CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Clague, J.J.
Date : 1978
Title : Mid-Wisconsinan climates of the Pacific Northwest
Publication : Current Research, Part A, Geological Survey of Canada, Paper
Issue : 78-1B:
Page(s) : 95-100
Abstract
A controversy among earth scientists as to whether or not British Columbia and northwestern Washington were glaciated during mid-Wisconsinan time highlights the present uncertainty over late Pleistocene climates and environments in the Pacific Northwest. A review of relevant terrestrial lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic information and selected paleoclimatic data from deep-sea cores shows that a lengthy nonglacial interval characterized by a sharply fluctuating, but generally cooler, climate occurred in the Pacific Northwest during mid- Wisconsinan time. Although remnant ice caps probably persisted in eastern and northeastern Canada during this interval, lowland areas adJacent to the presently glacierized mountains of western Canada were continuously ice free. The Pleistocene Cordilleran glacier complex was controlled by different climatic factors from the Laurentide Ice Sheet. The precipitation and temperature regimes in the Cordillera, unlike those in other areas of Canada, are affected strongly by the Pacific Ocean. Both warm surface waters in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and reduced air temperatures probably were required for the growth of ice sheets in British Columbia, and these conditions apparently were not fulfilled during mid-Wisconsinan time.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology