the role of oceanic forcing in mid holocene northern hemisphere climatic change previous model investigations suggested that changes in orbital forcing and feedbacks associated with northward expansion of the boreal forest were both required to explain the full magnitude of enhanced high latitude northern hemisphere summer warming at 6 ka thus implying that biospheric feedbacks decreased planetary albedo associated with forest expansion may be large in the future foley et al 1994 tempo testing earth system models with paleo observations 1996 before the magnitude of past biospheric and other feedbacks can be estimated with confidence however the role of realistic high latitude oceanic forcing i e sea surface temperature sst increases and sea ice reductions should also be considered here we review existing paleoceanographic observations that suggest portions of the north atlantic were up to 4 c warmer than today at 6 ka we then combine our estimates of mid holocene north atlantic sst and sea ice conditions with new climate model simulations to suggest that a significant portion of high latitude summer warming at 6 ka in the northern hemisphere can be accounted for by altered orbital forcing ssts and sea ice relative to today our results underscore the importance of incorporating realistic boundary conditions when using paleoenvironmental data to evaluate the climate system s sensitivity to altered forcing and suggest that high latitude oceanic feedbacks were major contributors to enhanced high latitude summer warming in the northern hemisphere at 6 ka

organic geochemical proxies of paleoceanographic paleolimnologic and paleoclimatic processes abstract organic matter constitutes a minor fraction of marine and freshwater sediments yet its important contribution to the sedimentary record can be used to reconstruct marine and continental paleoenvironments the organic matter content of sediments is the residue of past biota the amounts and types of organic matter present in sediments consequently reflect environmental conditions that impacted ecosystems at different past times general sources of the organic matter are inferred from bulk properties such as elemental compositions carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios rock eval pyrolysis data and organic petrography details of organic matter origins are refined by analyses of biomarker molecular compositions source changes are proxies for fluctuations in sea level oceanic surface currents and continental climates algal paleoproductivity rates are indicated by organic carbon mass accumulation rates and carbon and nitrogen stable isotopic compositions these parameters record past availability of nutrients and therefore are proxies of surface mixing in the oceans and amount of land runoff to lakes sea surface paleotemperatures are recorded by the number of carbon carbon double bonds in lipid biomarkers produced by marine algae larger proportions of the double bonds are proxies for the cooler surface waters that accompanied periods of global glaciation and intervals of enhanced upwelling the 13c and d values of plant organic matter record past concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and changes in delivery of atmospheric moisture respectively diagenesis which causes the concentration and composition of organic matter in sedimentary settings to differ from those of the original biologically synthesized materials can bias organic geochemical paleoenvironmental records the magnitude of this potential source of misinformation must always be considered and evaluated comparison of multiple organic geochemical proxies of past conditions helps to compensate for the effects of diagenetic alterations and thereby to improve interpretations of paleoenvironmental change

final stages in the collapse of the laurentide ice sheet hudson strait canada nwt 14c ams dates seismics stratigraphy and magnetic susceptibility logs hudson strait is a key element in the history of ice sheet ocean interactions during the deglaciation of the laurentide ice sheet data from over 30 giant piston cores supplemented by ca 40 14c ams dates on foraminifers and shells from sites within and adjacent to hudson strait are used to describe the timing and sediment processes associated with the final complex phases of deglaciation in hudson strait each core is placed in a regional seismic architectural context through examination of deep tow huntec profiles most cores sample a thin postglacial unit and extend several meters into glacial marine sediment mainly silty clays 14c dates on cores from the adjacent shelf indicate that deglaciation occurred by 13 ka we have not been unable to confirm that hudson strait was ice free by 11 12 ka although this is a probable scenario whole core magnetic susceptibility wcms data are used as the primary signature of changes in the style of sedimentation and provenance and to correlate between cores wcms indicates that there is a regional differentiation in the ms signal associated with bedrock provenance changes in contribution of detrital carbonate and style of sedimentation one low wcms event is present in cores from both the western and eastern basins it dates from 8 0 ka and provides an important regional stratigraphic marker probably associated with the final deglaciation of hudson bay and hudson strait sediment from a southerly source ungava bay continued to be contributed into the 900 m deep eastern basin of hudson strait 8 and 7 ka and thick postglacial sequences were piled within ungava bay between 6 and 7 ka

investigating the stability of subglacial lakes with a full stokes ice sheet model despite the large amount of subglacial lakes present underneath the east antarctic ice sheet and the melt processes involved the hydrology beneath the ice sheet is poorly understood changes in subglacial potential gradients may lead to subglacial lake outbursts discharging excess water through a subglacial drainage system underneath the ice sheet such processes can eventually lead to an increase in ice flow in this paper a full stokes numerical ice sheet model was employed which takes into account the ice flow over subglacial water bodies in hydrostatic equilibrium with the overlying ice sensitivity experiments were carried out for small perturbations in ice flow and basal melt rate as a function of ice thickness general surface slope ice viscosity and lake size in order to investigate their influence on the subglacial potential gradient and the impact on subglacial lake drainage experiments clearly demonstrate that small changes in surface slope are sufficient to start and sustain episodic subglacial drainage events lake drainage can therefore be regarded as a common feature of the subglacial hydrological system and may influence to a large extent the present and future behavior of large ice sheets

itrax description and evaluation of a new multi function x ray core scanner a new automated multi function core scanning instrument named itrax has been developed that records optical radiographic and elemental variations from sediment half cores up to 1 8 m long at a resolution as fine as 200 m an intense micro x ray beam focused through a flat capillary waveguide is used to irradiate samples to enable both x radiography and x ray fluorescence xrf analysis data are acquired incrementally by advancing a split core via a programmable stepped motor drive through the flat rectangular section x ray beam traditional xrf determination of element composition in sediments provides high quality data but it takes a considerable time and normally consumes gram quantities of material that is often only available in limited quantities the itrax core scanner non destructively collects optical and x radiographic images and provides high resolution elemental profiles that are invaluable for guiding sample selection for further destructive detailed sampling this paper presents a description of the construction characteristics and capabilities of the itrax system high resolution itrax data obtained from sediment cores are also presented and compared with results from traditional wavelength dispersive xrf analysis at lower resolution finally some recent technical developments linked to the second generation itrax are presented

holocene environmental variability in southern greenland inferred from lake sediments abstract sediments from qipisarqo lake provide a continuous holocene paleoenvironmental record from southern greenland following deglaciation and glacio isostatic emergence of the basin from the sea 9100 cal yr b p proxies of lake paleoproductivity including biogenic silica and organic matter increased markedly until 6000 cal yr b p and thereafter remained stable over the ensuing warm three millennia subsequent decreases in these proxies most dramatically between 3000 and 2000 cal yr b p show the lake s responses to initial neoglacial cooling intervals of ameliorated limnological conditions occurred between 1300 and 900 and between 500 and 280 cal yr b p briefly interrupting the decreasing trend in productivity that culminated in the little ice age increased lake productivity during the latter half of the 20th century which reflects the limnological response to circum arctic warming still has not reached peak holocene values the neoglacial climate of the last 2000 yr includes the most rapid high amplitude environmental changes of the past nine millennia the norse thus migrated around the north atlantic ocean region in the most environmentally unstable period since deglaciation lacustrine sediment records provide a context with which to consider future environmental changes in the labrador sea region in particular any future warming will be superposed on a regional climate system that is currently exhibiting highly unstable behavior at submillennial timescales

fresh arguments against the shaw megaflood hypothesis a reply to comments by david sharpe on paleohydraulics of the last outburst flood from glacial lake agassiz and the 8200 bp cold event

les ecoulements et le transport glaciaires dans la partie septentrionale du nunavik quebec in northern nunavik orientation of ice flow features and dispersal patterns of lithologic indicators suggest three major regional ice flow phases the oldest ice flow phase is related to the buildup of an outflow centre the ungava centre over the high plateaux located north of the povungnituk hills during that event probably of early wisconsinan age ice flows towards the south and southeast carried cape smith belt rock fragments over a maximum distance of 65 km the second phase is characterized by ice flow mainly towards the north from an outflow ice centre located south of the studied area payne centre the most recent ice flow phase is related to the presence of the northern extension of the new quebec ice divide from that northwest trending ice divide extending between ivujivik and lake nantais ice was flowing outward on the peninsula the orientation of most of the ice flow features and dispersal patterns is associated with that last ice flow north of the cape smith belt glacial transport was at least 70 km in hudson strait ice flow and glacial transport data support the existence of an eastward flowing ice stream

postglacial chironomid assemblage succession in northernmost ungava peninsula canada sediment cores spanning the postglacial period were recovered from two coastal freshwater basins located 300 km apart in northernmost ungava nunavik canada a basal date from the sequence recovered near wakeham bay suggests that the region was ice free by as early as 9600 cal a bp the initial development of both investigated lacustrine ecosystems was characterised by chironomid assemblages strongly dominated by the subtribe tanytarsina these early postglacial assemblages showed greatly reduced diversity but much greater abundance than during subsequent periods of lake evolution an abrupt and distinct turnover in sedimentary chironomid assemblage composition and productivity marked by a switch to a dominance of orthocladiinae occurred around 6 ka bp this turnover likely corresponds with a significant disturbance in the regional environment which could be linked to the final disappearance of the last remnants of the laurentide ice sheet these findings based on the first palaeolimnological investigations undertaken in northernmost ungava provide new insights into lateglacial and postglacial faunal recolonisation patterns in aquatic ecosystems of the eastern canadian arctic copyright 2009 john wiley sons ltd

comparison of marine and terrestrial holocene climatic reconstructions from northeastern north america quantitative climate reconstructions based on marine dinocysts and terrestrial pollen sequences are consistent through the holocene in northeastern north america principal components analysis pca indicates a large scale climate signal in the dinocysts and pollen the combined and separate analyses of marine and nearby terrestrial pollen sequences from hudson bay labrador and the st lawrence estuary differentiate tun dra boreal forest and deciduous forest assemblages in time and space these analyses indicate that the marine pollen record reflects vegetation changes of the regional terrestrial environment and allows direct correlations between the marine and terrestrial stratigraphies sea surface temperatures estimated from dinocysts and terres trial air temperatures from pollen using the method of modern analogs show that the three regions had differing climate histories associated with their location with respect to deglaciation and air mass boundaries high frequency climatic changes reconstructed

influx of meltwater to subglacial lake concordia east antarctica we present evidence for melting at the base of the ice that overlies lake concordia an 800 km2 subglacial lake near dome concordia east antarctica via a combination of glaciohydraulic melting associated with the tilted ice ceiling and its influence on lake circulation melting temperature and melting by extreme strain heating where the ice sheet is grounded an influx of water is necessary to provide nutrients material and biota to support subglacial lake ecosystems but has not been detected previously freezing is the dominant observed basal process at over 60 of the surface area above the lake the total volume of accreted ice above the lake surface is estimated as 50 60 km3 roughly 25 30 of the 200 40 km3 estimated lake volume estimated rates of melting and freezing are very similar 2 6 mm a 1 the apparent net freezing may reflect the present day response of lake concordia to cooling associated with the last glacial maximum or a large influx of water either via a subglacial hydrological system or from additional melting of the ice sheet lake concordia is an excellent candidate for subglacial exploration given active basal processes proximity to the dome concordia ice core and traverse resupply route

initiation and development of the laurentide and cordilleran ice sheets following the last interglaciation abstract fossil records from sites overridden by or adjacent to the laurentide ice sheet indicate that the climate of the last interglaciation oxygen isotope substage 5e ca 130 116 ka was warmer than today following the last interglaciation the laurentide ice sheet first developed during stage 5 over keewatin quebec and baffin island along its northern margin the ice sheet reached its maximum extent of the last glaciation during stage 5 the ice sheet advanced across baffin island onto the continental shelf early during stage 5 5d whereas the advance into the western canadian arctic occurred late during stage 5 5b the ice sheet also may have advanced into the st lawrence lowland during substage 5b although this event may be younger stage 4 the hudson bay lowland became ice free during substage 5a retreat of the ice sheet on baffin island occurred during late stage 5 probably substage 5a the exact timing of retreat from the western canadian arctic is unknown but it occurred before 48 ka the southern sector including the st lawrence lowland was ice free during late stage 5 the hudson bay lowland may have remained ice free through stage 4 and much of stage 3 because of conflicting chronologies however it is more likely that this area was glaciated throughout stage 3 and perhaps stage 4 nevertheless the data demonstrate that the lowland was ice free during part of the last glaciation an independent ice cap developed over the appalachian uplands and advanced across nova scotia during stage 4 perhaps as far as the edge of the continental shelf the ice cap remained active over nova scotia as a setellite to the laurentide ice sheet throughout the remainder of the last glaciation the ice sheet advanced into the st lawrence lowland during stage 4 and subsequently overwhelmed the local ice cap in the appalachian uplands advancing perhaps into northern new england but not farther south the lowland remained covered by the ice sheet until late stage 2 the ice sheet may also have advanced into the lake ontario basin during stage 4 the position of the northern margin of the laurentide ice sheet during stage 4 is not known but it remained an unknown distance behind its maximum position reached during stage 5 cores from baffin bay indicate a substantial decrease in high latitude glaciation during stage 4 following retreat the keewatin sector of the ice sheet may have remained over much of northwestern canada as a quasi stable ice mass until it readvanced during stage 2 similarly the baffin island sector of the ice sheet may have remained largely intact the southern margin of the ice sheet may have advanced into the lake ontario basin and upper mississippi valley during the middle of stage 3 ca 50 ka reaching its maximum extent of the last glaciation during stage 2 ca 18 21 ka advance of the northern margin was younger ca 8 13 ka than that of the southern margin this advance was less extensive than the penultimate advance stage 5 paleoenvironmental records indicate that the last interglaciation in areas covered by and near the cordilleran ice sheet was as warm as or warmer than present the cordilleran ice sheet appears to have developed during stage 5 or 4 at that time it advanced over southern british columbia and into the northern puget lowland there is no record of this event in northern areas that were later covered by the ice sheet the ice sheet disappeared before 59 ka at the beginning of a lengthy nonglacial interval paleoenvironmental records indicate that climate was similar to the present during part of this interval the ice sheet was absent and glaciers probably were confined to mountain areas throughout stage 3 climatic deterioration marking the end of this nonglacial interval may have begun as early as 29 ka by 14 15 ka the ice sheet had achieved its maximum extent of the last glaciation because there are few suitable dating methods capable of resolving events beyond the radiocarbon limit and because sites that preserve a record of events from the last glaciation are spatially restricted we consider this synthesis as tentative and subject to significant revision as dating methods improve nevertheless this perspective of the north american ice sheets through the last glaciation demonstrates their complex and dynamic behavior and attendant rapid fluctuations in ice volume

mid wisconsin laurentide ice sheet growth and decay implications for heinrich events 3 and 4 a close look at the sedimentology of heinrich event 4 from the northwest labrador sea indicates that an extended ice margin perhaps greater than before heinrich events 1 or 2 h 1 and h 2 existed in the hudson strait region pre heinrich event 4 h 4 and that on the basis of characteristics of the sediment unit heinrich event 4 was different than heinrich events 1 or 2 i e larger ice sheet collapse longer duration dirtier icebergs other data from across the southern and eastern margin of the laurentide ice sheet as well as greenland and the north atlantic support this interpretation possibly indicating a relative mid wisconsin glacial maximum pre heinrich event 4 many of these data also indicate that heinrich event 4 35 ka resulted in serious climatic and oceanographic reorganizations we suggest that heinrich event 4 gutted the hudson strait leaving it devoid of ice for heinrich event 3 we further hypothesize that heinrich event 3 did not originate from axial ice transport along the hudson strait thus heinrich event 3 may be more analogous to the proposed northward advancing ice from ungava bay during heinrich event 0 than to the more typical down the strait flow during h 1 h 2 and h 4 consequently the climatic and oceanographic impacts resulting from heinrich events are highly susceptible to the type origin and magnitude of ice sheet collapse something which varied per heinrich event during the last glacial period

last interglacial arctic warmth confirms polar amplification of climate change the warmest millennia of at least the past 250 000 years occurred during the last interglaciation when global ice volumes were similar to or smaller than today and systematic variations in earth s orbital parameters aligned to produce a strong positive summer insolation anomaly throughout the northern hemisphere the average insolation during the key summer months m j j was ca 11 above present across the northern hemisphere between 130 000 and 127 000 years ago with a slightly greater anomaly 13 over the arctic greater summer insolation early penultimate deglaciation and intensification of the north atlantic drift combined to reduce arctic ocean sea ice allow expansion of boreal forest to the arctic ocean shore across vast regions reduce permafrost and melt almost all glaciers in the northern hemisphere insolation amplified by key boundary condition feedbacks collectively produced last interglacial summer temperature anomalies 4 5 c above present over most arctic lands significantly above the average northern hemisphere anomaly the last interglaciation demonstrates the strength of positive feedbacks on arctic warming and provides a potentially conservative analogue for anticipated future greenhouse warming

spatial and temporal variability of holocene temperature in the north atlantic region the early holocene climate of the north atlantic region was influenced by two boundary conditions that were fundamentally different from the present the presence of the decaying laurentide ice sheet lis and higher than present summer solar insolation in order to assess spatial and temporal patterns of holocene climate evolution across this region we collated quantitative paleotemperature records at sub millennial resolution and synthesized their temporal variability using principal components analysis pca the analysis reveals considerable spatial variability most notably in the time transgressive expression of the holocene thermal maximum htm most of the region but especially areas peripheral to the labrador sea and hence closest to the locus of lis disintegration experienced maximum holocene temperatures that lagged peak summer insolation by 1000 3000 years many sites from the northeastern north atlantic sector including the nordic seas and scandinavia either warmed in phase with maximum summer insolation 11 000 9000 years ago or were less strongly lagged than the baffin bay labrador sea region these spatially complex patterns of holocene climate development which are defined by the pca resulted from the interplay between final decay of the lis and solar insolation forcing

new insights into late pleistocene glacial and postglacial history of northernmost ungava canada from pingualuit crater lake sediments abstract the pingualuit crater was formed by a meteoritic impact ca 1 4 million years ago in northernmost ungava canada due to its geographical position near the center of successive north american ice sheets and its favorable morphometry the pingualuit crater lake water depth 246 m promises to yield a unique continuous sedimentary sequence covering several glacial interglacial cycles in the terrestrial canadian arctic in this paper we suggest the existence of a subglacial lake at least during the last glacial maximum lgm by hydraulic potential modeling using lgm ice surface elevation and bed topography derived from a digital elevation model these results support the hypothesis that the bottom sediments of the crater lake escaped glacial erosion and may contain a long term continental sedimentary sequence we also present the stratigraphy of a 9 m long core retrieved from the deep basin of the lake as well as a multiproxy reconstruction of its deglacial and postglacial history the base of the core is formed by very dense diamicton reflecting basal melt out environments marking the end of subglacial conditions at the coring site the overlying finely laminated silt are related to the onset of proglacial conditions characterized by extremely low lacustrine productivity infra red stimulated luminescence and ams 14 c dating as well as biostratigraphic data indicate sediment mixing between recent e g holocene and much older pre to mid wisconsinan material reworked by glacier activity this process prevents the precise dating of these sediments that we interpret as being deposited just before the final deglaciation of the lake two finer grained and organic rich intervals reflect the inception of lacustrine productivity resulting from the cessation of glacial meltwater inputs and ice free periods the lower organic interval corresponds to the early postglacial period 6850 5750 cal bp and marks the transition between proglacial and postglacial conditions during the holocene thermal maximum while the uppermost organic rich core section represents late holocene sediments 4200 600 cal bp the organic intervals are separated by a basin scale erosive slide occurring around 4200 cal bp and likely related to 1 a seismic event due to the glacio isostatic rebound following the last deglaciation or 2 slope instabilities associated with rapid discharge events of the lake

north american ice sheet reconstructions at the last glacial maximum abstract the areal extent of the last glacial maximum lgm ice sheets is well known in north america but there is no direct geological proxy for ice sheet thickness or volume uncertainties associated with glaciological and geophysical reconstructions give widely varying estimates of north american ice sheet nais volume at lgm in an effort to quantify the uncertainty associated with glaciological reconstructions we conducted a suite of 190 numerical simulations of the last glacial cycle in north america prescribing different climatic mass balance glaciologic and isostatic treatments for the least constrained model variables lgm ice sheet reconstructions were evaluated using the well established geologic record of ice sheet area and southern extent at lgm dyke and prest 1987 these constraints give a subset of 33 simulations that produce reasonable lgm ice cover in north america ice sheet dispositions and the associated parameter settings in this subset of tests provide insight into the plausible range of nais thickness form and mass balance regime at lgm ice volume in this subset of tests spans a range of 28 5 38 9 10 15 m 3 at lgm with a predominant cluster at 32 36 10 15 m 3 taking floating ice and displaced continental water into account this corresponds to 69 94 m eustatic sea level msl more than 75 of the accepted tests fall in the range 78 88 msl we argue that this is a plausible estimate of the volume of water locked up in the nais at lgm

radiocarbon geochemistry of modern and ancient arctic lake systems baffin island canada the accuracy of arctic lake chronologies has been assessed by measuring the14c activities of modern carbon sources and applying these isotopic mass balances to dating fossil lake materials small 1 km2 shallow 25 m arctic lakes with watersheds 12 km2have soil and peat stratigraphic sections with14c activities ranging from 98 to 51 modern the14c activity of particulate organic carbon dissolved organic carbon and dissolved inorganic carbon from lake and stream waters ranges from 121 to 95 modern the sediment water interface of the studied lakes shows consistent14c ages of 100014c yr although the14c activity of living aquatic vegetation is 115 modern radiocarbon measurements of components of the lacustrine carbon pool imply that the 100014c yr age of the sediment water interface results from deposition of14c depleted organic matter derived from the watershed

an interpretation and catalogue of paleoseismicity in sweden abstract paleoseismic data provide a long term record of seismic activity to predict hazards for periods longer than one to a few centuries in sweden the analysis reveals there was a drastic change in dominant seismic mode from a high to super high deglacial mode to a low to moderately low mode in present and late holocene time paleoseismic criteria and characteristics include numerous different sources of information viz primary faults bedrock deformation sedimentary deformation rock and sediment slides liquefaction sorting by shaking tsunamis differing geomorphic expressions disordering and ordering of magnetic particles by applying multiple criteria it was possible to identify 44 paleoseismic events including 23 events of estimated m 6 7 12 events of m 7 8 and 6 events of m 8 varve dating often allows a precision as to a single year in one case even to the season of a year the key for paleoseismic reconstruction and testing is the application of multiple criteria

towards an automatic monitoring system of infrasonic events at mt etna strategies for source location and modeling active volcanoes characterized by open conduit conditions generate sonic and infrasonic signals whose investigation provides useful information for both monitoring purposes and studying the dynamics of explosive processes in this work we discuss the automatic procedures implemented for a real time application to the data acquired by a permanent network of five infrasound stations running at mt etna volcano the infrasound signals at mt etna consist in amplitude transients called infrasound events the adopted procedure uses a multi algorithm approach for event detection counting characterization and location it is designed for an efficient and accurate processing of infrasound records provided by single site and array stations moreover the source mechanism of these events can be investigated off line or in near real time by using three different models 1 strombolian bubble 2 resonating conduit and 3 helmholtz resonator the infrasound waveforms allow us to choose the most suitable model to get quantitative information about the source and to follow the time evolution of the source parameters

the effects of phase transition kinetics on subducting slabs the effects of kinetics on the non equilibrium aspects of the olivine to spinel transition in a descending slab have been studied numerically a one dimensional model consisting of the kinetic equations and the heat diffusion equation with latent heat release has been constructed numerical results show that the position and sharpness of the kinetic phase boundary is determined by the surface tension and the activation volume for slow slab velocities less than 6 cm yr near equilibrium conditions are found finger like structures emanating from the phase boundaries are obtained in this regime these phase boundary prolusions may cause earthquakes for slab velocities of around 10 cm yr the metastable olivine region may be pushed down to a depth of about 600 km with a sharp phase boundary a direct transition from olivine to perovskite may be feasible

optical dating of pottery burnt stones and sediments from selected quebec archaeological sites recent developments in luminescence technologies applied to sediment dating is used to better constrain the age of archaeological events suitable geoarchaeological material includes sediments and fired objects such as pottery and burnt stones the assessment of archaeological ages illustrated here are based on single aliquot regeneration sar with both infrared and blue stimulation on the same fine grained aliquot being detected these new approaches in optical dating were tested on polymineralic extracts of an archaic burnt stone a woodland ceramic and a soil containing plano artefacts the results demonstrate that whether or not these sites had yielded datable radiocarbon material luminescence would have provided a reliable chronological framework given that the appropriate procedures to correct anomalous fading are incorporated

postglacial changes of terrestrial and marine environments along the labrador coast palynological evidence from cores 91 045 005 and 91 045 006 cartwright saddle the palynology of cores from cartwright saddle led to reconstruction of sea surface conditions on the basis of transfer functions using dinoflagellate cyst assemblages and to correlations with vegetational history on adjacent land as derived from pollen assemblages from deglaciation to about 8000 bp dinoflagellate cyst assemblages dominated by algidasphaeridium minutum indicate arctic type sea surface conditions and pollen assemblages reveal tundra vegetation in southeastern labrador codominance of a minutum and brigantedinium spp indicate persistence of cold sea surface conditions august temperature 3 c and extensive sea ice cover up to 11 months year until ca 6000 bp however the occurrence of abies which reached a maximum abundance at ca 7000 6000 bp and increasing percentages of alnus indicate northward tree migration and development of shrub tundra as a result of warmer terrestrial conditions around 6000 bp the significant occurrence of peridinium faeroense and nematosphaeropsi

early holocene glacial lakes and ice marginal retreat pattern in labrador ungava canada abstract the existence of glacial lakes naskaupi mclean minto melezes and wapussakatoo during the deglaciation of labrador ungava canada was recognized at the end of 1950s however glacial lakes have seldom been included in regional reconstructions to constrain the outline of successive ice margins during the glacial retreat in labrador ungava reconstruction of the ice flow succession in labrador ungava has often primarily focused on till lineation systems these reconstructions often depict a late glacial ice dispersal center situated over central labrador ungava more recent studies on glacial geomorphology including meltwater features however suggest that north central labrador ungava exhibited cold based conditions at least during the latest deglaciation cold based conditions inhibit basal sliding and formation of landforms except for meltwater traces such as meltwater channels glacial lake shorelines and deltas this situation implies that meltwater traces are the main source of information when reconstructing the spatial retreat pattern during a cold based deglaciation evidence presented in this study such as glacial lake shorelines fossil deltas and spillway and drainage channels in north central labrador ungava indicates the existence of numerous previously unmapped glacial lakes the mapped glacial lake features are synthesized to a reconstruction of several glacial lake stages which in turn are used to constrain the late glacial ice margin retreat pattern over the inferred cold based areas of north central labrador ungava a total of 26 glacial lakes 65 sub stages existed during the deglaciation of labrador ungava these lakes were impounded along the southern margin of the shrinking ice sheet the required damming ice margins indicate that the last ice remnant of the laurentide ice sheet in labrador ungava was situated over the southern ungava bay and the adjacent southern shore

postglacial emergence of ungava peninsula and its relationship to glacial history a series of 178 radiocarbon dates of late glacial and postglacial age from raised marine terraces on the hudson strait hudson bay and ungava bay coasts permit a new synthesis of deglaciation h