ADVANCE AND RETREAT OF THE LATE PLEISTOCENE CORDILLERAN ICE SHEET
EASTERBROOK, Don J., Geology, Western Washington Univ, Bellingham, WA 98225, dbunny@cc.wwu.edu.

Radiocarbon dates of 16-20,000 14C yrs B.P. beneath laminated mud near the Canadian border have been used to suggest that the Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS) crossed the border after 16,000 14C yrs B.P. However, these sediments are not known to be overlain by Vashon till and are anomalously young because the CIS was building an outwash plain in front of its advancing margin ~115 km to the south 18,000 ± 400 14C yrs B.P. ~150 km to the south at 16,510 ± 320, 15,450 ± 450, and 15,350 ± 210 14C yrs B.P., and in Seattle ~14.5–16,000 14C yrs B.P. If the CIS didn’t cross the border until after 16,000 14C yrs B.P., it could hardly have been depositing outwash as far south as Seattle at 16,000 14C yrs B.P. Which set of dates is correct remains uncertain. Vashon ice passed through Seattle after 14,500 14C yrs B.P. and reached its maximum near Olympia soon after. Between 14,000 and 13,500 14C yrs B.P., the Vashon glacier underwent rapid, large-scale back-wasting and down-wasting and had retreated from Seattle and the western Strait of Juan de Fuca by 13,500 14C yrs B.P. By 13,000 14C yrs B.P., marine water entered the Puget Lowland and floated the remaining ice, depositing Everson glaciomarine drift over the central and northern lowland. 140 14C dates indicate that deposition of Everson gmd in the central and northern Puget Lowland continued from 13,000 to 11,500 14C yrs B.P. The lowland emerged from the sea ~11,500 14C yr B.P. During the Sumas Stade, the CIS advanced and retreated at least three times, building prominent moraines 11,500 to 11,400, 10,980 to 10,250, and 10,250 to ~10,000 14C yrs B.P.

Cordilleran Section - 98th Annual Meeting (May 13–15, 2002)
Session No. 25
Quaternary Geology and Paleoclimate
CH2M Hill Alumni Center: Ballroom 110B
1:30 PM-5:30 PM, Tuesday, May 14, 2002
 

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