Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-grxwn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-11T14:50:42.324Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Conference on the Last Deglaciation: Timing and Mechanism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

W. F. Ruddiman  and
J.-C. Duplessy
W. F. Ruddiman
Affiliation:
Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory and Department of Geological Sciences, Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964
J.-C. Duplessy
Affiliation:
Centre des Faibles Radioactivities, Laboratoire Mixte CNRS-CES, 91190, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

For years paleoclimatologists have held the general view that the last deglaciation began around 17,000 to 15,000 yr ago, that the shape of the globally integrated deglacial curve was smoothly sigmoidal with the fastest rate of change centered around 11,000 yr ago, and that the deglaciation ended around 7000 to 5000 yr ago. Recent studies have challenged several aspects of this consensus and have suggested that the mechanisms responsible for the deglaciation are significantly different from those previously proposed. As a result, an international workshop was held at Airlie House in Virginia during May 2–6 of 1983 to evaluate a wide range of evidence relevant to this controversy. The conference results suggested that (1) the decrease in global ice volume occurred in two steps, with the dating of the earlier step still in doubt, but the later step occurring at about 10,000–7000 yr ago and (2) the most likely feedback mechanisms for accelerating the initial forcing by orbital variations are delayed bedrock rebound, marine downdraw/calving, and CO2 heating.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , January 1985 , pp. 1 - 17
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. 1973 The Wisconsin Laurentide Ice Sheet: Dispersal centers, problems of rates of retreat, and climatic implications Arctic and Alpine Research 5 185–199 Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T. Miller, G.H. 1979 Glacial erosion and ice sheet divides, northeastern Laurentide Ice Sheet, on the basis of the distribution of limestone erratics Geology 7 592–596 Google Scholar
Andrews, J.T. Peltier, W.R. 1973 Collapse of the Hudson Bay ice center and glacio-isostatic rebound Geology 4 73–76 Google Scholar
Berger, A.L. 1978 Long-term variations of caloric insolation resulting from the earth's orbital elements Quaternary Research 9 139–167 Google Scholar
Berger, W.H. 1982 On the definition of the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary in deep-sea sediments Sveriges Geologiska Undersoekning Serie C 76 1 270–280 NR 794Google Scholar
Berger, W.H. Killingley, J.S. 1982 The Worthington effect and the origin of the Younger Dryas Journal Marine Research 40 27–38 Google Scholar
Birchfield, G.E. Weertman, J. Lunde, A. 1981 A paleoclimatic model of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets Quaternary Research 15 126–142 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bloom, A.L. 1971 Glacial-eustatic and isostatic controls of sea level since the last glaciation Turekian, K.K. Late Cenozoic Glacial Ages Yale Univ. Press New Haven, Conn 355–379 Google Scholar
Boulton, G.S. 1979 A model of Weichselian glacier variation in the North Atlantic region Boreas 8 373–395 Google Scholar
Boulton, G.S. Jones, A.S. 1979 Stability of temperate ice caps and ice sheets resting on beds of deformable sediment Journal of Glaciology 24 29–43 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broecker, W.S. 1966 Absolute dating and the astronomical theory of glaciation Science (Washington, D.C.) 151 299–304 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Broecker, W.S. van Donk, J. 1970 Insolation changes, ice volumes, and the O18 record in deepsea cores Review of Geophysics and Space Physics 8 169–198 Google Scholar
Broecker, W.S. Ewing, M. Heezen, B.C. 1960 Evidence for an abrupt change in climate close to 11,000 years ago American Journal of Science 258 429–440 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryson, R.A. Wendland, W.M. 1967 Tentative climatic patterns for some late glacial and post-glacial episodes in central North America Mayer-Oaks, W.J. Life, Land, and Water: Proceedings of the 1966 Conference on Environmental Studies of the Glacial Lake Agassiz Region University of Manitoba Winnipeg 271–288 Google Scholar
Bryson, R.A. Wendland, W.M. Ives, J.D. Andrews, J.T. 1969 Radiocarbon isochrones on the disintegration of the Laurentide Ice Sheet Arctic and Alpine Research 1 1–14 Google Scholar
Coope, G.R. Brophy, J.A. 1972 Late Glacial environmental changes indicated by a coleopteran succession from North Wales Boreas 1 97–142 Google Scholar
Davis, M.B. 1976 Pleistocene biogeography of temperate deciduous forests Geoscience and Man 13 13–26 Google Scholar
Delcourt, R.A. Delcourt, H.R. 1981 Vegetation maps for eastern North America: 40,000 yr B.P. to the present Romans, R.C. Geobotany Vol. 2 Plenum New York 123–165 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, G.H. Hughes, T. 1981 The Last Great Ice Sheets Wiley-Interscience New York Google Scholar
Duplessy, J.C. Delibrias, G. Turon, J.L. Pujol, C. Duprat, J. 1981 Deglacial warming of the northeastern Atlantic Ocean: correlation with the paleoclimatic evolution of the European continent Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 35 121–144 Google Scholar
Emery, K.O. Merrill, A.S. 1979 Relict oysters on the United States Atlantic Continental Shelf: A reconsideration of their usefulness in understanding late Quaternary sea-level history Geological Society of America Bulletin 90 689–692 Google Scholar
Emiliani, C. Gartner, S. Lidz, B. Eldridge, K. Elvey, D.K. Huang, T.C. Stipp, L. Swanson, M.F. 1975 Paleoclimatological analysis of late Quaternary cores from the northeastern Gulf of Mexico Science (Washington, D.C.) 189 1083–1088 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Funder, S. Hjort, C. 1973 Aspects of the Weichselian chronology in central east Greenland Boreas 2 69–84 Google Scholar
Hare, F.K. 1976 Late Pleistocene and Holocene climates: Some persistent problems Quaternary Research 6 507–517 Google Scholar
Hays, J.D. 1978 A review of the Late Quaternary climatic history of Antarctic Seas van Zinderen Bakker, E.M. Antarctic Glacial History and World Paleoenvironments A. A. Balkema Rotterdam 57–71 Google Scholar
Hays, J.D. Imbrie, J. Shackleton, N.J. 1976 Variations in the earth's orbit: Pacemaker of the ice ages Science (Washington, D.C.) 194 1121–1131 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Imbrie, J. Imbrie, J.Z. 1980 Modeling the climatic response to orbital variations Science (Washington, D.C.) 207 943–953 Google Scholar
Kennett, J.P. Shackleton, N.J. 1975 Laurentide Ice Sheet meltwater recorded in Gulf of Mexico deep-sea cores Science (Washington, D.C.) 188 147–150 Google Scholar
Leventer, A. Williams, D.F. Kennett, J.P. 1982 Dynamics of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the last deglaciation: Evidence from the Gulf of Mexico Earth and Planetary Science Letters 59 11–17 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowe, J.J. Gray, J.M. Robinson, J.E. 1980 Studies in the Late Glacial of Northwest Europe Pergamon Oxford Google Scholar
Milankovitch, M.M. 1941 Canon of Insolation and the Ice-Age Problem Koniglich Serbische Akademie Beograd English translation by the Israel Program for Scientific Translations, published for the U.S. Department of Commerce and the Natl. Sci. Foundation, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Milliman, J.D. Emery, K.O. 1968 Sea levels during the past 35,000 years Science (Washington, D.C.) 161 1121–1132 Google Scholar
Mix, A.C. Ruddiman, W.F. 1984 Oxygen-isotope analyses and Pleistocene ice volume Quaternary Research 20 1–20 Google Scholar
Morgan, A.V. Morgan, A. Ashworth, A.C. Matthews, J.V. Jr. 1983 Late Wisconsin fossil beetles in North America Porter, S.C. Late-Quaternary Environments of the United States Vol. 1 Univ. of Minnesota Press Minneapolis 354–363 “The Late Pleistocene”Google Scholar
Peltier, W.R. 1983 The impulse response of a Maxwell earth Reviews of Geophysics and Space Physics 12 649–669 Google Scholar
Pollard, D. 1982 A simple ice sheet model yields realistic 100 kyr glacial cycles Nature (London) 296 334–338 Google Scholar
Prest, V.K. 1969 Retreat of Wisconsin and Recent Ice in North America Geological Society of Canada Map 1257A, with textGoogle Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F. McIntyre, A. 1981a The North Atlantic Ocean during the last deglaciation Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 35 145–214 Google Scholar
Ruddiman, W.F. McIntyre, A. 1981b The mode and mechanism of the last Deglaciation: Oceanic evidence Quaternary Research 16 125–134 Google Scholar
Shilts, W.W. 1980 Flow patterns in the central North American Ice Sheet Nature (London) 286 213–218 Google Scholar
Watts, W.A. 1979 Late Quaternary vegetation of central Appalachia and the New Jersey coastal plain Ecological Monographs 49 427–469 Google Scholar
Weertman, J. 1964 Rate of growth or shrinkage of non-equilibrium ice sheets Journal of Glaciology 5 145–158 Google Scholar