GSA Connects 2024 Meeting in Anaheim, California

Paper No. 68-4
Presentation Time: 2:35 PM

A COSMOGENIC NUCLIDE RECORD FROM KATAHDIN, MAINE, USA


MILES, Maraina1, HALL, Brenda L.1, LOWELL, Thomas V.2 and PUTNAM, Aaron1, (1)School of Earth and Climate Sciences and The Climate Change Institute, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04469, (2)Department of Geology, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221

During the height of the last ice age, the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) covered Maine. The LIS subsequently thinned during the termination, and allowed Katahdin, the highest mountain in Maine (1606 m), to emerge out of the thinning ice sheet. Here we report our work on our glacial-geomorphic mapping and 10Be exposure ages of glacially transported boulders on Katahdin. We investigated several moraines, including a moraine belt that wraps around the mountain at ~750 m elevation and represents a stillstand. Our 10Be ages suggest multiple moraines were formed between 16.1 and 14.5 ka. Previous work has debated the existence of small alpine glaciers in the cirques during the termination. We are also investigating the cirques for evidence of glacial activity during the termination.