Modeling dependence of moraine deposition on climate history: the effect of seasonality

David A. Vacco, Richard B. Alley, David Pollard

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

19 Scopus citations

Abstract

A simple shallow-ice flowline glacier model coupled to a model of sediment transport and deposition is used to simulate formation and preservation of moraines. The number, positions, and volume of moraines formed all are sensitive to the climate history assumed. We drive the model with the GISP2 central-Greenland temperature record, and with reduced-millennial-amplitude versions of that record, to test the hypothesis that the Younger Dryas and other millennial oscillations were primarily wintertime events and thus had less influence on glacier behavior than did the Last Glacial Maximum with its strong summertime as well as wintertime signal. We find that forcing the model by GISP2, with dampened strength of the millennial-scale signal, provides modeled moraine configurations that reflect observed moraine records in the Northern Hemisphere.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)639-646
Number of pages8
JournalQuaternary Science Reviews
Volume28
Issue number7-8
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2009

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Global and Planetary Change
  • Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
  • Archaeology
  • Archaeology
  • Geology

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