37 Glacial Lakes: New Understandings of Their Extent, History, and Internal Dynamics

Monday, 19 March 2018
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
Diamond Ballroom II

EXPANDING THE VARVE CHRONOLOGY: MORE PRELIMINARY RESULTS FROM GLACIAL LAKE WARRENSBURG, HUDSON VALLEY, NY

Paper number: 37-6
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 2:55 PM – 3:15 PM

Authors

Abstract

Proglacial lakes are linked to climate through glacier dynamics, glacial meltwater, and sediment fluxes. Proglacial lake records are used as proxies to reconstruct glacier mass balance and climate variability. The retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in the Hudson and Schroon river valleys of Eastern New York led to the formation of a series of glacial lakes since the LGM, including Glacial Lake Warrensburg. Previous studies have shown that annual varve layers with distinctive layering properties outcrop near the Hudson River, including both ice-proximal and distal varve deposits. The goal of this study was to collect additional cores from Glacial Lake Warrensburg to provide additional chronological data pertaining to the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet throughout this region. Five cores were collected from Warrensburg, New York, 7.5 miles West of the town of Lake George and 6 miles SW of the town of Warrensburg. We present results from two overlapping cores containing a sequence of ice-proximal varves. The cores were described and photographed, and varve lamina were measured, counted, and analyzed. Results are placed in context with previous studies of the Glacial Lake Warrensburg varve sequence and regional studies in the North American Varve Chronology (NAVC) database. Additional coring is recommended to achieve a complete sequence through the Glacial Lake Warrensburg interval of Laurentide deglaciation.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 50, No. 2

doi: 10.1130/abs/2018NE-311170

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