CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Froese, D.G.; and Smith, D.G.
Date : 2002.
Title : Late Cenozoic history of the middle Yukon River, central Yukon and Alaska.
Publication : Geological Association of Canada and Mineralogical Association of Canada Joint Annual Meeting, May 27 - 29, 2002. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
The Yukon is the fifth largest river in North America. It is unique in the northern part of the continent in that much of the basin remained unglaciated through the Cenozoic. The occurrence of extensive loess mantles with interbedded tephra on terrace sequences provides an excellent opportunity for detailed reconstruction of uplift histories and the impact of glacial-interglacial climate forcing. The Holocene Yukon River, or modern interglacial, is in a state of mass-balance equilibrium over, at least the last several thousand years based on geophysical field studies and floodplain chronology. In contrast, glaciation of the basin derived from the Cordilleran Ice Sheet and glaciation of local montane areas, resulted in bed aggradation within areas proximal to the ice margin. More distal areas of the river underwent major planform morphologic changes with the disappearance of the boreal forest leading to extensive aggradation of eolian deposits along floodplain and terrace surfaces during glaciations. In this presentation, reconstructions of the Pliocene pre-glacial to glacial transition, and last glaciation are discussed.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology