Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T16:04:02.693Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Itkillik Glaciation in the Brooks Range, Northern Alaska

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Thomas D. Hamilton  and
Stephen C. Porter
Thomas D. Hamilton*
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Stephen C. Porter
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences and Quaternary Research Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195 USA
*
1Present address: Branch of Alaskan Geology, U.S. Geological Survey, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, Calif. 94025.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

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

Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 5 , Issue 4 , December 1975 , pp. 471 - 497
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ager, T.A., (1975). Late Quaternary pollen record from Birch Lake, Tanana Valley, Alaska. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 7, 289–290.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Barry, R.G., Bradley, R.S., Miller, G.H., Williams, L.D., (1972a). Past and present glaciological responses to climate in eastern Baffin Island. Quaternary Research 2, 303–314.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T., Mears, A., Miller, G.H., Pheasant, D.R., (1972b). Holocene late glacial maximum and marine transgression in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Nature (Physical Science) 239, 147–149.Google Scholar
Armstrong, J.E., Crandell, D.R., Easterbrook, D.J., Noble, J.B., (1965). Late Pleistocene stratigraphy and chronology in south-western British Columbia and northwestern Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin 76, 321–330.Google Scholar
Armstrong, J.E., (1975). Quaternary Geology, Stratigraphic Studies and Revaluation of Terrain Inventory Maps, Fraser Lowland, British Columbia. 377–380Geological Survey of Canada Paper 75-1, (Part A).Google Scholar
Benedict, J.B., (1973). Chronology of cirque glaciation, Colorado Front Range. Quaternary Research 3, 584–599.Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S., (1975). Floating glacial ice caps in the Arctic Ocean. Science 188, 1116–1118.Google Scholar
Burrows, C.J., (1975). Late-Pleistocene and Holocene moraines of the Cameron Valley, Arrowsmith Range, Canterbury, New Zealand. Arctic and Alpine Research 7, 125–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cantwell, J.C., (1887). Exploration of the Kowak River, Alaska. Healy, M.A., Report of the Cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer “Corwin” in the Arctic Ocean in 1885 U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C 21–52.Google Scholar
Chapman, R.M., Detterman, R.L., Mangus, M.D., (1964). Geology of the Killik-Etivluk Rivers Region, Alaska. 325–407U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 303-F.Google Scholar
Colinvaux, P.A., (1964). The environment of the Bering Land Bridge. Ecological Monographs 34, 297–329.Google Scholar
Colinvaux, P.A., (1967). Quaternary vegetational history of arctic Alaska. Hopkins, D.M., The Bering Land Bridge Stanford University Press Stanford, Calif 207–231.Google Scholar
Coulter, H.W., Hopkins, D.M., Karlstrom, T.N.V., Péwé, T.L., Wahrhaftig, Clyde, Williams, J.R., (1965). Map Showing Extent of Glaciations in Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-415 .Google Scholar
Crandell, D.R., (1969). Surficial Geology of Mount Rainier National Park, Washington. 41U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1288.Google Scholar
Crandell, D.R., (1974). Quaternary Stratigraphy and Extent of Glaciation in the Mount Rainier Region, Washington. 59U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 847.Google Scholar
Denton, G.H., (1974). Quaternary glaciations of the White River Valley, Alaska, with a regional synthesis for the northern St. Elias Mountains, Alaska and Yukon Territory. Geological Society of America Bulletin 85, 871–892.Google Scholar
Detterman, R.L., (1953). Sagavanirktok-Anaktuvuk region, northern Alaska. Péwé, T.L., Multiple Glaciation in Alaska, a Progress Report. U.S. Geological Survey Circular 289, 11–12.Google Scholar
Detterman, R.L., Bowsher, A.L., Dutro, J.T. Jr., (1958). Glaciation of the arctic slope of the Brooks Range, northern Alaska. Arctic 11, 43–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreimanis, A., Goldthwait, R.P., (1973). Wisconsin Glaciation in the Huron, Erie, and Ontario Lobes. Black, R.F., The Wisconsinan Stage. Geological Society of America Memoir 136, 71–106.Google Scholar
Farrand, W.R., (1973). Observations on Pleistocene glaciation of the North Slope of the Brooks Range, northern Alaska. Solecki, R.S., Salwen, Bert, Jacobson, Jerome, Archaeological Reconnaissance North of the Brooks Range in Northeastern Alaska. Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary Occassional Papers 1 91–98.Google Scholar
Fernald, A.T., (1964). Surficial Geology of the Central Kobuk River Valley, North-western Alaska. 31U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1181-K.Google Scholar
Fernald, A.T., (1965). Glaciation in the Nabesna River Area, Upper Tanana River Valley, Alaska. C120–C123U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 525-C.Google Scholar
Hamilton, T.D., (1969). Glacial geology of the lower Alatna Valley, Brooks Range, Alaska. Schumm, S.A., Bradley, W.C., United States Contributions to Quaternary Research. Geological Society of America Special Paper 123 181–223.Google Scholar
Hershey, O.H., (1909). The ancient Kobuk glacier of Alaska. Journal of Geology 17, 83–91.Google Scholar
Hopkins, D.M., (1973). Sea level history in Beringia during the past 250,000 years. Quaternary Research 3, 520–540.Google Scholar
Hunkins, K., Bé, A.W.H., Opdyke, N.D., Mathieu, Guy, (1971). The late Cenozoic history of the Arctic Ocean. Turekian, K.K., The Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages Yale University Press New Haven, Conn 215–237.Google Scholar
Karlstrom, T.N.V., (1964). Surficial Geology of Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-357 .Google Scholar
Kind, N.V., (1972). Late Quaternary climatic changes and glacial events in the Old and New World—Radiocarbon chronology. 24th International Geological Congress, Proceedings Montreal 55–61Section 12.Google Scholar
Lichti-Federovich, S., (1973). Palynology of six sections of late Quaternary sediments from the Old Crow River, Yukon Territory. Canadian Journal of Botany 51, 553–564.Google Scholar
Lichti-Federovich, S., (1974). Palynology of Two Sections of Late Quaternary Sediments from the Porcupine River, Yukon Territory. 6Geological Survey of Canada Paper 74-23.Google Scholar
McCulloch, D.S., Taylor, D.W., Rubin, M., (1965). Stratigraphy, nonmarine mollusks, and radiometric dates from Quaternary deposits in the Kotzebue Sound area, western Alaska. Journal of Geology 73, 442–453.Google Scholar
McCulloch, D.S., (1967). Quaternary geology of the Alaskan shore of the Chukchi Sea. Hopkins, D.M., The Bering Land Bridge Stanford University Press Stanford, Calif 91–120.Google Scholar
Mercer, J.H., (1972). Chilean glacial chronology 20,000 to 11,000 Carbon-14 years ago: Some global comparisons. Science 176, 1118–1120.Google Scholar
Patton, W.W. Jr., Miller, T.P., (1966). Regional Geologic Map of the Hughes Quadrangle, Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-459 .Google Scholar
Patton, W.W. Jr., Miller, T.P., Tailleur, I.L., (1968). Regional Geologic Map of the Shungnak and Southern Part of the Ambler River Quandrangles, Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Geologic Investigations Map I-554 .Google Scholar
Péwé, T.L., Reger, R.D., (1972). Modern and Wisconsinan snowlines in Alaska. 24th International Geological Congress Proceedings Montreal187–197Section 12.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., (1964). Late Pleistocene glacial chronology of north-central Brooks Range, Alaska. American Journal of Science 262, 446–460.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., (1966). Pleistocene Geology of Anaktuvuk Pass, Central Brooks Range, Alaska. 100Arctic Institute of North America Technical Paper 18.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., (1974). Holocene Glacier Fluctuations. Abstracts of 3rd Biennial Conference of the American Quaternary Association 68–72.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., (1975). Equilibrium-line altitudes of late Quaternary glaciers in the Southern Alps, New Zealand. Quaternary Research 5, 27–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Porter, S.C., (1976). Pleistocene glaciation in the southern part of the North Cascade Range, Washington. Geological Society of America Bulletin 87.Google Scholar
Porter, S.C., Denton, G.H., (1967). Chronology of Neoglaciation in the North American Cordillera. American Journal of Science 265, 117–210.Google Scholar
Schrader, F.C., (1904). A Reconnaissance in Northern Alaska Across the Rocky Mountains, Along Koyukuk, John, Anaktuvuk, and Colville Rivers, and the Arctic coast to Cape Lisburne in 1901. 136U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 20.Google Scholar
Schmoll, H.R., Szabo, B.J., Rubin, M., Dobrovolny, E., (1972). Radiometric dating of marine shells from the Bootlegger Cove Clay, Anchorage area, Alaska. Geological Society of America Bulletin 83, 1107–1113.Google Scholar
Schweger, C.S., (1971). Late Quaternary paleoecology of the Onion Portage region, northwestern Alaska. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 3, 413.Google Scholar
Smith, P.S., Mertie, J.B. Jr., (1930). Geology and mineral resources of north-western Alaska. U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 815, 351.Google Scholar
Suggate, R.P., Moar, N.T., (1970). Revision of the chronology of the late Otira glacial. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 13, 742–746.Google Scholar
Wendler, G., Fahl, C., Corbin, S., (1972). Mass balance studies on McCall Glacier, Brooks Range, Alaska. Arctic and Alpine Research 4, 211–222.Google Scholar
Williams, J.R., (1962). Geologic Reconnaissance of the Yukon Flats District, Alaska. 289–331U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1111-H.Google Scholar