Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-16T14:47:02.667Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Optical ages on loess derived from outwash surfaces constrain the advance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet out of the Lake Superior Basin, USA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Randall J. Schaetzl*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, 128 Geography Bldg, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1117, USA
Steven L. Forman
Affiliation:
Luminescence Dating Research Laboratory, Dept. of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 845 W. Taylor Street (m/c 186), 2440 Science and Engineering South, Univ. of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607-7059, USA
John W. Attig
Affiliation:
Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, 3817 Mineral Point Road, Madison, WI 53705-5100, USA
*
*Corresponding author. Fax: + 1 517 432 1671. E-mail address:soils@msu.edu (R.J. Schaetzl).

Abstract

We present textural and thickness data on loess from 125 upland sites in west-central Wisconsin, which confirm that most of this loess was derived from the sandy outwash surfaces of the Chippewa River and its tributaries, which drained the Chippewa Lobe of the Laurentide front during the Wisconsin glaciation (MIS 2). On bedrock uplands southeast of the widest outwash surfaces in the Chippewa River valley, this loess attains thicknesses > 5 m. OSL ages on this loess constrain the advance of the Laurentide ice from the Lake Superior basin and into west-central Wisconsin, at which time its meltwater started flowing down the Chippewa drainage. The oldest MAR OSL age, 23.8 ka, from basal loess on bedrock, agrees with the established, but otherwise weakly constrained, regional glacial chronology. Basal ages from four other sites range from 13.2 to 18.5 ka, pointing to the likelihood that these sites remained geomorphically unstable and did not accumulate loess until considerably later in the loess depositional interval. Other OSL ages from this loess, taken higher in the stratigraphic column but below the depth of pedoturbation, range to nearly 13 ka, suggesting that the Chippewa River valley may have remained a loess source for several millennia.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Attig, J.W., Clayton, L., and Mickelson, D.M. Correlation of late Wisconsin glacial phases in the western Great Lakes area. Geological Society of America Bulletin 96, (1985). 15851593.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Attig, J.W., Mickelson, D.M., and Clayton, L. Late Wisconsin landform distribution and glacier-bed conditions in Wisconsin. Sedimentary Geology 62, (1989). 399405.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Attig, J.W., Hanson, P.R., Rawling, J.E. III, Young, A.R., and Carson, E.C. Optical ages indicate the southwestern margin of the Green Bay Lobe in Wisconsin, USA, was at its maximum extent until about 18,500 years ago. Geomorphology 130, (2011). 384390.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Attig, J.W., Bricknell, M., Carson, E.C., Clayton, L., Johnson, M.D., Mickelson, D.M., and Syverson, K.M. Glaciation of Wisconsin. 4th ed. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Educational Series Publication 36, (2011). (4 pp.)Google Scholar
Bailey, R.M., Singarayer, J.S., Ward, S., and Stokes, S. Identification of partial resetting using De as function of illumination time. Radiation Measurements 37, (2003). 511518.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Baker, R.W., Diehl, J.F., Simpson, T.W., Zelazney, L.W., and Beske-Diehl, S. Pre-Wisconsin glacial stratigraphy, chronology and paleomagnetics of west-central Wisconsin. Geological Society of America Bulletin 94, (1983). 14421449.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bateman, M.D., Boulter, C.H., Carr, A.S., Frederick, C.D., Peter, D., and Wilder, M. Detecting post-depositional sediment disturbance in sandy deposits using luminescence. Quaternary Geochronology 2, (2007). 5764.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bauder, A., Mickelson, D.M., and Marshall, S.J. Numerical modeling investigations of the subglacial conditions of the southern Laurentide ice sheet. Annals of Glaciology 40, (2005). 219224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bettis, E.A. III, Muhs, D.R., Roberts, H.M., and Wintle, A.G. Last glacial loess in the conterminous USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, (2003). 19071946.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Black, R.F. Ice-wedge casts of Wisconsin. Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters 54, (1965). 187222.Google Scholar
Black, R.F. Quaternary geology of Wisconsin and contiguous upper Michigan. Mahaney, W.C. Quaternary Stratigraphy of North America. (1976). Dowden, Hutchinson and Ross, Stroudsburg, PA. 93117.Google Scholar
Blewett, W.L., Winters, H.A., and Rieck, R.L. New age control on the Port Huron moraine in northern Michigan. Physical Geography 14, (1993). 131138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bright, J., Kaufman, D.S., Mead, J.I., Forman, S.L., Esser, R.P., and Pigati, J.S. Comparative dating of a fossiliferous, Bison-bearing, late-Pleistocene deposit, San Clémente de Térapa, Sonora, México. Quaternary Geochronology 5, (2010). 631643.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, B.A., (1988). Bedrock geology of Wisconsin, west-central sheet. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Regional Map Series 6. 1:250,000.Google Scholar
Brown, N.D., and Forman, S.L. Evaluating a SAR TT-OSL protocol for dating fine-grained quartz within Late Pleistocene loess deposits in the Missouri and Mississippi river valleys, United States. Quaternary Geochronology 12, (2012). 8797.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carson, E.C., Hanson, P.R., Attig, J.W., and Young, A.R. Numeric control on the late-glacial chronology of the southern Laurentide Ice Sheet derived from ice-proximal lacustrine deposits. Quaternary Research 78, (2012). 583589.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chamberlin, T.C. Supplementary hypothesis respecting the origin of the loess of the Mississippi valley. Journal of Geology 5, (1897). 796802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, P.U. Surface form of the southern Laurentide Ice Sheet and its implications to ice-sheet dynamics. Geological Society of America Bulletin 104, (1992). 595605.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, L., and Moran, S.R. Chronology of late Wisconsinan glaciation in middle North America. Quaternary Science Reviews 1, (1982). 5582.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, L., Teller, J.T., and Attig, J.W. Surging of the southwestern part of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Boreas 14, (1985). 235244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clayton, L., Attig, J.W., and Mickelson, D.M. Effects of late Pleistocene permafrost on the landscape of Wisconsin. Boreas 30, (2001). 173188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colgan, P.M., and Mickelson, D.M. Genesis of streamlined landforms and flow history of the Green Bay Lobe, Wisconsin, USA. Sedimentary Geology 111, (1997). 1425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Colgan, P.M., Bierman, P.R., Mickelson, D.M., and Caffee, M. Variation in glacial erosion near the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, south-central Wisconsin, USA: implications for cosmogenic dating of glacial terrains. Geological Society of America Bulletin 114, (2002). 15811591.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, R.T., Larsen, D., Forman, S.L., Woods, J., and Morat, J. Seismotectonic implications of sand blows in the southern Mississippi Embayment. Engineering Geology 89, (2007). 278299.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cutler, P.M., Mickelson, D.M., Colgan, P.M., MacAyeal, D.R., and Parizek, B.R. Influence of the Great Lakes on the dynamics of the southern Laurentide Ice Sheet: numerical experiments. Geology 29, (2001). 10391042.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duller, G.A.T. Luminescence dating of Quaternary sediments: recent advances. Journal of Quaternary Science 19, (2004). 183192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duller, G.A.T., and Wintle, A.G. A review of the thermally transferred optically stimulated luminescence signal from quartz for dating sediments. Quaternary Geochronology 7, (2012). 620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duller, G.A.T., Botter-Jensen, L., and Murray, A.S. Combining infrared and green-laser stimulation sources in single-grain luminescence measurements of feldspar and quartz. Radiation Measurements 37, (2003). 543550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eschman, D.F., and Mickelson, D.M. Correlation of glacial deposits of the Huron, Lake Michigan and Green Bay Lobes in Michigan and Wisconsin. Sibrava, V., Bowen, D.Q., and Richmond, G.M. Quaternary Glaciations in the Northern Hemisphere. Quaternary Science Reviews 5, (1986). 5357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairbanks, R.G., Mortlock, R.A., Chiu, T.-C., Cao, L., Kaplan, A., Guilderson, T.P., Fairbanks, T.W., and Bloom, A.L. Marine radiocarbon calibration curve spanning 0 to 50,000 years B.P. based on paired 230Th/234U and 14C dates on pristine corals. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, (2005). 17811796.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fehrenbacher, J.B., White, J.L., Ulrich, H.P., and Odell, R.T. Loess distribution in southeastern Illinois and southwestern Indiana. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 29, (1965). 566572.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fehrenbacher, J.B., Olson, K.R., and Jansen, I.J. Loess thickness in Illinois. Soil Science 141, (1986). 423431.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flint, R.F. Glacial and Pleistocene Geology. (1971). John Wiley and Sons, New York. (553 pp.)Google Scholar
Forman, S.L., and Ennis, G. The effect of light intensity and spectra on the reduction of thermoluminescence of near-shore sediments from Spitsbergen, Svalbard: implications for dating Quaternary water-lain sequences. Geophysical Research Letters 18, (1991). 17271730.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forman, S.L., and Pierson, J. Late Pleistocene luminescence chronology of loess deposition in the Missouri and Mississippi river valleys, United States. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 186, (2002). 2546.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forman, S.L., Bettis, E.A. III, Kemmis, T.J., and Miller, B.B. Chronologic evidence for multiple periods of loess deposition during the Late Pleistocene in the Missouri and Mississippi River valley, United States: implications for the activity of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 93, (1992). 7183.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grimley, D.A. Glacial and nonglacial sediment contributions to Wisconsin Episode loess in the central United States. Geological Society of America Bulletin 112, (2000). 14751495.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadley, D.W., Pelham, J.H., (1976). Glacial Deposits of Wisconsin. Sand and Gravel Resource Potential. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Map. 1:500,000. Madison, WI.Google Scholar
Hole, F.D. Aeolian sand and silt deposits of Wisconsin. (reprinted, 1968) Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Map. (1950). (Madison, WI) Google Scholar
Holmes, M.A., and Syverson, K.M. Permafrost history of Eau Claire and Chippewa Counties, Wisconsin, as indicated by ice-wedge casts. The Compass 73, (1997). 9196.Google Scholar
Jacobs, P.M., Knox, J.C., and Mason, J.A. Preservation and recognition of Middle and Early Pleistocene Loess in the Driftless Area, Wisconsin. Quaternary Research 47, (1997). 147154.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jain, M., Botter-Jensen, L., and Singhvi, A.K. Dose evaluation using multiple-aliquot quartz OSL: test of methods and a new protocol for improved accuracy and precision. Radiation Measurements 37, (2003). 6780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jakel, D.E., and Dahl, R.A. Soil Survey of Chippewa County, Wisconsin. Soil Conservation Service. (1989). US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Johnson, W.H., and Follmer, L.R. Source and origin of Roxana silt and Middle Wisconsinan midcontinent glacial activity. Quaternary Research 31, (1989). 319331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kaiser, K.F. Two Creeks interstadial dated through dendrochronology and AMS. Quaternary Research 42, (1994). 288298.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kehew, A.E., Beukema, S.P., Bird, B.C., and Kozlowski, A.L. Fast flow of the Lake Michigan Lobe: evidence from sediment—landform assemblages in southwestern Michigan, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, (2005). 23352353.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kehew, A.E., Esch, J.M., Kozlowski, A.L., and Ewald, S.K. Glacial land systems and dynamics of the Saginaw Lobe of the Laurentide Ice sheet, Michigan, USA. Quaternary International 260, (2012). 2131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larson, G.J., Lowell, T.V., and Ostrom, N.E. Evidence for the Two Creeks interstade in the Lake Huron basin. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 31, (1994). 793797.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, D.L. Roxana silt of the Upper Mississippi valley: lithology, source, and paleoenvironment. Geological Society of America Bulletin 106, (1994). 430442.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leigh, D.L., and Knox, J.C. AMS radiocarbon age of the Upper Mississippi valley Roxana Silt. Quaternary Research 39, (1993). 282289.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lian, O.B., and Roberts, R.G. Dating the Quaternary: progress in luminescence dating of sediments. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, (2006). 24492468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Londono, A.C., Forman, S.L., Eichler, T., and Pierson, J. Episodic eolian deposition in the past ca. 50,000 years in the Alto Ilo dune field, southern Peru. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 346–347, (2012). 1224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Luehmann, M.D., Schaetzl, R.J., Miller, B.A., and Bigsby, M. Thin, pedoturbated and locally sourced loess in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Aeolian Research 8, (2013). 85100.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lundqvist, J., Clayton, L., and Mickelson, D.M. Deposition of the Late Wisconsin Johnstown moraine, south-central Wisconsin. Quaternary International 18, (1993). 5359.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Madsen, A.T., Duller, G.A.T., Donnelly, J.P., Roberts, H.M., and Wintle, A.G. A chronology of hurricane landfalls at Little Sippewissett Marsh, Massachusetts, USA, using optical dating. Geomorphology 109, (2009). 3645.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maher, L.J., and Mickelson, D.M. Palynological and radiocarbon evidence for deglaciation events in the Green Bay lobe, Wisconsin. Quaternary Research 46, (1996). 251259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin, L.M. The Physical Geography of Wisconsin. (1965). University of Wisconsin Press, Madison. (608 pp.)Google Scholar
Mason, J.A., and Knox, J.C. Age of colluvium indicates accelerated late Wisconsinan hillslope erosion in the Upper Mississippi valley. Geology 25, (1997). 267270.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, J.A., Nater, E.A., and Hobbs, H.C. Transport direction of Wisconsinan loess in southeastern Minnesota. Quaternary Research 41, (1994). 4451.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McSweeney, K., Leigh, D.S., Knox, J.C., and Darmody, R.H. Micromorphological analysis of mixed zones associated with loess deposits of the midcontinental United States. Eden, D.N., and Furkert, R.J. Loess Its Distribution, Geology and Soils. Proc. Intl. Sympos. on Loess, New Zealand (1988). A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam. 117130.Google Scholar
Mejdahl, V., and Christiansen, H.H. Procedures used for luminescence dating of sediments. Boreas 13, (1994). 403406.Google Scholar
Michelso, P.C., and Dott, R.H. Orientation analysis of trough cross stratification in Upper Cambrian sandstones of western Wisconsin. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 43, (1973). 784794.Google Scholar
Mickelson, D.M., Clayton, L., Fullerton, D.S., and Borns, H.W. The Late Wisconsin glacial record of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in the United States. Wright, H.E. Jr. Late Quaternary Environments of the United States. The Late Pleistocene vol. 1, (1983). University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis. 337.Google Scholar
Miller, B.A., and Schaetzl, R.J. Precision of soil particle size analysis using laser diffractometry. Soil Science Society of America Journal 76, (2012). 17191727.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muhs, D.R., Bettis, E.A. III Geochemical variations in Peoria loess of western Iowa indicate paleowinds of midcontinental North America during last glaciation. Quaternary Research 53, (2000). 4961.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Muhs, D.R., Bettis, E.A., Aleinikoff, J.N., McGeehin, J.P., Beann, J., Skipp, G., Marshall, B.D., Roberts, H.M., Johnson, W.C., and Benton, R. Origin and paleoclimatic significance of late Quaternary loess in Nebraska: evidence from stratigraphy, chronology, sedimentology, and geochemistry. Geological Society of America Bulletin 120, (2008). 13781407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murray, A.S., and Wintle, A.G. The single aliquot regenerative dose protocol: potential for improvements in reliability. Radiation Measurements 37, (2003). 377381.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, C.J. Southern Laurentide ice lobes were created by ice streams: Des Moines Lobe in Minnesota, USA. Sedimentary Geology 111, (1997). 249261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patterson, C.J. Laurentide glacial landscapes: the role of ice streams. Geology 26, (1998). 643646.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prescott, J.R., and Hutton, J.T. Cosmic ray contributions to dose rates for luminescence and ESR dating: large depths and long-term time variations. Radiation Measurements 23, (1994). 497500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putman, B.R., Jansen, I.J., and Follmer, L.R. Loessial soils: their relationship to width of the source valley in Illinois. Soil Science 146, (1988). 241247.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, C.A. Effects of bleaching on the sensitivity to dose of the infrared-stimulated luminescence of potassium-rich feldspars from Ynyslas, Wales. Radiation Measurements 23, (1994). 587591.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, H.M., Muhs, D.R., Wintle, A.G., Duller, G.A.T., Bettis, E.A. III Unprecedented last-glacial mass accumulation rates determined by luminescence dating of loess from western Nebraska. Quaternary Research 59, (2003). 411419.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ruhe, R.V. Loess derived soils, Mississippi valley region: I. soil sedimentation system. Soil Science Society of America Journal 48, (1984). 859867.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rutledge, E.M., Holowaychuk, N., Hall, G.F., and Wilding, L.P. Loess in Ohio in relation to several possible source areas: I. physical and chemical properties. Soil Science Society of America Proceedings 39, (1975). 11251132.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaetzl, R.J., and Attig, J.W. The loess cover of northeastern Wisconsin. Quaternary Research 79, (2013). 199214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaetzl, R.J., and Forman, S.L. OSL ages on glaciofluvial sediment in northern Lower Michigan constrain expansion of the Laurentide ice sheet. Quaternary Research 70, (2008). 8190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaetzl, R.J., and Loope, W.L. Evidence for an eolian origin for the silt-enriched soil mantles on the glaciated uplands of eastern Upper Michigan, USA. Geomorphology 100, (2008). 285295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schaetzl, R.J., and Luehmann, M.D. Coarse-textured basal zones in thin loess deposits: products of sediment mixing and/or paleoenvironmental change?. Geoderma 192, (2013). 277285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scull, P., and Schaetzl, R.J. Using PCA to characterize and differentiate the character of loess deposits in Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, USA. Geomorphology 127, (2011). 143155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanahan, T.M., Peck, J.A., Mckay, N., Heil, C.W. Jr., King, J., Forman, S.L., Hoffman, D., Overpeck, J.T., and Scholz, C. Age models for long lacustrine sediment records using multiple dating approaches—an example from Lake Bosumtwi, Ghana. Quaternary Geochronology (2013). CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singhvi, A.K., Bluszcz, A., Bateman, M.D., and Rao, M.S. Luminescence dating of loess–palaeosol sequences and coversands: methodological aspects and palaeoclimatic implications. Earth-Science Reviews 54, (2001). 193211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stanley, K.E., and Schaetzl, R.J. Characteristics and paleoenvironmental significance of a thin, dual-sourced loess sheet, North-Central Wisconsin. Aeolian Research 2, (2011). 241251.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sweeney, M.R., Gaylord, D.R., and Busacca, A.J. Evolution of Eureka Flat: a dust-producing engine of the Palouse loess, USA. Quaternary International 162, (2007). 7696.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Syverson, K.M. Pleistocene Geology of Chippewa County, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Bulletin 103, (2007). Google Scholar
Syverson, K.M., and Colgan, P.M. The quaternary of Wisconsin: an updated review of stratigraphy, glacial history, and landforms. Ehlers, J., Gibbard, P.L., and Hughes, P.D. Quaternary Glaciations—Extent and Chronology, Part IV—a closer look. (2011). Elsevier, Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Thorp, J., Smith, H.T.U., (1952). Pleistocene eolian deposits of the United States, Alaska, and parts of Canada. Map. 1:2,500,000. Geological Society of America, New York.Google Scholar
Timar-Gabor, A., Vandenberghe, D.A.G., Vasiliniuc, S., Panaoitu, C.E., Panaiotu, C.G., Dimofte, D., and Cosma, C. Optical dating of Romanian loess: a comparison between silt-sized and sand-sized quartz. Quaternary International 240, (2011). 6270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ullman, D.J., Carlson, A.E., Syverson, K.M., and Caffee, M.W. Enhancing the deglacial chronology of Wisconsin using in-situ cosmogenic radionuclides. Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs 43, (2011). 176 Google Scholar
Weidman, S. The geology of north-central Wisconsin. Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey Bulletin 16, (1907). 409513.Google Scholar
Wintle, A.G. Fifty years of luminescence dating. Archaeometry 50, (2008). 276312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wintle, A.G., and Murray, A.S. Quartz OSL: effects of thermal treatment and their relevance to laboratory dating procedures. Radiation Measurements 32, (2000). 387400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar