DATING GLACIAL HISTORY OF THE FIRST MILLENNIUM CE IN MUIR INLET, GLACIER BAY NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE, SOUTHEAST ALASKA

The glacial history of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is extensive throughout the Holocene. Ice has advanced and retreated in the many inlets of the bay numerous times, reaching its Holocene maximum during the Little Ice Age. Muir Inlet is located along the north perimeter of the East Arm of the bay. Past dendrochronological work in the area has been used to reconstruct and date glacial advance. Our current continuous calendar dated chronology from the Gulf of Alaska includes tree-ring width series from Glacier Bay that date back to the First Millennium AD and extends a continuous record to 2000 years BP. There are gaps between 2000 and 2500 years BP, which this study hopes to close.

This record builds on previous work dating ice advance using tree-rings and seeks to synthesize and provide additional ages on ice advances focusing on the First Millennium AD. Recent collections from Glacier Bay and the Juneau Icefield have been previously radiocarbon dated and now efforts are underway to obtain calendar dates using our composite tree-ring chronology for the Gulf of Alaska.