profiles and mass balance is maintained as the basal ice and meltwater produced at one bedrock hummock enter the next s imulation results indicate that undeformed regelation ice layers are on the order of millimetres to centimetres thick often being completely melted at the stoss face of certain hummocks and exceptionally reaching a thickness in excess of 1 0 cm neither the internal morphology nor the isotopic composition of these layers is constant but both vary down glacier in accordance with bedrock configuration a glacier wide fractionation process is identified whereby heavy isotopes are preferentially removed fro m the basal meltwater film and incorporated into the basal ice this process might go some way to explaining the anomalously light isotopic composition measured in base flow waters leaving some glaciers vertical isotope profiles through undeformed basal ice layers are reconstructed and show that significant isotopic excursions can occur at a scale of millimeteres while the range of isotopic compositions within such m ulti layered regelation ice is greater than that which would occur in ice produced by a single refreezing event in circumstances where the regelation system is disrupted by removal of film waters into a network of linked cavities i t is found that the remaining basal ice may be significantly enriched in heavy isotopes relative to the composition of the initial mass inputs to the system heavy isotope enrichment of this m agnitude and consideration of the thickness of the basal ice layers concerned may explain the absence of recorded basal ice samples heavy enough to h ave been formed in equilibrium with subglacial precipitates sampled at one of the sites glacier de tsanfleuron and reported in an earlier paper

alkenone and boron based pliocene pco2 records abstract the pliocene period is the most recent time when the earth was globally significantly 3 c warmer than today however the existing pco2 data for the pliocene are sparse and there is little agreement between the various techniques used to reconstruct palaeo pco2 this disagreement coupled with the general low temporal resolution of the published records does not allow a robust assessment of the role of declining pco2 in the intensification of the northern hemisphere glaciation inhg and a direct comparison to other proxy records are lacking for the first time we use a combination of foraminiferal 11b and organic biomarker alkenone derived carbon isotopes proxies to determine the concentration of atmospheric co2 over the past 5 ma both proxy records show that during the warm pliocene pco2 was between 330 and 400 ppm i e similar to today the decrease to values similar to pre industrial times 275 285 ppm occurred between 3 2 ma and 2 8 ma coincident with the inhg and affirming the link between global climate the cryosphere and pco2

high resolution climatic evolution of coastal northern california during the past 16 000 years holocene and latest pleistocene oceanographic conditions and the coastal climate of northern california have varied greatly based upon high resolution studies ca every 100 years of diatoms alkenones pollen caco 3 and total organic carbon at ocean drilling program odp site 1019 41 682 n 124 930 w 980 m water depth marine climate proxies alkenone sea surface temperatures ssts and caco 3 behaved remarkably like the greenland ice sheet project gisp 2 oxygen isotope record during the balling allerod younger dryas yd and early part of the holocene during the yd alkenone ssts decreased by 3 c below mean bolling allerod and holocene ssts the early holocene ca 11 6 to 8 2 ka was a time of generally warm conditions and moderate caco 3 content generally 4 the middle part of the holocene ca 8 2 to 3 2 ka was marked by alkenone ssts that were consistently 1 2 c cooler than either the earlier or later parts of the holocene by greatly reduced numbers of the gyre diatom pseudoeunotia doliolus 10 and by a permanent drop in caco 3 to 3 starting at ca 5 2 ka coastal redwood and alder began a steady rise arguing for increasing effective moisture and the development of the north coast temperate rain forest at ca 3 2 ka a permanent ca 1 c increase in alkenone sst and a threefold increase in p doliolus signaled a warming of fall and winter ssts intensified higher amplitude and more frequent cycles of pine pollen alternating with increased alder and redwood pollen are evidence that rapid changes in effective moisture and seasonal temperature enhanced el nino southern oscillation enso cycles have characterized the site 1019 record since about 3 5 ka

did rock avalanche deposits modulate the late holocene advance of tiedemann glacier southern coast mountains british columbia canada abstract most glaciers in western north america with reliable age control achieved their maximum holocene extents during final advances of the little ice age tiedemann glacier a large alpine glacier in western canada is an enigma because the glacier constructed lateral moraines that are up to 90 m higher and extend 1 8 km farther downvalley than those constructed during the little ice age our data show that the activity of the glacier is more complex than originally documented and that the glacier advanced many times during the past six thousand years surface exposure dating and radiocarbon ages of stumps beneath till demonstrate that the glacier achieved its maximum holocene extent at about 2 7 ka we hypothesize that one or more rock avalanches delivered surface debris to the glacier and caused the 2 7 ka glacier advance to be much larger than can be explained by climate forcing to test our hypothesis we developed and used a surface debris advection routine coupled to an ice dynamics model our results show that even a moderately sized rock avalanche 10 10 6 m 3 delivered to the top of the ablation zone could cause the glacier to thicken and advance far beyond its little ice age limit

a latest pleistocene and holocene glacial history and paleoclimate reconstruction at three sisters and broken top volcanoes oregon u s a abstract at least three sets of moraines mark distinct glacial stands since the last glacial maximum lgm in the three sisters region of the oregon cascade range the oldest stand predates 8 1 ka defined here as post lgm followed by a second between 2 and 8 ka neoglacial and a third from the little ice age lia advance of the last 300 years the post lgm equilibrium line altitudes were 260 100 m lower than that of modern glaciers requiring 23 9 increased winter snowfall and 1 4 0 5 c cooler summer temperatures than at present the lia advance had equilibrium line altitudes 110 40 m lower than at present implying 10 4 greater winter snowfall and 0 6 0 2 c cooler summer temperatures

a quantitative framework for interpretation of basal ice facies formed by ice accretion over subglacial sediment 1 we have constructed a numerical model of basal ice formation for glacier ice in contact with subglacial sediment the model predicts four different ice facies whose formation is controlled by availability of subglacial water to satisfy the basal freeze on rate clean or clotted facies may result from congelation or frazil ice growth occurring when supercooled meltwater separates ice base from substrate or if a groundwater source can supply water to the ice base at a velocity equal to the freezing rate laminated facies develops when the supply of subglacial water is sufficiently constrained for cryostatic suction to raise the subglacial effective stress above a threshold for intrusion of ice into sediment by regelation debris laminas 1 mm are entrained by short periodic regelation events of a few hours separated by longer periods days to months of congelation further meltwater limitation produces a massive dirty ice facies due to stacking of debris laminas the model predicts growth of solid dirty ice facies when the bed is meltwater depleted with fast freezing 5 mm yr 1 causing enhanced erosion 30 mm yr 1 we find that basal ice facies and sediment entrainment are controlled mainly by the ratio of freezing rate to water supply rate the predicted ice facies compare favorably with borehole camera imagery of the basal ice layer in kamb ice stream west antarctica facies variability in this layer suggests complex hydrologic history for the west antarctic ice sheet with significant changes occurring over a period of several thousand years

age of the crowfoot advance in the canadian rocky mountains a glacial event coeval with the younger dryas oscillation a suite of sediment core samples was recovered from two lakes crowfoot and bow lakes that are adjacent to the crowfoot moraine type locality to identify and radiocarbon date sediments related to the crowfoot advance the crowfoot moraine system widely recognized throughout northwestern north america represents a glacial advance that is post wisconsin and pre mazama tephra in age an interval of inorganic sediments bracketed by accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon ages of ca 11 330 and 10 100 sup 14 c yr b p is associated with the crowfoot moraine the crowfoot advance is therefore approximately synchronous with the european younger dryas cold event ca 11 000 10 000 sup 14 c yr b p furthermore the termination of the crowfoot advance also appears to have been abrupt these findings illustrate that the climatic change responsible for the european younger dryas event extended beyond the northern atlantic basin and western europe equilibrium line altitude ela depressions associated with the crowfoot advance are similar to those determined for the little ice age advance whereas younger dryas ela depressions in europe significantly exceed little ice age ela depressions 26 refs 3 figs 1 tab

mount mazama eruption calendrical age verified and atmospheric impact assessed geochemical identification of mount mazama ash in the greenland ice sheet project 2 gisp2 ice core gives a calendrical age of 7627 150 cal yr b p 5677 150 b c for the eruption thus providing a more accurate early holocene stratigraphic time line than previously available the gisp2 record of volcanically derived sulfate suggests a total stratospheric aerosol loading between 88 and 224 mt spread over an 6 yr period following the eruption of mount mazama taking into account the likelihood of some tropospheric aerosol transport to greenland realistic estimates of the resulting atmospheric optical depth range from 0 6 to 1 5 these values may have produced a temperature depression of 0 6 to 0 7 c at mid to high northern latitudes for 1 3 yr after the eruption these results indicate that the 5677 b c eruption of mount mazama was one of the most climatically significant volcanic events of the holocene in the northern hemisphere we also calculate a maximum stratospheric cl release of 8 1 mt by the eruption which may have led to substantial stratospheric ozone depletion

multi proxy record of holocene glacial history of the spearhead and fitzsimmons ranges southern coast mountains british columbia abstract evidence from glacier forefields and lakes is used to reconstruct holocene glacier fluctuations in the spearhead and fitzsimmons ranges in southwest british columbia radiocarbon ages on detrital wood and trees killed by advancing ice and changes in sediment delivery to downstream proglacial lakes indicate that glaciers expanded from minimum extents in the early holocene to their maximum extents about two to three centuries ago during the little ice age the data indicate that glaciers advanced 8630 8020 6950 6750 3580 2990 and probably 4530 4090 cal yr bp and repeatedly during the past millennium little ice age moraines dated using dendrochronology and lichenometry date to early in the 18th century and in the 1830s and 1890s limitations inherent in lacustrine and terrestrial based methods of documenting holocene glacier fluctuations are minimized by using the two records together

lightning induced weathering of cascadian volcanic peaks abstract the process of meteorological lightning induced modification of coherent volcanic rocks is examined by geochemical textural and experimental analysis of fulgurites from south sister volcano oregon cascades usa lightning s effects on volcanic target rocks was simulated with an arc welding device in order to reproduce the geochemical and textural features of natural fulgurites and to constrain temperatures of melting and devolatilization behavior during lightning strikes melting of volcanic target rocks produces melts of exceptional compositional diversity ranging from those with pure mineral compositions e g diopside and plagioclase resulting from congruent melting reactions to those that are highly mixed and compositionally identical to the target rock geochemical and textural observations on fulgurites suggest that melting proceeds rapidly by an in situ modal batch process whereby individual crystals melt and contribute small aliquots to a larger batch that is then mixed by viscous flow hydrous species remaining in the glasses are trace oh 0 1 wt and consistent with partial equilibration to high temperature 2000 c supra liquidus 1 atm conditions lightning also induces physical weathering in that the target rocks may be vapourized to form channels through the rock representing injection of elemental components to the atmosphere finally lightning acts as a multi faceted producer of dry chemically equivalent volcanic glass which may be subject to long term hydration by environmental waters at surface conditions these re hydration signatures contrast those of volcanic glasses which have both magmatic and meteoric components and are used herein to examine the post lightning environmental history of these glasses including age dating lightning events by diffusion chronometry our study of volcanic fulgurites illustrates the potential to use their hydration signatures to date paleoweather events at decadal to centuries scale because the lightning strike is in and of itself so effective at devolatilizing melts in an instant the resultant fulgurites are a unique earth material that record individual weather events i e a thunderstorm and also longer term paleoweather intervals

environmental and biological effects on the stable isotope composition of recent deep sea benthic foraminifera from the western mediterranean sea abstract the influence of microhabitat organic matter flux and metabolism on the stable oxygen and carbon isotope composition of live rose bengal stained and dead empty tests deep sea benthic foraminifera from the gulf of lions western mediterranean sea have been studied the total range of observed foraminiferal isotope values exceeds 1 0 for 18o and 2 2 for 13c demonstrating a wide range of coexisting disequilibria relative to 18o of equilibrium calcite 18oeq and 13c of bottom water dissolved inorganic carbon 13cdic the mean 18o values reveal strongest disequilibria for the studied epifaunal to shallow infaunal species cibicidoides pachydermus uvigerina mediterranea uvigerina peregrina while values approach equilibrium in deep infaunal species globobulimina affinis globobulimina pseudospinescens the mean 13c values decrease with increasing average living depths of the different species thus reflecting a dominant microhabitat pore water signal at the axis of the lacaze duthier canyon a minimum 13cdic pore water gradient of approximately 2 1 is assessed for the upper 6 cm of the surface sediment although live individuals of u mediterranea were found in different depth intervals their mean 13c values are consistent with calcification at an average living depth around 1 cm the deep infaunal occurrence of u mediterranea specimens suggests association with macrofaunal burrows creating a microenvironment with geochemical characteristics similar to the topmost centimeter this also explains the excellent agreement between stable isotope signals of live and dead individuals the ontogenetic enrichment in both 18o and 13c values of u mediterranea suggests a slow down of metabolic rates during test growth similar to that previously observed in planktic foraminifera enhanced organic carbon fluxes and higher proportion of resuspended terrestrial organic material at the canyon axis are reflected by 13c values of u mediterranea on average 0 58 lower than those from the open slope these results demonstrate the general applicability of the 13c signal of this species for the reconstruction of past organic matter fluxes in the mediterranean sea further studies on live specimens are needed for a more quantitative paleoceanographic approach

glacial to holocene redistribution of carbonate ion in the deep sea we have reconstructed the glacial age distribution of carbonate ion concentration in the deep waters of the equatorial ocean on the basis of differences in weight between glacial and holocene foraminifera shells picked from a series of cores spanning a range of water depth on the western atlantic s ceara rise and the western pacific s ontong java plateau the results suggest that unlike today s ocean sizable vertical gradients in the carbonate ion concentration existed in the glacial age deep ocean in the equatorial pacific the concentration increased with depth and in the atlantic it decreased with depth in addition the contrast between the carbonate ion concentration in deep waters produced in the northern atlantic and deep water in the pacific appears to have been larger than in today s ocean

regional significance of an early holocene moraine in enchantment lakes basin north cascade range washington abstract the upper enchantment lakes basin in the north cascade range of washington displays two moraine belts each recording an episode of glacier advance after the end of the last glaciation the inner belt the brynhild 0 1 to 0 5 km beyond existing glaciers postdates mount st helens wn tephra 450 yr old which lies only beyond the moraines the morainal surface is only slightly weathered is almost barren of lichens and is devoid of soil evidence suggesting that the brynhild moraines are no more than a century old the outer moraine the brisingamen 0 3 to 0 7 km beyond existing glaciers is weathered and is covered with large lichens on and behind the brisingamen moraine the mazama ash 6900 yr old is present beneath the mount st helens yn and wn tephras despite more than 7 millennia of weathering the rock surface behind the brisingamen moraine is measurably less weathered than the surface beyond which was last glaciated during the rat creek advance about 13 000 yr ago the age of the brisingamen moraine therefore is probably early holocene the brisingamen moraine evidently correlates with moraines near glacier peak near mount rainier in northeastern and central oregon in the southern canadian rockies and in the northern u s rocky mountains these regional effects suggest that a climatic episode of cooling or increased snowfall affected the entire region some time during the early holocene

mg ca variation in planktonic foraminifera tests implications for reconstructing palaeo seawater temperature and habitat migration the nature of compositional variability within the tiny calcitic shells tests that are precipitated by planktonic foraminifera has been investigated using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la icp ms systematic large and correlated variation of mg ca mn ca ba ca and zn ca but relatively uniform sr ca are observed through the test walls of analysed species globigerinoides sacculifer globigerinoides ruber neogloboquadrina pachyderma and neogloboquadrina dutertrei distinct chamber and chamber wall layer compositions can be resolved within individual tests and mg ca compositional differences observed in sequentially precipitated test components of the different species analysed are consistent with seawater temperature changes occurring with habitat migration during their adult life cycle stages estimated test calcification temperatures are in keeping with available seawater temperature constraints indicating the potential for accurate seawater temperature reconstruction using la icp ms mg rich 1 6 mol mg surface veneers that are also enriched in mn ba and zn have been found on all species and all fossil tests as well as on live sampled tests of g ruber with the latter suggesting a possible biogenic origin these mg rich surfaces bias bulk test compositions toward higher mg ca values by between 5 and 35

on the isotopic composition in δd and δ18o of water and ice during freezing experiments on progressive unidirectional freezing are coi1 ducted to determine rhe evol ution in 00 and 51 bo of successive water samples and ice layers ta ken during the course of freezing r es ults indicate t hal lhi s evoluti on takes pl ace in a bd bibo diagram a long a strai ght line wi th a characteri sti c slope this slope different from that due to the precip itation effec t gives a finger print of the occurrence of a freezing or of a melt ing refreez ing process in the stud ied reservoir residual water was sampled at the beginning of the experiment after 40 80 85 90 and 95 of the material had frozen when the freezing process was complete the ice core was recovered and sectioned the samples covered the freezing ranges from 0 to 10 10 to 20 20 to 50 50 to 60 60 to 70 70 to 80

the source of ions for biomineralization in foraminifera and their implications for paleoceanographic proxies the global carbon cycle is strongly perturbed by fossil fuel burning leading to atmospheric co2 increase climatic warming followed by polar ice melting and global sea level rise are predicted due to the greenhouse effect of increasing co2 in the atmosphere houghton et al 1995 the ocean plays a major role in neutralizing the excess co2 because the amount of inorganic carbon available for exchange with the atmosphere in the ocean is approximately 50 60 times larger than in the atmosphere e g siegenthaler and sarmiento 1993 the bulk of the atmospheric co2 excess will eventually be neutralized by caco3 dissolution in the deep marine environment this is however is a relatively slow process that operates on the time scale of ocean circulation 1000 yrs and is therefore causing an accumulation of co2 in the atmosphere this phenomenon will result in potentially severe consequences to the well being of global ecological systems obviously the scientific attention of many biogeochemists is focused on processes controlling the response of the marine system to changes in atmospheric co2 concentrations e g archer and maier reimer 1994 broecker 1997 sigman and boyle 2000 berger 2002 foraminifera corals and coccolithophores in the global carbon cycle there are four dominant processes involved in neutralizing the excess atmospheric co2 in the ocean these are 1 gas exchange at the air sea interface and reaction with the carbonate ion to form bicarbonate 2 net primary productivity 3 caco3 production and dissolution and 4 ocean circulation most of these processes are biologically mediated and may have special importance in shallow tropical environments where the exchange with the atmosphere is more direct in this review we address the mechanism of biomineralization in one of the major groups that precipitates caco3 in the ocean the foraminifera as we will show this group

cosmogenic 3he and 10be chronologies of the late pinedale northern yellowstone ice cap montana usa cosmogenic 3 he and 10 be ages measured on surface boulders from the moraine sequence deposited by the northern outlet glacier of the yellowstone ice cap indicate that the outlet glacier reached its terminal position at 16 5 6 0 4 3 he ka and 16 2 6 0 3 10 be ka respectively concordance of these ages supports the scaled production rates used for 3 he 118 6 6 6 6 atoms g 21 y r 21 and 10 be 5 1 6 0 3 atoms g 21 y r 21 62s at high latitudes at sea level two recessional moraines upvalley from the terminal moraine have mean ages of 15 7 6 0 5 10 be ka and 14 0 6 0 4 10 be ka respectively and a late glacial flood bar was deposited at 13 7 6 0 5 10 be ka these cosmogenic chronologies identify a late pinedale glacial maximum in northern yellowstone that is significantly younger than previously thought and they suggest deglaciation of the yellowstone plateau by 14 10 be ka

atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration across the mid pleistocene transition the dominant period of pleistocene glacial cycles changed during the mid pleistocene from 40 000 years to 100 000 years for as yet unknown reasons here we present a 2 1 million year record of sea surface partial pressure of co2 pco2 based on boron isotopes in planktic foraminifer shells which suggests that the atmospheric partial pressure of co2 pco2 was relatively stable before the mid pleistocene climate transition glacial pco2 was approximately 31 microatmospheres higher before the transition more than 1 million years ago but interglacial pco2 was similar to that of late pleistocene interglacial cycles 450 000 years ago these estimates are consistent with a close linkage between atmospheric co2 concentration and global climate but the lack of a gradual decrease in interglacial pco2 does not support the suggestion that a long term drawdown of atmospheric co2 was the main cause of the climate transition

reversed flow of atlantic deep water during the last glacial maximum the meridional overturning circulation moc of the atlantic ocean is considered to be one of the most important components of the climate system this is because its warm surface currents such as the gulf stream redistribute huge amounts of energy from tropical to high latitudes and influence regional weather and climate patterns whereas its lower limb ventilates the deep ocean and affects the storage of carbon in the abyss away from the atmosphere despite its significance for future climate the operation of the moc under contrasting climates of the past remains controversial nutrient based proxies1 2 and recent model simulations3 indicate that during the last glacial maximum the convective activity in the north atlantic ocean was much weaker than at present in contrast rate sensitive radiogenic 231pa 230th isotope ratios from the north atlantic have been interpreted to indicate only minor changes in moc strength4 5 6 here we show that the basin scale abyssal circulation of the atlantic ocean was probably reversed during the last glacial maximum and was dominated by northward water flow from the southern ocean these conclusions are based on new high resolution data from the south atlantic ocean that establish the basin scale north to south gradient in 231pa 230th and thus the direction of the deep ocean circulation our findings are consistent with nutrient based proxies and argue that further analysis of 231pa 230th outside the north atlantic basin will enhance our understanding of past ocean circulation provided that spatial gradients are carefully considered this broader perspective suggests that the modern pattern of the atlantic moc with a prominent southerly flow of deep waters originating in the north atlantic arose only during the holocene epoch

an evaluation of benthic foraminiferal b ca and δ11b for deep ocean carbonate ion and ph reconstructions reliable reconstructions of deep ocean carbonate ion concentration co32 and ph are crucial to understand mechanisms responsible for the past atmospheric co2 variations observed in ice cores however it is challenging to reconstruct past deep water co32 and ph and literature results from different proxies conflict warranting careful investigations on possible reasons for the existing inconsistencies here we present the first down core b ca and 11b records measured in an epifaunal benthic foraminifer cibicidoides wuellerstorfi from the caribbean sea during the last 160 kyr the two proxies yield quantitatively comparable deep water co3 2 and ph results showing high values during glacials relative to inter glacials differences in co32 and ph are 35 mol kg and 0 15 respectively consistent with past ocean circulation changes in the caribbean sea our data provide convincing evidence that both proxies serve as faithful proxies to estimate deep ocean co32 and ph despite our incomplete understanding of boron incorporation into foraminiferal carbonates

holocene and latest pleistocene alpine glacier fluctuations a global perspective abstract alpine glacier fluctuations provide important paleoclimate proxies where other records such as ice cores tree rings and speleothems are not available about 20 years have passed since a special issue of quaternary science reviews was published to review the worldwide evidence for holocene glacier fluctuations since that time numerous sites have been discovered new dating techniques have been developed and refined climatic hypotheses have been proposed that contribute to a better understanding of earth s climate system this special volume includes 12 papers on holocene and latest pleistocene alpine glacier fluctuations that update the seven review papers from 1988 major findings of these 12 papers include the following many but certainly not all alpine areas record glacier advances during the younger dryas cold interval most areas in the northern hemisphere witnessed maximum glacier recession during the early holocene with some glaciers disappearing although a few sites yield possible evidence for advances during the 8 2 ka cooling event in contrast some alpine areas in the southern hemisphere saw glaciers reach their maximum post glacial extents during the early to middle holocene in many parts of the globe glaciers reformed and or advanced during neoglaciation beginning as early as 6 5 ka neoglacial advances commonly occurred with millennial scale oscillations with many alpine glaciers reaching their maximum holocene extents during the little ice age of the last few centuries although the pattern and rhythm of these glacier fluctuations remain uncertain improved spatial coverage coupled with tighter age control for many events will provide a means to assess forcing mechanisms for holocene and latest pleistocene glacial activity and perhaps predict glacier response to future impacts from human induced climate change

postglacial vegetation and fire history of the southern cascade range oregon abstract the cascade range of southwestern oregon contains some of north america s most diverse forests but the ecological history of this area is poorly understood a 7900 yr long pollen and charcoal record was examined to better understand past changes in vegetation and fire activity in relation to large scale climate variability from 7900 to 3500 cal yr bp the dominance of xerophytic species and the frequent fires are consistent with a climate that was warmer and drier than at present the period from 3500 cal yr bp to present experienced an abundance of mesophytic taxa and reduced fire frequency suggesting cooler and wetter conditions the regional history of abies indicates that it was most widespread during the late glacial period its range contracted during the early holocene thermal maximum and it steadily expanded during the middle and late holocene in contrast pseudotsuga was restricted in range during the glacial period became abundant at low elevation sites in the coast and northern cascade ranges during the early holocene and was more prevalent in southern mid elevation sites as the climate became cooler and wetter in the late holocene the sensitivity of these species to past climate change suggests that biogeographic responses to future conditions will be highly variable in this region

late glacial vegetation and climate change in western oregon abstract pollen records from two sites in western oregon provide information on late glacial variations in vegetation and climate and on the extent and character of younger dryas cooling in the pacific northwest a subalpine forest was present at little lake central coast range between 15 700 and 14 850 cal yr b p a warm period between 14 850 and 14 500 cal yr b p is suggested by an increase inpseudotsugapollen and charcoal the recurrence of subalpine forest at 14 500 cal yr b p implies a return to cool conditions another warming trend is evidenced by the reestablishment ofpseudotsugaforest at 14 250 cal yr b p increased haploxylonpinuspollen between 12 400 and 11 000 cal yr b p indicates cooler winters than before after 11 000 cal yr b p warm dry conditions are implied by the expansion ofpseudotsuga a subalpine parkland occupied gordon lake western cascade range until 14 500 cal yr b p when it was replaced during a warming trend by a montane forest a rise inpinuspollen from 12 800 to 11 000 cal yr b p suggests increased summer aridity pseudotsugadominated the vegetation after 11 000 cal yr b p other records from the pacific northwest show an expansion ofpinusfrom ca 13 000 to 11 000 cal yr b p this expansion may be a response either to submillennial climate changes of younger dryas age or to millennial scale climatic variations

modern glacier characteristics as a basis for inferring former climates with particular reference to the loch lomond stadial abstract studies of the mass balance of modern glaciers have indicated that the equilibrium line altitude ela is the most critical parameter in the link between glaciers and climate average accumulation on a glacier includes components derived from direct precipitation on the glacier surface as well as wind drifting and avalanching of snow and approximates closely to accumulation at the equilibrium line ablation is most usefully predicted by mean summer temperature and there is a close non linear relationship between accumulation and mean summer temperature at the equilibrium line following discussion of methods of reconstructing former glaciers and calculating their equilibrium line altitudes the application of the above relationships to the loch lomond readvance glaciers of highland britain is considered and an outline of the precipitation pattern and the mean summer temperature of the loch lomond stadial is given

latest pleistocene alpine glacier advances in the sawtooth mountains idaho usa reflections of midlatitude moisture transport at the close of the last glaciation mountain glaciers in the sawtooth mountains responded strongly to reinvigorated atmospheric moisture transport following the last ice sheet maximum the glaciers constructed an extensive moraine belt in the southeastern sawtooth mountains allowing determination of a detailed radiocarbon chronology from lake and marsh cores moraine morphometry and soil data indicate construction of seven to nine moraines in each of four valleys during two main late pleistocene ice advances a basal radiocarbon date from marsh cores in the alturas valley documents that the maximum advance during marine oxygen isotope stage 2 occurred shortly before ca 16 900 calibrated cal yr b p minimum limiting dates on glacial lacustrine sediment in lake and marsh cores from three valleys clustered around 13 950 cal yr b p document the maintenance or reestablishment of extensive ice volume during early late glacial time the ca 16 900 cal yr b p advance postdates the last ice sheet maximum by 4000 yr and is broadly correlative with maximum advances of the north yellowstone outlet glacier and the puget lobe of the cordilleran ice sheet and a near maximum advance of wallowa mountain glaciers these synchronous advances indicate response of a variety of ice systems to reinvigorated moisture transport following the ice sheet maximum as does the subsequent sawtooth advance during early late glacial time together these responses indicate strong sensitivity of certain ice systems to moisture delivery fluctuations

a core top assessment of proxies for the ocean carbonate system in surface dwelling foraminifers we have assessed the reliability of several foraminifer hosted proxies of the ocean carbonate system 11b b ca and u ca using holocene samples from the atlantic and pacific oceans we examined chemical variability over a range of test sizes for two surface dwelling foraminifers globigerinoides sacculifer and globigerinoides ruber measurements of 11b in g ruber show no significant relationship with test size in either atlantic or pacific sites and appear to provide a robust proxy of surface seawater ph likewise there is no significant variability in the 11b of our atlantic core top g sacculifer but we find that 11b increases with increasing test size for g sacculifer in the pacific these systematic differences in 11b are inferred to be a consequence of isotopically light gametogenic calcite in g sacculifer and its preferential preservation during postdepositional dissolution the trace element ratio proxies of ocean carbonate equilibria u ca and b ca show systematic increases in both g ruber and g sacculifer with increasing test size possibly as a result of changing growth rates this behavior complicates their use in paleoceanographic reconstructions in keeping with several previous studies we find that mg ca ratios increase with increasing size fraction in our well preserved atlantic g sacculifer but not in g ruber in contrast to previous interpretations we suggest that these observations reflect a proportionally larger influence of compositionally distinct gametogenic calcite in small individuals compared to larger ones as with 11b this influences g sacculifer but not g ruber which has negligible gametogenic calcite

extracting a climate signal from 169 glacier records i constructed a temperature history for different parts of the world from 169 glacier length records using a first order theory of glacier dynamics i related changes in glacier length to changes in temperature the derived temperature histories are fully independent of proxy and instrumental data used in earlier reconstructions moderate global warming started in the middle of the 19th century the reconstructed warming in the first half of the 20th century is 0 5 kelvin this warming was notably coherent over the globe the warming signals from glaciers at low and high elevations appear to be very similar

b ca in planktonic foraminifera as a proxy for surface seawater ph boron isotope systematics indicate that boron incorporation into foraminiferal caco3 is determined by the partition coefficient k d frac left rm b rm ca right rm caco3 left rm b left rm oh right 4 rm hco 3 right rm seawater and b oh 4 hco3 seawater providing in principle a method to estimate seawater ph and pco2 we have measured b ca ratios in globigerina bulloides and globorotalia inflata for a series of core tops from the north atlantic and the southern ocean and in globigerinoides ruber white from ocean drilling program odp site 668b on the sierra leone rise in the eastern equatorial atlantic b ca ratios in these species of planktonic foraminifera seem unaffected by dissolution on the seafloor k d shows a strong species specific dependence on calcification temperature which can be corrected for using the mg ca temperature proxy a preliminary study of g inflata from southern ocean sediment core chat 16k suggests that temperature corrected b ca was 30 higher during the last glacial correspondingly ph was 0 15 units higher and aqueous pco2 was 95 atm lower at this site at the last glacial maximum the covariation between reconstructed pco2 and the atmospheric pco2 from the vostok ice core demonstrates the feasibility of using b ca in planktonic foraminifera for reconstructing past variations in ph and pco2

a speleothem record of younger dryas cooling klamath mountains oregon usa awell dated d 18 o record in a stalagmite from a cave in the klamath mountains oregon with a sampling interval of 50 yr indicates that the climate of this region cooled essentially synchronously with younger dryas climate change elsewhere in the northern hemisphere the d 18 o record also indicates significant century scale temperature variability during the early holocene the d 13 c record suggests increasing biomass over the cave through the last deglaciation with century scale variability but with little detectable response of vegetation to younger dryas cooling d 2005 university of washington all rights reserved

on the long term context for late twentieth century warming 1 previous tree ring based northern hemisphere temperature reconstructions portray a varying amplitude range between the medieval warm period mwp little ice age lia and present we describe a new reconstruction developed using largely different methodologies and additional new data compared to previous efforts unlike earlier studies we quantify differences between more traditional std and regional curve standardization rcs methodologies concluding that rcs is superior for retention of low frequency trends continental north american versus eurasian rcs series developed prior to merging to the hemispheric scale cohere surprisingly well suggesting common forcing although there are notable deviations e g fifteenth to sixteenth century results indicate clear mwp warm lia cool and recent warm episodes direct interpretation of the rcs reconstruction suggests that mwp temperatures were nearly 0 7c cooler than in the late twentieth century with an amplitude difference of 1 14c from the coldest 1600 1609 to warmest 1937 1946 decades however we advise caution with this analysis although we conclude as found elsewhere that recent warming has been substantial relative to natural fluctuations of the past millennium we also note that owing to the spatially heterogeneous nature of the mwp and its different timing within different regions present palaeoclimatic methodologies will likely flatten out estimates for this period relative to twentieth century warming which expresses a more homogenous global fingerprint therefore we stress that presently available paleoclimatic reconstructions are inadequate for making specific inferences at hemispheric scales about mwp warmth relative to the present anthropogenic period and that such comparisons can only still be made at the local regional scale

postglacial vegetation fire and climate history of the siskiyou mountains oregon usa the forests of the siskiyou mountains are among the most diverse in north america yet the long term relationship among climate diversity and natural disturbance is not well known pollen plant macrofossils and high resolution charcoal data from bolan lake oregon were analyzed to reconstruct a 17 000 yr long environmental history of high elevation forests in the region in the late glacial period the presence of a subalpine parkland of artemisia poaceae pinus and tsuga with infrequent fires suggests cool dry conditions after 14 500 cal yr b p a closed forest of abies pseudotsuga tsuga and alnus rubra with more frequent fires developed which indicates more mesic conditions than before an open woodland of pinus quercus and cupressaceae with higher fire activity than before characterized the early holocene and implies warmer and drier conditions than at present in the late holocene abies and picea were more prevalent in the forest suggesting a return to cool wet conditions although fire episode frequency remained relatively high the modern forest of abies and pseudotsuga and the present day fire regime developed ca 2100 cal yr b p and indicates that conditions had become slightly drier than before sub millennial scale fluctuations in vegetation and fire activity suggest climatic variations during the younger dryas interval and within the early holocene period the timing of vegetation changes in the bolan lake record is similar to that of other sites in the pacific northwest and klamath region and indicates that local vegetation communities were responding to regional scale climate changes the record implies that climate driven millennial to centennial scale vegetation and fire change should be considered when explaining the high floristic diversity observed at present in the siskiyou mountains d 2005 university of washington all rights reserved

impact of biomineralization processes on the mg content of foraminiferal shells a biological perspective the mg ca ratio in foraminiferal shells is widely used as a proxy for paleotemperatures nevertheless it seems that the basic mg content of foraminifera is determined by biological factors as can be concluded from the large inter species and intrashell variability and the frequent deviations from inorganic behavior this paper discusses three possible ways by which foraminifera can control or modify the mg content in their shell 1 involvement of organic matrix in the precipitation process that may alter the partition coefficient of mg in biogenic calcite 2 controlled conversion of transient amorphous phases to calcite and 3 modification of the mg concentration in the parent solution from which the crystals precipitate the first two mechanisms are probably responsible for the precipitation of high mg calcite phases whole shell or sublayers while the third mechanism leads to the formation of low mg calcite phases we propose a model adapted from epithelial cells that allows massive mg2 removal from the biomineralization site this model is especially relevant to the planktonic and deep benthic low mg foraminifera that are frequently used for paleotemperature reconstructions we discuss the possible biological roles of mg in the shell in terms of the calcite polymorph conservation the in vivo chemical stability of the shell the functions of mg as a stabilizer of transient phases and as a controlling agent of the precipitation process several temperature sensitive biological processes that may influence the mg ca ratio of the shell are suggested and a model that combines biogenic and inorganic considerations is presented the model uses mg heterogeneity in the shell together with temperature response biologic and inorganic of biomineralization processes to account for the deviation of planktonic foraminifera from inorganic calcite at equilibrium with seawater

chronology and ecology of late pleistocene megafauna in the northern willamette valley oregon abstract since the mid 19th century western oregon s willamette valley has been a source of remains from a wide variety of extinct megafauna few of these have been previously described or dated but new chronologic and isotopic analyses in conjunction with updated evaluations of stratigraphic context provide substantial new information on the species present timing of losses and paleoenvironmental conditions using subfossil material from the northern valley we use ams radiocarbon dating stable isotope 13c and 15n analyses and taxonomic dietary specialization and habitat preferences to reconstruct environments and to develop a local chronology of events that we then compare with continental and regional archaeological and paleoenvironmental data analysis of twelve bone specimens demonstrates the presence of bison mammoth horse sloth and mastodon from 15 000 13 000 cal yr bp the latest ages coincide with changing regional climate corresponding to the onset of the younger dryas it is suggested that cooling conditions led to increased forest cover and along with river aggradation reduced the area of preferred habitat for the larger bodied herbivores which contributed to the demise of local megafauna archaeological evidence for megafauna human interactions in the pacific northwest is scarce limiting our ability to address the human role in causing extinction

micromapping of mg ca values in cultured specimens of the high magnesium benthic foraminifera 1 this study measured mg ca values in cross sections of the benthic foraminifer planoglabratella opercularis d orbigny using an electron probe microanalyzer epma spot size 2 m 1000 analyses we cultured clonal juveniles of this species under controlled temperatures this species precipitates high magnesium calcite as its test material mean mg ca values increased linearly with the culture temperature therefore mg ca values in walls of subsequently formed chambers reflected changes in temperature during the experiment foraminiferal specimens yielded variable mg ca values within their test walls which resulted from the pattern of chamber formation and from minor variations of mg ca within one chamber wall

holocene and latest pleistocene glacial chronology glacier national park montana moraines of two different age groups have been identified fronting the present day glaciers and snowfields in glacier national park montana the subdued vegetated moraines of the older group have been found at 25 sites mainly in the central part of the lewis range these older moraines are in places overlain by the mazama ash although the exact age of the moraines has not been determined by radiocarbon dating vegetative evidence and correlation with other pre altithermal age moraines in the rocky mountains suggest that these older moraines date from 10 000 bp or earlier whether these moraines are the product of a separate advance after the end of the wisconsin glaciation or are simply the product of the last advance or stillstand of wisconsin glaciers before final deglaciation is not known moraines of the younger group consisting of fresh bouldery rubble are common throughout glacier park tree ring analyses indicate that some of these younger moraines were deposited by advances that culminated du

the basal ice layer of glaciers and ice sheets abstract in many glaciers and ice sheets there is a basal ice layer bil in which the ice is conditioned primarily by processes operating at the bed the bil is chemically and physically distinctive and is characterised by a component of basally derived sediment the bil is a rheological control on ice sheet dynamics an indicator of subglacial conditions and processes an agent of subglacial geologic processes the source of a substantial proportion of glacial sediments a limit to the downward extension of the climate record from deep ice cores if debris characteristics of the bil are preserved in glacial sediments former glacier conditions can be inferred analysis of stable isotopes gas and cation composition ice crystallography debris composition and structural glaciology has elucidated many mechanisms for bil formation common elements can be identified from a range of locations key issues are entrainment of ice and debris from the bed formation of new ice metamorphism of existing ice in the bil and thickening of the bil by deformation a distinction can be made between basal ice formed by accretion of material from the bed stratified facies and basal ice formed by metamorphic processes within the ice close to the bed dispersed facies

benthic foraminiferal b ca ratios reflect deep water carbonate saturation state boron calcium ratios were measured in four benthic foraminiferal species three calcitic cibicidoides wuellerstorfi cibicidoides mundulus and uvigerina spp and one aragonitic hoeglundina elegans from 108 core top samples located globally comparison of coexisting species shows b ca of c wuellerstorfi c mundulus h elegans uvigerina spp suggestive of strong vital effects on benthic foraminiferal b ca a dissolution effect on benthic b ca is not observed core top data show large intra species variations 50 130 mol mol in b ca within a single species benthic foraminiferal b ca show a simple linear correlation with deep water co32 providing a proxy for past deep water co32 reconstructions empirical sensitivities of co32 on b ca have been established to be 1 14 0 048 and 0 69 0 072 mol mol per mol kg for c wuellerstorfi and c mundulus respectively the uncertainties associated with reconstructing bottom water co32 using b ca in c wuellerstorfi and c mundulus are about 10 mol kg a preliminary application shows that the last glacial maximum lgm b ca ratios were increased by 12 at 1 2 km and decreased by 12 at 3 5 4 0 km relative to holocene values in the north atlantic ocean this implies that the lgm co32 was higher by not vert similar 25 30 mol kg at intermediate depths and lower by not vert similar 20 mol kg in deeper waters consistent with glacial water mass reorganization in the north atlantic ocean inferred from other paleochemical proxies

possible roles of ph temperature and partial dissolution in determining boron concentration and isotopic composition in planktonic foraminifera 1 we present the first continuous records from 0 to 5 ma in 0 333 m y integrated time steps of paired boron calcium b ca ratios and boron isotopes 11b in the planktonic foraminifera globogerinoides sacculifer without sacc from a site in the western equatorial pacific ocean ocean drilling program site 806 these measurements the first made in conjunction with calcification temperature magnesium calcium ratios and average shell mass measurements indicate that ph is not the sole environmental variable controlling b in planktonic foraminiferal calcite our data are consistent with calcification temperature exerting a primary control on b concentration and isotopic composition in planktonic foraminifera if so calcification temperature must be taken into account if ph for past oceans and atmospheric pco2 are to be estimated from b isotope measurements in foraminiferal calcite doing so will substantially increase the uncertainty of ph estimates although this work was designed as a temporal study its results define new aspects of calibrating the 11b paleo ph tracer

late quaternary vegetation and climate history near little lake central coast range oregon pollen and plant macrofossils recovered from little lake oregon provide the first record of late quaternary climate and vegetation changes in oregon9s central coast range the pollen data suggest that the period from ca 42 000 to 24 770 yr b p featured an open forest of western white pine western hemlock and fir the inferred climate was cooler and wetter than today the full glacial period was characterized by a parkland of spruce lodgepole pine and mountain hemlock which suggests that the climate was colder and possibly drier than today the oregon coast range was not a glacial refugium for temperate conifers as has been proposed by 16 000 yr b p the pollen and plant macrofossil data suggest the development of a montane forest composed of pine fir western hemlock and mountain hemlock temperate taxa were present in the vegetation at 13 500 yr b p during a period of climatic amelioration a reversal in this warming trend may have occurred between 11 000 and 10 500 yr b p when pine western and mountain hemlock and spruce were slightly more abundant early holocene forests featured douglas fir red alder and bracken fern implying more severe summer drought and more frequent fires after 5600 yr b p douglas fir western hemlock and western red cedar dominated the record marking the introduction of the present day cool moist climate however during the past 2800 yr increased douglas fir and decreased cedar suggest the possibility of reduced effective moisture at little lake

the use of hypsometry to indicate long term stability and response of valley glaciers to changes in mass transfer a simple equation is derived relating the net mass balance and hypsometric curves of a steady state valley glacier it is used to examine how valley shape is linked to disparate extents and responses of glaciers subjected to similar climatic conditions examples are given which show that area based indices e g aar for estimating the equilibrium line altitude ela may be subject to a substantial built in variance because they implicitly rely upon similarity of glacier shape and regimen over a region if accurate topographic maps are available the equation may be used to infer the regimen of modern glaciers in the form of a dimensionless ratio of net mass balance gradients alternatively if similar information is available concerning regional glacier regimen disparate extents and responses may be collectively utilized to estimate values of ela or to infer climatic influence taking glacier hypsometry into account

extreme southwestern margin of late quaternary glaciation in north america timing and controls well preserved latero frontal moraines in the eastern san bernardino mountains of southern california provide evidence for several glacial advances during the late quaternary and mark the southwesternmost limit of glaciation in the western cordillera using geomorphology and 10be cosmogenic radionuclide dating a succession of moraines from three glaciated valleys is dated to 18 20 ka last glacial maximum 15 16 ka heinrich event 1 12 13 ka younger dryas stade and 5 9 ka early middle holocene these ages substantiate the view that glaciation throughout the american cordilleras was synchronous during the late quaternary furthermore these data show that glacial advances in southern california occur when a significant decrease in summer temperature is coupled with an increase in moisture flux producing high winter snowfall this allows for perennial snow accumulation that may under appropriate conditions persist to form glacial ice

holocene glaciation of the central sierra nevada california abstract sediment cores from two bedrock dammed lakes in north fork big pine creek sierra nevada california preserve the most detailed and complete record of holocene glaciation yet recovered in the region the lakes are fed by outwash from the palisade glacier the largest 1 3 km 2 and presumably longest lived glacier in the range and capture essentially all of the rock flour it produces distinct late holocene matthes and late pleistocene recess peak moraines lie between the modern glacier and the lakes the lakes have therefore received continuous sedimentation from the basin since the retreat of the tioga glacier last glacial maximum and capture rock flour related to all post lgm advances a total of eight long cores up to 5 5 m sediment depth and one short surface sediment short core preserve a coherent record of fluctuating rock flour flux to the lakes through the holocene age constraints on rock flour spikes in first and second lakes based on 31 14c dated macrofossils indicate holocene glaciation began 3200 cal yr b p followed by a possible glacier maximum at 2800 cal yr b p and four distinct glacier maxima at 2200 1600 700 and 250 170 cal yr b p the most recent maximum being the largest reconstruction of the equilibrium line altitudes ela associated with each distinct advance recorded in the moraines recess peak matthes and modern indicates ela depressions relative to modern of 250 m and 90 m for recess peak and matthes advances respectively these differences represent decreases in summer temperatures of 1 7 2 8 c recess peak and 0 2 2 matthes and increases in winter precipitation of 22 34 cm snow water equivalent s w e recess peak and 3 26 cm s w e matthes compared to modern conditions although small these changes are significant and similar to those noted in the cascade range to the north and represent a significant departure from historical climate trends in the region

time scale for adjustment of glaciers to changes in mass balance the length of time tm over which a glacier responds to a prior change in climate is investigated with reference to the linearized theory of kinematic waves and to results from numerical models we show the following tm may in general be estimated by a volume time scale describing the time required for a step change in mass balance to supply the volume difference between the initial and final steady states the factor f in the classical estimate of m l u where i is glacier length and u is terminus velocity has a simple geometrical interpretation ft is the ratio of thickness change averaged over the full length i to the change at the terminus although both u and f relate to dynamic processes local to the terminus zone the ratio f u and therefore tm are insensitive to details of the terminus dynamics in contrast to conclusions derived from some simplified kinematic wave models a more robust estimate of tm independent of terminus dynamics is given by tm h b where h is a thickness scale for the glacier and b is the mass balance rate negative at the terminus we suggest that tm for mountain glaciers can be substantially less than the 1o2 103 years commonly considered to be theoretically expected

timing and significance of late glacial and holocene cirque glaciation in the sierra nevada california mapping and radiocarbon dates of cirque moraines in the sierra nevada demonstrate that the last significant pre little ice age glacier advance in the range the recess peak resulted from snowline lowering roughly twice that of the matthes little ice age advance and that the recess peak advance is late pleistocene in age we mapped recess peak and matthes deposits in 64 cirques along a profile of the main sierran crest that spans the north south limits of neoglacial deposits in the range equilibrium line altitudes for the reconstructed recess peak glaciers vary greatly but coherently with those of the matthes advance the variability of both sets of deposits reflects strong topographic influences on snow accumulation and ablation patterns in their deep cirques tephrochronology and radiocarbon dates from lake sediment cores provide limits on the timing of the two advances previous work documenting the absence of a young regionally extensive tephra on matthes moraines in the central sierra demonstrates that they formed after 700 14c years bp 650 cal years bp the age of the recess peak advance has been less certain we therefore collected and dated sediment cores from lakes dammed behind terminal moraines correlating to the recess peak advance in four widely separated drainages along the sierran crest north to south south fork american river lee vining creek middle fork san joaquin river and bishop creek twenty three high precision ams radiocarbon dates on gyttja peat and macrofossils from the cores are internally consistent and demonstrate that the recess peak advance previously thought to be of late holocene age 2500 years bp ended before 11 190 70 14c years bp 13 100 85 cal years bp recess peak is therefore late pleistocene in age and probably predates the north atlantic younger dryas climatic reversal the absence of any glacial deposits on the bedrock between the recess peak and matthes deposits indicates that 1 any advance related to the younger dryas event in central california was smaller than the matthes advance 2 the matthes advance was the most extensive and possibly the only neoglacial event in the range and 3 climate in the sierra between 13 000 cal years bp and 650 cal years bp was apparently too warm and or dry to support glaciers larger than those of the little ice age other mapping indicates that the recess peak is the first significant glacier advance after retreat of tioga local late wisconsin maximum glaciers these results suggest a regionally variable climate in western north america during the younger dryas event because glaciers appear to have expanded in the canadian rockies at that time the new recess peak age limits combined with other dated lake cores indicate that the sierra was essentially deglaciated by 14 000 15 000 cal years bp 12 000 13 000 14c years bp substantially earlier than previously estimated this finding indicates that current production rates of some in situ cosmogenic nuclides calibrated on an assumed deglaciation of the range at 11 000 cal years bp 10 000 14c years bp may be systematically too high by as much as 20

extent timing and climatic implications of glacier advances mount rainier washington u s a at the pleistocene holocene transition abstract the north atlantic younger dryas climatic reversal did not cause a glacier advance on mount rainier the glaciers on mount rainier seem to have advanced in response to regional or local shifts in climate however the younger dryas climatic reversal may have affected the mount rainier area causing a cold but dry climate unfavorable to glacier advances glaciers in the vicinity of mount rainier advanced twice during late glacial early holocene time radiocarbon dates obtained from lake sediments adjacent to the corresponding moraines are concordant indicating that the ages for the advances are closely limiting the first advance occurred before 11 300 14c yr bp 13 200 cal yr bp during the north atlantic younger dryas event between 11 000 and 10 000 14c yr bp 12 900 and 11 600 cal yr bp glaciers retreated on mount rainier probably due to a lack of available moisture but conditions may have remained cold the onset of warmer conditions on mount rainier occurred around 10 000 14c yr bp 11 600 cal yr bp organic sedimentation lasted for at least 700 years before glaciers readvanced between 9800 and 8950 14c yr bp 10 900 and 9950 cal yr bp

environmental versus biomineralization controls on the intratest variation in the trace element composition of the planktonic foraminifera g inflata and g scitula the intratest variation in the chemical composition of globorotalia scitula and g inflata recovered from a sediment trap sample collected at 3000 m in the north atlantic in early spring has been investigated using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and electron microprobe mg ca li ca b ca mn ca and ba ca vary by up to a factor of 10 through the test walls water column properties including temperature and salinity are well documented at the trap site and the observed variations are too large to be explained by vertical migration of the foraminifera however changes in calcite precipitation rate crystal structure or the chemical composition of the internal calcification reservoir also cannot by themselves fully account for the pattern of intratest variability nevertheless the average mg ca for each chamber generally produces a mg ca temperature that matches that measured in the water column the exception is small morphologically distinct g inflata tests that have anomalously high mg ca

coupling of co2 and ice sheet stability over major climate transitions of the last 20 million years the co2 content of the atmosphere has varied cyclically between 180 and 280 ppmv over the last 800 000 years closely coupled with temperature and sea level for earlier periods in earth s history pco2 is much less certain and the relationship between pco2 and climate remains poorly constrained we use boron calcium ratios in foraminifera to estimate pco2 during major climate transitions of the last 20 million years myr during the middle miocene when temperatures were 3 to 6 c

variable responses of western u s glaciers during the last deglaciation cosmogenic 10 be exposure ages from moraines in the wallowa mountains oregon identify two maximal late pleistocene glaciations at 21 1 6 0 4 ka and 17 0 6 0 3 ka and a minor glacial event at 10 2 6 0 6 ka our new high resolution chronology integrated with other well dated glacial records from the western united states demonstrates sub stantial differences in the synoptic responses of western u s glaciers to climate forcing associated with the global last glacial maximum and subsequent millennial scale events originating in the north atlantic region these variable synoptic glacier responses identify large changes in the relative contributions of regional to global controls on the climate of the western united states that accompanied the deglaciation