Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T06:13:13.148Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reconstructed topography of Southern New England prior to isostatic rebound with implications of total isostatic depression and relative sea level

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2012

Bryan A. Oakley  and
Jon C. Boothroyd
Bryan A. Oakley*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island, USA
Jon C. Boothroyd
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, College of the Environment and Life Sciences, University of Rhode Island, USA Rhode Island Geological Survey, USA
*
⁎Corresponding author at: Department of Geosciences, University of Rhode Island, 317 Woodward Hall, 9 East Alumni Ave, Kingston, RI 02881, USA. Fax: + 1 401 874 2191. Email Address:BOakley@my.uri.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Topographic models of the late Quaternary landscape prior to isostatic rebound aid interpretation of glacial lake-water levels and geomorphic features as well as ice thickness, mantle viscosity and lithospheric strength. The well-established limit of glacial marine inundation in central and northern New England provides a test of total isostatic depression. Relative sea levels reflecting differing magnitudes of isostatic rebound show that published values of isostatic depression in southern New England would inundate the landscape in southern New England with marine water south of the limit of late Pleistocene marine inundation. This suggests that isostatic depression at the terminal margin of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) was < 35 m, and that previous workers overestimate isostatic depression in southern New England by > 50 m. A first-order estimate of ice thickness based on total isostatic depression and the observed uplift profile in southern New England supports the ‘thin ice’ models in New England. Ice thickness ranged from 100 m at the southeastern margin of the LIS, to > 1000 m at a point 300 km north of the terminal margin. This regional model places constraints on continental ice-sheet and geophysical models that should be considered in the future.

Keywords

Isostatic reboundNew EnglandQuaternary topographyRelative sea level
Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 78 , Issue 1 , July 2012 , pp. 110 - 118
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

Andrews, J.T. Maps of the maximum post glacial marine limit and rebound for the former Laurentide Ice Sheet. Arctic and Alpine Research 5, (1973). 41–48.Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T. Cainozoic glaciations and crustal movements of the Artic. Ives, J.D., and Barry, R.G. Arctic and Alpine Research. (1974). 999 Google Scholar
Antevs, E. The last glaciation with special reference to the ice sheet in North America. American Geographical Society Research Series 17, (1928). 292 Google Scholar
Balco, G., Stone, J.O.H., Porter, S.C., and Caffee, M.W. Cosmogenic-nuclide ages for New England coastal moraines, Martha's Vineyard and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, (2002). 2127–2135.Google Scholar
Balco, G., Briner, J., Finkel, R.C., Rayburn, J.A., Ridge, J.C., and Schaefer, J.M. Regional beryllium-10 production rate calibration for late-glacial northeastern North America. Quaternary Geochronology 4, (2009). 93–107.Google Scholar
Bard, E., Hamelin, B., and Fairbanks, R.G. U–TH ages obtained by mass-spectometry in corals from Barbados — sea-level during the past 130,000 years. Nature 346, (1990). 456–458.Google Scholar
Bard, E., Hamelin, B., and Delanghe-Sabatier, D. Deglacial meltwater pulse 1B and Younger Dryas sea levels revisited with boreholes at Tahiti. Science 327, (2010). 1235–1237.Google Scholar
Barnhardt, W.A., Gehrels, R., and Kelley, J.T. Late Quaternary relative sea-level change in the western Gulf of Maine: evidence for a migrating glacial forebulge. Geology 23, (1995). 317–320.Google Scholar
Barnhoorn, A., Van der Wal, W., Vermeersen, B.L.A., and Drury, M.R. Lateral, radial and temporal variations in upper mantle viscocity and rheology under Scandinavia. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems 12, (2011). 1–19.Google Scholar
Belknap, D.F., Anderson, B.A., Anderson, R.S., Anderson, W.A., Borns, H.W. Jr., Jacobson, G.L., Kelley, J.T., Shipp, R.C., Smith, D.C., Stuckenrath, R. Jr., Thompson, W.B., and Tyler, D.A. Late Quaternary sea-level changes in Maine. Nummedal, D. Sea-level Fluctuation and Coastal Evolution. Special Publication 41, (1987). Society of economic paleontologists and mineralogists, 71–85.Google Scholar
Bloom, A.L. Late-Pleistocene fluctuations of sealevel and postglacial crustal rebound in coastal Maine. American Journal of Science 261, (1963). 862–879.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloom, A.L. Pleistocene shorelines: a new test of isostasy. Geological Society of America Bulletin 78, (1967). 1477–1494.Google Scholar
Boothroyd., J.C., and Oakley, B.A., (2005). Benthic Geologic Habitats of Greenwich Bay, RI. in Special area management plan for Greenwich Bay and watershed: Wakefield, RI, Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council, 1:10,000 scale maps and side-scan sonar images.Google Scholar
Boulton, G.S., Smith, G.D., and Jones, A.S. Glacial geology and glaciology of the last mid-latitude ice sheets. Geological Society of London Journal 142, (1985). 447–474.Google Scholar
Braun, A., Kuo, C.Y., Shum, C.K., Wu, P., van der Wal, W., and Fotopoulos, G. Glacial isostatic adjustment at the Laurentide ice sheet margin: models and observations in the Great Lakes region. Journal of Geodynamics 46, (2008). 165–173.Google Scholar
Clark, P.U. Surface form of the southern Laurentide Ice Sheet and it’s implications to ice-sheet dynamics. Geological Society of America Bulletin 104, (1992). 595–605.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, J.A., Hendriks, M., Timmermans, T.J., Struck, C., and Hilverda, K.J. Glacial isostatic deformation of the Great Lakes region. Geological Society of America Bulletin 106, (1994). 19–31.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, P.U., Alley, R.B., and Pollard, D. Northern Hemisphere ice-sheet influences on global climate change. Science 286, (1999). 1104–1111.Google Scholar
Dillon, W.P., and Oldale, R.N. Late Quaternary sea-level curve: reinterpretation based on glaciotectonic influence. Geology 6, (1978). 56–60.Google Scholar
Donnelly, J.P., and Bertness, M.D. Rapid shoreward encroachment of salt marsh cordgrass in response to accelerated sea-level rise. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 98, (2001). 14214–14223.Google ScholarPubMed
Donnelly, J.P., Driscoll, N.W., Uchupi, E., Keigwin, L.D., Schwab, W.C., Thieler, E.R., and Swift, S.A. Catastrophic meltwater discharge down the Hudson Valley: a potential trigger for the intra-Allerod cold period. Geology 33, (2005). 89–92.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., and Peltier, W.R. Forms, response times and variability of relative sea-level curves, glaciated North America. Geomorphology 32, (2000). 315–333.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., and Prest, V.K. Late Wisconsinan and Holocene history of the Laurentide ice sheet. Geographie physique et Quaternaire 41, (1987). 237–263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Andrews, J.T., Clark, P.U., England, J.H., Miller, G.H., Shaw, J., and Veillette, J.J. The Laurentide and Innuitian ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum. Quaternary Science Reviews 21, (2002). 9–31.Google Scholar
Dyke, A.S., Dredge, L.A., and Hodgson, D.A. North American deglacial marine and lake-limit surfaces. Geographie physique et Quaternaire 59, (2005). 155–185.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ewing, J., LePichon, X., and Ewing, M. Upper stratification of Hudson Aprin Region. Journal of Geophysical Research 68, (1963). 6303–6316.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, R.G. A 17,000 year glacio-eustatic sea level record: influence of glacial melting rates on the Younger Dryas event and deep ocean circulation. Nature 342, (1989). Google Scholar
Fairbanks, R.G., Charles, C.D., and Wright, J.D. Origin of global meltwater pulses. Long, A., and Kra, R.S. Four decades of radiocarbon studies. (1992). Springer, 473–500.Google Scholar
Fairbanks, R.G., Mortlock, R.A., Chiu, T.-C., Cao, L., Kaplan, A., Guilderson, T.P., Fairbanks, T.W., Bloom, A.L., Grootes, P.M., and Nadeau, M.-J. Radiocarbon calibration curve spanning 0 to 50,000 years BP based on paired 230Th/234U/238U and 14C dates on pristine corals. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, (2005). 1781–1796.Google Scholar
Gayes, P.T., (1987). Buried paleoshorelines in Long Island Sound: Evidence for irregularities in the post-glacial marine transgression in Long Island Sound. [PhD. thesis], State University of New York at Stony Brook, .Google Scholar
Gesch, D.B. The National Elevation Dataset. Maunne, D. Digital Elevation Model Technologies and Applications: The DEM Users Manual. (2007). American Society for photogrammetry and remote sensing, Bethesda, MD. 99–118.Google Scholar
Goldsmith, R. Recessional Moraines and Ice Retreat in Southeastern Connecticut. (1982). Kendall-Hunt, Dubquene. 61–76 p. Google Scholar
Goldthwait, J.W. A reconstruction of water planes of the extinct glacial lakes in the Lake Michigan basin. Journal of Geology 16, (1908). 459–476.Google Scholar
Griffin, W.L., O'Reilly, S.Y., Doyle, B.J., Pearson, N.J., Coopersmith, H., Kivi, K., Malkovets, V., and Pokhilenko, N. Lithosphere mapping beneath the North American plate. Lithos 77, (2004). 873–922.Google Scholar
Hitchcock, C.H. General Report on the Geology of Maine. (1861). Maine Board of Agriculture, 146–328. v. 6th annual report Google Scholar
Hughes, T., Denton, G.H., Anderson, B.G., Schilling, D.H., Fastook, J.L., and Lingle, C.S. The last great ice sheet: a global view. Denton, G.H., and Hughes, T.J. The Last Great Ice Sheets. (1981). John Wiley and Sons, New York. 263–317.Google Scholar
Knebel, H.J., Wood, S.A., and Spiker, E.C. Hudson River: evidence for extensive migration on the exposed continental; shelf during Pleistocene time. Geology 7, (1979). 254–258.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Koteff, C., and Larsen, F.D. Postglacial uplift in western New England: geologic evidence for delayed rebound. Gregersen, S., and Basham, S. Earthquakes at North-Atlantic Passive Margins. (1989). Neotectonics and Postglacial Rebound, 105–123.Google Scholar
Koteff, C., Robinson, G.R., Goldsmith, R., and Thompson, W.B. Delayed postglacial uplift and synglacial sea levels in coastal central New England. Quaternary Research 40, (1993). 46–54.Google Scholar
Leverington, D.W., Teller, J.T., and Mann, J.D. A GIS method for reconstruction of late Quaternary landscapes from isobase data and modern topography. Computers & Geosciences 28, (2002). 631–639.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, R.S., and DiGiacomo-Cohen, M. A review of the geologic framework of the Long Island Sound basin with some observations relating to postglacial sedimentation. Journal of Coastal Research 16, (2000). 522–532.Google Scholar
Lewis, R.S., and Stone, J.R. Late Quaternary stratigraphy and depositional history of the Long Island Sound Basin: Connecticut and New York. Gayes, P.T., Lewis, R.S., Bokuniewicz, Quaternary Geology of Long Island Sound and Adjacent Coastal Areas. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue 11, (1991). 1–23.Google Scholar
McMaster, R.L. Holocene stratigraphy and depositional history of the Narragansett Bay System, Rhode Island, USA. Sedimentology 31, (1984). 777–792.Google Scholar
Neddell, S.W., O'Hara, C.J., and Knebel, H.J. Maps showing geology and shallow structure of western Rhode Island Sound. Rhode Island, U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1537. (1983). Google Scholar
Needell, S.W., and Lewis, R.S. Geology and structure of Block Island Sound, Rhode Island and New York. U. S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1621 (4 Sheets). (1984). Google Scholar
NGDC, NOS Hydrographic Survey Data. (2010). National Geophysical Data Center, Google Scholar
NOS, NOS Hydrographic Surveys Specifications and Deliverables. (2009). U.S. Department of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 161 Google Scholar
NOS, Elevations on Station Datum: Newport, Narragansett Bay, RI. Volume 2010, (2010). National Ocean Service/National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Google Scholar
O'Hara, C.J., and Oldale, R.N. Maps Showing Geology and Shallow Structure of Eastern Rhode Island Sound and Vineyard Sound. Massachusetts, U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map MF-1186. (1980). Google Scholar
Oldale, R.N., and O'Hara, C.J. New radiocarbon dates from the inner continental shelf off southern Massachusetts and a local sea-level rise curve for the past 12,000 years. Geology 8, (1980). 102–106.Google Scholar
Pardi, R.R., and Newman, W.S. Late Quaternary sea levels along the Atlantic coast of North America. Journal of Coastal Research 3, (1987). 325–330.Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R. Dynamics of the ice age Earth. Advances in Geophysics 24, (1982). 1–146.Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R. Global sea level rise and glacial isostatic adjustment. Global and Planetary Change 20, (1999). 93–123.Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R. Global glacial isostasy and the surface of the ice-age Earth: the ICE-5G (VM2) model and GRACE. Annual Reviews of Earth and Planetary Sciences 32, (2004). 111–149.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peltier, W.R. On the hemispheric origins of meltwater pulse 1A. Quaternary Science Reviews 24, (2005). 1571–1655.Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R., and Fairbanks, R.G. Global glacial ice volume and Last Glacial Maximum duration from an extended Barbados sea level record. Quaternary Science Reviews 25, (2006). 3322–3337.Google Scholar
Potter, E.-K., and Lambeck, K. Reconciliation of sea-level observations in the Western North Atlantic during the last glacial cycle. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 217, (2004). 171–181.Google Scholar
Rayburn, J.A., (2004). Deglaciation of the Champlain Valley, New York and Vermont and it's possible effects on North Atlantic Climate Change. [Ph.D. thesis]: Binghamton, NY, State University of New York, .Google Scholar
Rayburn, J.A., and Teller, J.T. Isostatic rebound in the northwestern part of the Lake Agassiz basin: isobase changes and overflow. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 246, (2007). 23–30.Google Scholar
Richards, H.G., and Werner, E. Invertebrate fossils from cores from the continental shelf off New Jersey. Notulae Naturae of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 372, (1964). 1–7.Google Scholar
Ridge, J.C. The Quaternary glaciation of western New England with correlations to surrounding areas. Ehlers, J., and Gibbard, P.L. Quaternary glaciations — extent and chronology: part II: North America. Developments in Quaternary Science 2B, (2004). Elsevier, Amsterdam. 163–193.Google Scholar
Ridge, J.C. The North American glacial varve project. http://geology.tufts.edu/varves/default.asp (2011). Google Scholar
RIGIS, Rhode Island State, Coastline and Town Boundaries. Rhode Island Geographic Information System. 2010, (2001). Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F. Earth's Climate Past and Future. (2001). W.H. Freeman, New York.Google Scholar
Rychert, C.A., Fischer, K.M., and Rondenay, S. A sharp lithosphere–asthenosphere boundary imaged beneath eastern North America. Nature 436, (2005). 542–545.Google Scholar
Salcher, B.C., Hinsch, R., and Wagreich, M. High-resolution mapping of glacial landforms in the North Alpine Foreland, Austria. Geomorphology 122, (2010). 283–293.Google Scholar
Schafer, J.P., and Hartshorn, J. The Quaternary of New England. Wright, J., and Frey, D. The Quaternary of the United States. (1965). Princeton University Press, Princeton, N.J. 113–127.Google Scholar
Shreve, R.L. Glacier sliding at subfreezing temperatures. Journal of Glaciology 30, (1984). 341–347.Google Scholar
Sirkin, L.A. Wisconsinan glaciation of Long Island, New York to Block Island, Rhode Island. Larson, G.J., and Stone, B.D. Late Wisconsinan Glaciation of New England. (1982). Kendall/Hunt, Dubugue, IA. 35–60.Google Scholar
Stanford, S.D. Onshore record of Hudson River drainage to the continental shelf from the late Miocene through the late Wisconsinan deglaciation. USA: Synthesis and Revision Boreas 39, (2010). 1–17.Google Scholar
Stanford, S.D., and Harper, D.P. Glacial lakes of the lower Passaic. Hackensack and Lower Hudson Valleys Northeastern Geology 13, (1991). 271–286.Google Scholar
Stone, B.D., and Peper, J.D. Topographic control of the deglacation of eastern Massachusetts: ice lobation and the marine incursion. Larson, G.J., and Stone, B.D. Late Wisconsinan Glaciation of New England. (1982). Kendall-Hunt, Dubuque.Google Scholar
Stone, J.R., Shafer, J.P., London, E.H., DiGiacomo-Cohen, M., Lewis, R.S., and Thompson, W.B., (2005). Quaternary Geologic Map of Connecticut and Long Island Sound Basin. U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Investigations Series Map I-2784, scale 1:125,000, 2 sheets and pamphlet. p. 1–72.Google Scholar
Thieler, E.R., Butman, B., Schwab, W.C., Allison, M.A., Driscoll, N.W., Donnelly, J.P., and Uchupi, E. A catastrophic meltwater flood event and the formation of the Hudson Shelf Valley. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 246, (2007). 120–136.Google Scholar
Thompson, W.B., and Borns, H. Surficial Geologic Map of Maine. (1985). Maine Geological Survey, Agusta, ME.Google Scholar
Uchupi, E., Driscoll, N., Ballard, R.D., and Bolmer, S.T. Drainage of late Wisconsin glacial lakes and the morphology and late quaternary stratigraphy of the New Jersey–southern New England continental shelf and slope. Marine Geology 172, (2001). 117–145.Google Scholar
USGS, National Elevation Data. (2010). Google Scholar
van de Plassche, O., van der Borg, K., and de Jong, A.F.M. Sea level-climate correlation during the past 1400 yr. Geology 26, (1998). 319–322.Google Scholar
Varekamp, J.C., Thomas, E., and Groner, M. The late Pleistocene–Holocene History of Long Island Sound. Seventh Biennual LIS Research Conference Proceedings. (2004). State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY. 27–32.Google Scholar
Varekamp, J.C., Thomas, E., and Lewis, R.S. Early history of Long Island sound, Eighth biennial Long Island Sound research conference. Proceedings, U.S. Coast Guard Academy, New London, CR. (2006). Google Scholar
Zheng, Y., and Arkani-Hamed, J. Rigidity of the Atlantic oceanic lithosphere beneath New England seamounts. Tectonophysics 359, (2002). 359–369.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Oakley and Boothroyd Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download Oakley and Boothroyd Supplementary Material(PDF)
PDF 1.5 MB