Geomorphic and climatic change over the past 12,900 yr at Swiftcurrent Lake, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA

Glaciated alpine landscapes are sensitive to changes in climate. Shifts in temperature and precipitation can cause significant changes to glacier size and terminus position, the production and delivery of organic mass, and in the hydrologic energy related to the transport of water and sediment through proglacial environments. A sediment core representing a 12,900-yr record collected from Swiftcurrent Lake, located on the eastern side of Glacier National Park, Montana, was analyzed to assess variability in Holocene and latest Pleistocene environment. The spectral signature of total organic carbon content (%TOC) since ~ 7.6 ka matches that of solar forcing over 70–500 yr timescales. Periodic inputs of dolomite to the lake reflect an increased footprint of Grinnell Glacier, and occur during periods when sediment sinks are reduced, glacial erosion is increased, and hydrologic energy is increased. Grain size, carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratios, and %TOC broadly define the termination of the Younger Dryas chronozone at Swiftcurrent Lake, as well as major Holocene climate transitions. Variability in core parameters is linked to other records of temperature and aridity in the northern Rocky Mountains over the late Pleistocene and Holocene.

Climate change · Geography · Geomorphology · Glacier · Holocene · Hydrology (agriculture) · Physical geography · Pleistocene · Precipitation · Sediment · Younger Dryas · Cryospheric studies and observations · Geology · Geology and Paleoclimatology Research · Isotope Analysis in Ecology · Oceanography · Paleontology

• Glacial kettles as archives of early human settlement along the Northern Rocky Mountain Front

  Open Access•François Lanoë, M Nieves Zedeño et al.•Quaternary Research•2022

  Incluir item

• Lake core record of Grinnell Glacier dynamics during the latest Pleistocene deglaciation and the Younger Dryas, Glacier National Park, Montana, USA

  Open Access•Nathan S Schachtman, K R MacGregor et al.•Quaternary Research•2015

  Incluir item

• Proglacial lake records of recent environmental change in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA

  Open Access•Kelly Revenaugh MacGregor, Amy Myrbo et al.•Quaternary Research•2026

  Incluir item

• Climatic controls on phosphorus concentrations in The Loch, Loch Vale Watershed, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, USA since the last glacial maximum

  Open Access•Jason R Price, David W Szymanski et al.•Quaternary Research•2022

  Incluir item

• Global variations in regional degradation rates since the Last Glacial Maximum mapped through time and space

  Open Access•Risa D Madoff, Jaakko Putkonen•Quaternary Research•2022

  Incluir item

• Bison hunters and the Rocky Mountains

  Open Access•M Nieves Zedeño•Quaternary International•2017

  Incluir item

• A 2200-yr record of hydrologic variability from Foy Lake, Montana, USA, inferred from diatom and geochemical data

  Open Access•Lora R Stevens, Lora Stevens et al.•Quaternary Research•2006

  Incluir item

• Varve Studies at Hector Lake, Alberta, Canada, and the Relationship Between Glacial Activity and Sedimentation

  Open Access•Eric M Leonard•Quaternary Research•1986

  Incluir item

• A Continuous Holocene Glacial Record Inferred from Proglacial Lake Sediments in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada

  Open Access•Eric M Leonard, Mel A Reasoner•Quaternary Research•1999

  Incluir item

• Late Pleistocene and Holocene Seasonal Temperatures Reconstructed from Fossil Beetle Assemblages in the Rocky Mountains

  Open Access•Scott A Elia, Scott A Elias•Quaternary Research•1996

  Incluir item

• The Age of Glacier Peak Tephra in West-Central Montana

  Open Access•Peter J Mehringer, John C Sheppard et al.•Quaternary Research•1984

  Incluir item

• Late Quaternary Vegetation and Climatic History of the Long Valley Area, West-Central Idaho, U.S.A.

  Open Access•James P Doerner, PAUL E CARRARA•Quaternary Research•2001

  Incluir item

• Postglacial fire, vegetation, and climate history in the Clearwater Range, Northern Idaho, USA

  Open Access•Andrea Brunelle, Cathy Whitlock•Quaternary Research•2003

  Incluir item

• Persistent Solar Influence on North Atlantic Climate During the Holocene

  Open Access•Gérard C Bond, Gerard Bond et al.•Science•2001

  Incluir item

• Preservation of elemental and isotopic source identification of sedimentary organic matter

  Open Access•Philip A Meyers•Chemical Geology•1994

  Incluir item

• A high-resolution, absolute-dated Holocene and deglacial Asian monsoon record from Dongge Cave, China

  Open Access•C DYKOSKI, C A Dykoski et al.•Earth and Planetary Science Letters•2005

  Incluir item

• Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years

  Open Access•Alfons Berger, Marie‐France Loutre et al.•Quaternary Science Reviews•1991

  Incluir item

• Timing, Duration, and Transitions of the Last Interglacial Asian Monsoon

  Open Access•Daoxian Yuan, Hai Cheng et al.•Science•2004

  Incluir item

• Lacustrine Sedimentary Organic Matter Records of Late Quaternary Paleoclimates

  Open Access•Philip A Meyers, Élisabeth Lallier-Vergès•Journal of Paleolimnology•1999

  Incluir item

• Solar Forcing of Drought Frequency in the Maya Lowlands

  Open Access•David A Hodell, Mark Brenner et al.•Science•2001

  Incluir item

• Climatic Changes of the Last 18,000 Years

  Open Access•COHMAP Members•Science•1988

  Incluir item

• Unusual activity of the Sun during recent decades compared to the previous 11,000 years

  Open Access•Sami K Solanki, I Usoskin et al.•Nature•2004

  Incluir item

• Global climates since the last glacial maximum

  H E Wright, T Webb et al.•Global climates since the last…•1993

  Incluir item

• Lateglacial and Holocene hydroclimate inferred from a groundwater flow-through lake, Northern Rocky Mountains, USA

  Open Access•Mark D Shapley, Emi Ito et al.•The Holocene•2009

  Incluir item

• Palaeohydrological changes and human-impact history over the last millennium recorded at Lake Joux in the Jura Mountains, Switzerland

  Open Access•M Magny, Emilie Gauthier et al.•The Holocene•2008

  Incluir item

• Calendar-dated, early 'Little Ice Age' glacier advance at Robson Glacier, British Columbia, Canada

  Open Access•B H Luckman•The Holocene•1995

  Incluir item

• Extended 14 C Data Base and Revised Calib 3.0 14 C Age Calibration Program

  Open Access•Minze Stuiver, Paula J Reimer•Radiocarbon•1993

  Incluir item

• Discussion Reporting of 14 C Data

  Open Access•Minze Stuiver, Henry A Polach•Radiocarbon•1977

  Incluir item