Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

The subglacial origin of the Lake Agassiz–Ojibway final outburst flood

Nature Geoscience volume 1, pages 184–188 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

Deglaciation of North America resulted in the development of the ice-dammed lake Agassiz–Ojibway along the southern margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet1,2,3,4,5 and its catastrophic northward drainage ∼8.47 kyr ago6. This sudden outburst of fresh water may have weakened the Atlantic ocean overturning circulation and triggered the cold event that occurred 8.2 kyr ago6,7. Geological evidence of this flood has been documented in a red sedimentary bed in cores collected in Hudson Strait6,8 and by submarine features in Hudson Bay9. However, there have been few constraints on the manner in which the lake drained: for example, by flow over the ice sheet or beneath it, in one or several pulses10 and where the flood routes were located5,11. Here we present seafloor images obtained using multibeam sonar, which reveal that the outburst flood displaced icebergs to produce arcuate (arc-shaped) scours on the seafloor with a dominant east-northeast–west-southwest orientation. The flood also produced sandwaves in areas unaffected by the arcuate scours, indicating they were protected from iceberg scouring by overlying ice during the event. We suggest that these sandwaves, along with submarine channels inferred from the data, indicate that Laurentide ice was lifted buoyantly, enabling the flood to traverse southern Hudson Bay under the ice sheet.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Map of Hudson Bay and Strait.
Figure 2: Locations and orientations of seafloor features inferred from multibeam data.
Figure 3: Seafloor images derived from the multibeam data.
Figure 4: Grain-size characteristics of the red bed of core 28PC.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Hardy, L. La déglaciation et les épisodes lacustre et marin sur le versant québécois des basses-terres de la baie de James. Géogr. Phys. Quat. 31, 261–273 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Teller, J. T. in North America and Adjacent Oceans during the Last Deglaciation Vol. K-3 (eds Ruddiman, W. F. & Wright, H. E. Jr) 39–69 (Geological Society of America, Geology of North America, Boulder, 1987).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Dredge, L. A. & Cowan, W. R. in Quaternary Geology of Canada and Greenland Vol. K-1 (ed. Fulton, R. J.) 214–235 (Geological Survey of Canada, The Geology of North America, Ottawa, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Veillette, J. J. Evolution and paleohydrology of Glacial Lakes Barlow and Ojibway. Quat. Sci. Rev. 13, 945–971 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Clarke, G. K. C., Leverington, D. W., Teller, J. T. & Dyke, A. S. Paleohydraulics of the last outburst flood from glacial Lake Agassiz and the 8,200 BP cold event. Quat. Sci. Rev. 23, 389–407 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Barber, D. C. et al. Forcing of the cold event of 8,200 years ago by catastrophic drainage of Laurentide lakes. Nature 400, 344–348 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Alley, R. B. et al. Holocene climatic instability: A prominent widespread event 8,200 yr ago. Geology 25, 483–486 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Kerwin, M. W. A regional stratigraphic isochron (ca. 8,000 14C yr B.P.) from final deglaciation of Hudson Strait. Quat. Res. 46, 89–98 (1996).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Josenhans, H. W. & Zevenhuizen, J. Dynamics of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in Hudson Bay, Canada. Mar. Geol. 92, 1–26 (1990).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Leverington, D. W., Mann, J. D. & Teller, J. T. Changes in the bathymetry and volume of glacial Lake Agassiz between 9200 and 7700 14C yr B.P. Quat. Res. 57, 244–252 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Clarke, G. K. C., Leverington, D. W., Teller, J. T. & Dyke, A. S. Superlakes, megafloods, and abrupt climate change. Science 301, 922–923 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Josenhans, H. W. et al. Preliminary seismostratigraphic and geomorphic interpretations of the Quaternary sediments of Hudson Bay. Geol. Surv. Can. Paper 88-1B 271–286 (1988).

  13. Dyke, A. S. in Quaternary Glaciations—Extent and Chronology, Part II: North America (eds Ehlers, J. & Gibbard, P. L.) 373–424 (Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2004).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  14. Teller, J. T., Leverington, D. W. & Mann, J. D. Freshwater outbursts to the oceans from glacial Lake Agassiz and their role in climate change during the last deglaciation. Quat. Sci. Rev. 21, 879–887 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Clayton, L., Laird, W. M., Klassen, R. W. & Kupsch, W. O. Intersecting minor lineations on Lake Agassiz Plain. J. Geol. 73, 652–656 (1965).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Prinsenberg, J. in Canadian Inland Seas (ed. Martini, I. P.) 187–204 (Elsevier Oceanography Series, Vol. 44, 1986).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  17. Pardee, J. T. Unusual currents in glacial Lake Missoula. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 53, 1569–1600 (1942).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Baker, V. R. Paleohydrology and sedimentology of Lake Missoula flooding in eastern Washington. Geol. Soc. Am. Special Paper 144, 79 (1973).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Herget, J. Reconstruction of pleistocene ice-dammed lake outburst floods in the Altai Mountains, Siberia. Geol. Soc. Am. Special Paper 386, 118 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  20. St-Onge, G. & Lajeunesse, P. in Submarine Mass Movements and Their Consequences (eds Lykousis, V., Sakellariou, D. & Locat, J.) 129–137 (Springer–Kluwer, 2007).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  21. Shilts, W. W. Flow patterns in the central North American ice sheet. Nature 286, 213–218 (1980).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. McNeely, R., Dyke, A. S. & Southon, J. R. Canadian marine reservoir ages, preliminary data assessment. Geological Survey Canada, Open File 5049 (2006).

  23. Mulder, T. et al. Marine hyperpycnal flows: Initiation, behavior and related deposits. A review. Mar. Petrol. Geol. 20, 861–882 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Veillette, J. J. Le rôle d’un courant de glace tardif dans la déglaciation de la Baie James. Géogr. Phys. Quat. 51, 141–161 (1997).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Tweed, F. S. & Russell, A. J. Controls on the formation and sudden drainage of glacier-impounded lakes: implications for jökulhlaup characteristics. Progr. Phys. Geogr. 23, 79–110 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Thorarinsson, S. The ice-dammed lakes of Iceland, with particular reference to their value as indicators of glacier oscillations. Geogr. Ann. A 21, 216–242 (1939).

    Google Scholar 

  27. Björnsson, H. Subglacial lakes and jökulhlaups in Iceland. Glob. Planet. Change 35, 255–271 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. O Connor, J. E. & Baker, V. R. Magnitudes and implications of peak discharges from Glacial Lake Missoula. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 104, 267–279 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. MacAyeal, D. R., Scambos, T. A., Hulbe, C. L. & Fahnestock, M. A. Catastrophic ice-shelf break-up by an ice-shelf-fragment-capsize mechanism. J. Glaciol. 49, 22–36 (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Blott, S. J. & Pye, K. Gradistat: A grain size distribution and statistics package for the analysis of unconsolidated sediments. Earth Surf. Proc. Land. 26, 1237–1248 (2001).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We dedicate this paper to the memory of M. Paiement, who contributed to the recovery of the cores presented in this paper, but most importantly a friend who passed away at a too young age. We thank the captain, officers and crew of the CGCS Amundsen 2005 cruise. We also sincerely thank J. E. Hughes Clarke, J. Beaudoin and J. Bartlett (Ocean Mapping Group, University of New Brunswick) for collecting and processing the multibeam data. This study was supported by ArcticNet (Network of Centers of Excellence of Canada), NSERC (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada), the Polar Climate Stability Network and FQRNT (Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies). A. Huismann, L. Filion (Université Laval) and G. Clarke (University of British Columbia) kindly read earlier versions of the manuscript. This is GEOTOP Publication No. 2008-0012.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre d’études nordiques and Département de géographie, Université Laval, Québec, Québec, G1V 0A6, Canada

    Patrick Lajeunesse

  2. Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski (ISMER) and GEOTOP-UQAM-McGill, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Rimouski, Québec, G5L 3A1, Canada

    Guillaume St-Onge

Authors
  1. Patrick Lajeunesse
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Guillaume St-Onge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patrick Lajeunesse.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary figures S1-2 and table S1 (PDF 2152 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lajeunesse, P., St-Onge, G. The subglacial origin of the Lake Agassiz–Ojibway final outburst flood. Nature Geosci 1, 184–188 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo130

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo130

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing