Stable isotope evidence for glacial lake drainage through the St. Lawrence Estuary, eastern Canada, ∼13.1–12.9 ka

On the reconstruction of palaeo-ice sheets: Recent advances and future challenges

“…Opinions differ about precise timing and routing of GLA overflow during the YD, because different approaches often yield different interpretations (e.g. deVernal et al, 1996;Tarasov and Peltier, 2005;Carlson et al, 2007;Murton et al, 2010;Not and Hillaire-Marcel, 2012;Cronin et al, 2012;Carlson and Clark, 2012). In a recent review, Carlson and Clark (2012) favoured an easterly route, but numerical modelling suggests a large influx of freshwater into the Arctic Ocean was more likely (although not necessarily from GLA: Tarasov and Peltier, 2005), and would have had a more significant impact on ocean circulation (Condron and Winsor, 2012).…”

Late Weichselian and Holocene palaeoceanography of Storfjordrenna, southern Svalbard

“…This event was likely driven by the weakened North Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, a result of the Lake Agassiz outburst (e.g. Gildor and Tziperman, 2001;Jennings et al, 2006;Murton et al, 2010;Cronin et al, 2012) or the interaction between the sea-ice and thermohaline water circulation (Broecker, 2006), which led to a reduction of AW transport to the north and a dominance of fresher Arctic Water. Our data show that the heavier δ 18 O values recorded, e.g.…”

Enhanced sea-ice export from the Arctic during the Younger Dryas

“…Of a large array of potential trigger mechanisms of the YD event that have been put forth [5][6][7]8 , the most widely supported scenario involves a major drainage pulse from glacial Lake Agassiz 7 , which surrounded the southwestern sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS). A debate persists with respect to the drainage route, either eastward, through the Great Lakes-St Lawrence system or, northward, through the Mackenzie River delta [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] . However, high-resolution model experiments by Condron and Winsor 16 suggest that any meltwater pulse and/or re-routing from these eastern and southeastern continental outlets would be dispersed into the subtropical North Atlantic, with a subsequently limited influence on the AMOC sites.…”