Elucidating Both the Northwest Extent of Glacial Lake Agassiz, and the Northwest and South Outlet Chronologies

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9972998FisherThe objectives of this field-based research are to constrain the spatial extent and chronology of the northwest outlet of glacial Lake Agassiz, and to determine its temporal relationships with the southern outlet and climate change. Lake Agassiz was also instrumental in routing glacial meltwater from the retreating ice sheet to the Gulf of Mexico, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans. However, the timing and location of the northwest outlet which fed water to the Arctic Ocean is not well understood. Knowing the outlet chronology is especially critical because opening of the northwest outlet was nearly coincident with the sudden ending of the Younger Dryas cold period and with a pause in the warming known as the Preboreal oscillation. The effects on atmospheric and oceanic circulation from meltwater discharged to either the Arctic Ocean or gulf of Mexico would have been significant, influencing North Atlantic thermohaline circulation.