Variable history of Quaternary ice-sheet advance across the

Beaufort Sea margin, Arctic Ocean

C.L. Batchelor1, J.A. Dowdeswell1, and J.T. Pietras2
1
Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1ER, UK
2
BP Exploration Operating Company Limited, 240 4th Avenue SW, Calgary, Alberta T2P 2H8, Canada

ABSTRACT The offshore extent of this advance is poorly

The seismic stratigraphy and architecture of the Beaufort Sea shelf and slope are investi- constrained, and little is known about the timing
gated using a comprehensive grid of high-resolution two-dimensional seismic reflection data. or extent of pre-Late Wisconsinan glaciations.
Three cross-shelf troughs, representing locations of former ice streams draining a 1000-km- Farther east, the stratigraphy of Banks Island
long section of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) are examined: the Mackenzie, Amundsen Gulf, (Fig. 1) has been suggested to record evidence
and M’Clure Strait systems. Dynamics of these paleo-ice streams influenced ice-sheet configu- of multiple glaciations, including the earliest
ration and may have forced abrupt climatic change through delivery of ice and freshwater to and most extensive advance, the Banks Glacia-
the Arctic Ocean. A comprehensive understanding of their geometry and dynamics is crucial tion, which occurred >780 k.y. ago (Vincent,
for constraining numerical models of the LIS. Evidence for two Quaternary ice advances to 1983). This interpretation has been challenged
the shelf break is interpreted from the Mackenzie Trough. By contrast, seismic stratigraphy by a revision to Banks Island’s stratigraphy,
of the Amundsen Gulf Trough, 400 km east of the Mackenzie Trough, records at least nine which categorizes all tills previously assigned
Quaternary ice advances. Here, the outer shelf consists of stacked till sheets, extending to the to older glaciations to the Late Wisconsinan
shelf break and forming a trough-mouth fan. The contrasting glacial histories of these neigh- (England et al., 2009). Analyses of landform
boring ice streams are explained by their positions within the LIS; the Mackenzie Trough ice assemblages in the Canadian Arctic support this
stream was situated at the extreme northwest ice-sheet margin, whereas the Amundsen Gulf notion of extensive Late Wisconsinan ice cover
ice stream had a more central location and larger drainage basin, supplying significant quan- (Stokes et al., 2005, 2006).
tities of ice and sediment to the Arctic Ocean through much of the Quaternary. The M’Clure This study uses high-resolution two-dimen-
Strait Trough probably possesses a similar architecture to the Amundsen Gulf Trough, and an sonal (2-D) seismic reflection data collected
even larger trough-mouth fan.

INTRODUCTION Height (m) m 500 km

200 km 132 °W 0
The bathymetry of the Beaufort Sea shelf 2600 20
on the Canadian margin of the Arctic Ocean -3700
is dominated by three cross-shelf depressions: MS
M’Clure Strait AG
the partially infilled Mackenzie Trough, and
N
the well-defined Amundsen Gulf and M’Clure Beaufort MT
Strait Troughs (Fig. 1A). These troughs repre- Sea
sent the locations of ice streams which drained Fig. 4 Laurentide
the northwest Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) mar- Ice Sheet
gin during the last, Late Wisconsinan glacial 300
0m B
maximum (Fig. 1B) (Dyke et al., 2002; Stokes 200 km ?
et al., 2006) and a hitherto unknown number of
72 ºN Banks
earlier glacial periods. The paleo–ice streams of Beaufort MS
Island Sea
the Beaufort Sea margin were pathways for ice Fig. 3
drainage and delivery of sediment to the Arctic
Ocean (Stokes et al., 2005) and are suggested to ? ?
200 m Banks
have fed ice shelves in the Beaufort Sea during a Island
number of Quaternary glaciations (Jakobsson et Amundsen
al., 2010). The Mackenzie and Amundsen Gulf Gulf
troughs are incised into fluvio-deltaic sediments RI AG
of the Pliocene-Pleistocene Iperk Sequence Mackenzie MT
MD Trough
(Dixon and Dietrich, 1990). A C
The LIS occupied the Mackenzie Delta
(Fig. 1A) during at least one Quaternary glacia- Figure 1. A: Map of Beaufort Sea margin (International Bathymetric Chart of the Arctic Ocean
[IBCAO] bathymetry, 200 m contours) showing Mackenzie Delta (MD) and Richards Island
tion, including the Toker Point Stade (Rampton, (RI) (Jakobsson et al., 2008). Red lines indicate seismic lines in Figures 3 and 4. B: Map
1988). Although previously assigned to the of Laurentide Ice Sheet during Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) (Dyke et al., 2002; updated to
Early Wisconsinan (Vincent and Prest, 1987), include Banks Island as ice-covered after England et al. [2009]). Dashed black lines mark
recent evidence suggests that the Toker Point approximate paleo-drainage basins of Mackenzie Trough (MT), Amundsen Gulf (AG), and
M’Clure Strait (MS) ice streams. C: Zones of erosion (exposed bedrock) and deposition (till
limit was reached during Late Wisconsinan gla- sheets) in MT, AG, and MS, based on new results in this study; erosion in brown, subglacial
ciation (Murton et al., 1997; Dyke et al., 2002; till in red, grounding-zone wedges in pink, trough-mouth fans in orange. Blue line marks ice
see Figure DR1 in the GSA Data Repository1). sheet margin during Last Glacial Maximum.

1
GSA Data Repository item 2013032, stratigraphic table and seismic reflection profiles, is available online at www.geosociety.org/pubs/ft2013.htm, or on request
from editing@geosociety.org or Documents Secretary, GSA, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.

GEOLOGY, February 2013; v. 41; no. 2; p. 131–134; Data Repository item 2013032 | doi:10.1130/G33669.1 | Published online 13 November 2012
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 by ION Geophysical Corporation as part of the
BeaufortSPAN East survey (http://www.iongeo
.com/Data_Library/Arctic/BeaufortSPAN_
East), supplemented by older seismic data, to
examine the seismic stratigraphy and architec-
ture of a 1000-km-long section of the Beaufort
Sea margin. Interpretations were made on two-
way time (TWT) seismic profiles, and depth con-
verted using a 3-D velocity model based on seis-
mic velocities tied to wells where available. Due
to restrictions on the use of industrial data, details
of the acquisition parameters and streamer arrays
are not included. Comprehensive grids of data
covering ~30,000 km2 and 200,000 km2 were
analyzed from the Mackenzie and Amundsen
Gulf Troughs, respectively, together with ~800
line kilometers of seismic data from M’Clure
Strait (Fig. 1A). Here we constrain the number
of ice-stream advances through the Mackenzie
and Amundsen Gulf Troughs and discuss their
possible timing. We examine the impact of these
ice advances on the architecture of the Beaufort
Sea margin. Observations from the three systems
are considered in relation to LIS dynamics and
Beaufort Sea glacial history.
MACKENZIE TROUGH
The seismic stratigraphy of Mackenzie Trough
has been examined previously by Blasco et al.
(1990), who suggested that the trough was exca-
vated by an ice stream during the Early Wiscon-
sinan. Blasco et al. (1990) identified five seismic
units within the trough, including a 70-m-thick
basal unit, interpreted as till, overlain by seis-
mically semi-transparent sediment, interpreted
as sand. A second ice advance into the trough
may have occurred during the Late Wisconsinan
(Blasco et al., 1990; Murton, 2009).
The present study identifies eight seismic
facies and five sequences, categorized into two
mega-sequences, derived from newly avail-
able seismic lines from the Mackenzie Trough.
These two mega-sequences provide evidence
for two Quaternary ice advances to the shelf
break. Sequence 1 is composed predominantly
of two chaotic facies (facies Ci and Cii; Figs. 2
and 3) and corresponds with Unit 5 of Blasco
et al. (1990). The chaotic seismic character of
facies Ci and Cii, together with their position
above an erosional unconformity (Fig. 3), sug-
gest that they are subglacial till deposited by an
ice stream. The seaward transition from high- to
low-amplitude chaotic facies (Fig. 3D) probably
results from differences in sedimentological
properties of the tills. Facies Siii (Fig. 2) occurs
as an asymmetric wedge (Fig. 3D) of maximum
thickness 100 m and length 14 km (Fig. DR1).
Wedge dimensions and geometry suggest it is
a grounding-zone wedge (GZW) produced dur-
ing an ice-margin still-stand (Dowdeswell and
Fugelli, 2012).
Sequence 2 is composed of facies Si (Fig. 2)
and is interpreted as glaciomarine sediment
132
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Facies Seismic Example Seismic Character
Chaotic, with high-
amplitude, internal
reflections
Chaotic, with low-
amplitude, internal
reflections
Mounded, chaotic,
high-amplitude,
internal reflections
Stratified, with high-
amplitude, internal
reflections
Stratified, with low-
amplitude, internal
reflections
Discrete, asymmetric,
stratified wedge (base
arrowed)
Semi-transparent,
with low-amplitude,
internal reflections
Transparent to weakly
stratified, with lobate
geometry
Figure 2. Facies table illustrating the eight
seismic facies identified from two-dimen-
sional seismic profiling in Mackenzie and
Amundsen Gulf Troughs.
deposited during deglaciation. Sequence 3 con-
sists of facies T (Figs. 2 and 3) and corresponds
with Unit 4 of Blasco et al. (1990), who inter-
preted it as sand. The distribution, thickness
and seismically semi-transparent character of
this sequence (Fig. 3) are, however, suggestive
of subglacial till. Sequence 3 is therefore inter-
preted as subglacial till deposited by a second
ice advance through the Mackenzie Trough.
Two trough-parallel ridges of facies M
(Fig. 2) overlie sequence 3 in the landward
region of the trough (Fig. DR1). Each ridge has
a length of ~60 km, a width of ~5 km, and a
maximum thickness of 90 m. These features
probably represent lateral moraines produced
during a stillstand of the ice margin. Sequences
4 and 5 are composed of facies Si and Sii,
respectively (Figs. 2 and 3), and are interpreted
as glaciomarine to open-marine sediment.
The slope beyond the Mackenzie Trough
is characterized by incised canyons. Less-
disturbed areas of the slope are capped by a
60-m-thick deposit of facies L (Fig. 2), probably
representing glaciogenic debris flows produced
by the delivery of deformable till. Although it is
possible that evidence of older glaciations has
been removed, our interpretation of only two ice
advances through the trough is supported by the
lack of a major glacial-sedimentary depocenter
on the slope.
AMUNDSEN GULF AND M’CLURE
STRAIT TROUGHS
Our seismic investigations reveal that the
inner shelf of Amundsen Gulf is composed of
bedrock, overlain by a thin (<20 m) veneer of
sediment. Accumulations of sediment >150 m
thick occur within several isolated depres-
sions. Material is interpreted to have been
removed from the inner shelf by the Amund-
sen Gulf ice stream.
The base of the Amundsen Gulf Trough
appears as an erosional unconformity on seismic
records (Figs. 4A and 4B) and is located up to
600 m below the outer-shelf seafloor (Fig. 4C).
Eight seismic sequences, categorized into four
mega-sequences, are identified within the trough,
and are composed entirely of facies T (Figs. 2
and 4). The eight sequences are interpreted as
stacked till sheets, extending to the shelf break
and forming a trough-mouth fan (Fig. 4D).
Boundaries between till sheets are identified as
high-amplitude erosional unconformities. A total
of nine till sheets is identified from the stratig-
raphy, providing evidence for at least nine Qua-
ternary ice advances to the shelf break. Several
of these till sheets have been removed from the
shelf by subsequent ice advances but are pre-
served on the slope (Fig. 4B).
A near-surface asymmetric wedge of facies
T (Fig. 2), of length 50 km and maximum
thickness 200 m, occurs at the northern trough
margin. This feature is interpreted as a GZW
produced at an ice-stream lateral margin. A bur-
ied asymmetric landform, also interpreted as a
GZW, occurs in the middle-shelf region of the
trough, recording a former ice margin stillstand
(sequence 2, Fig. 4B).
Our limited seismic data from M’Clure Strait,
350 km northeast of Amundsen Gulf (Fig. 1A),
demonstrate that the inner shelf is characterized
by a thin sediment veneer overlying bedrock.
An asymmetric wedge of facies T (Fig. 2), of
length 40 km and maximum thickness 150 m,
occurs at the trough’s southern margin and is
interpreted as a GZW. The presence of a trough-
mouth fan on the slope beyond M’Clure Strait
has been inferred previously from bathymetric
maps (Stokes et al., 2005) and sub-bottom echo-
sounder profiles (Niessen et al., 2010).
The M’Clure Strait Trough is interpreted to
possess similar large-scale architecture to the
Amundsen Gulf Trough. Both depressions were
probably occupied by ice streams during a num-
ber of Quaternary glaciations, leading to exca-
vation of sediment from the inner shelf, forma-
tion of defined outer-shelf lateral margins, and
development of trough-mouth fans on the slope
(Fig. 1C).
DISCUSSION: ICE-SHEET AND
ARCHITECTURAL VARIATIONS
ALONG THE BEAUFORT SEA MARGIN
Extensive seismic data from the Macken-
zie and Amundsen Gulf margins of the Arctic
Ocean (Fig. 1A) show significant contrasts in
the number of times Quaternary ice advanced
to the shelf break (Figs. 3A–3D, 4A, and 4B).
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 Figure 3. A: Seismic profile of strike line (line
A 5000) across Mackenzie Trough (vertical exag-
geration 10 × ). B: Schematic drawing of seis-
mic sequences (1–5), mega-sequences (MSA
and MSB), and facies in the profile shown in
A. C: Seismic profile of dip line (line 3350)
a a′ through Mackenzie Trough (vertical exag-
geration 10 × ). D: Schematic drawing of seis-
TWT (s)
5 B mic sequences (1–5), mega-sequences (MSA
MSB and MSB), and facies in the profile shown in
0.5
4
2 C. MSA consists of sequences 1 and 2; MSB
3
MSA consists of sequences 3–5. E–I: Contoured

300 m
1 isopach maps of sequences 1–5, respectively.
1 5000 m Dashed black line marks shelf edge. All have
the same scale bar as shown in F.
C

Sequences of chaotic to semi-transparent facies

b b′
are interpreted as till sheets, representing ice
TWT (s)
0.5
MSB 4
5 D advances across the shelf. The number of cycles
5000 m
3

300 m
1 of ice-sheet growth and decay varies mark-
MSA 1
1 edly between the Mackenzie Trough, with only
1
two recorded events, and the Amundsen Gulf
b′ 50 km b′
Pre-glacial E F Trough, with at least nine.
High-amplitude chaotic (Ci)
50 m The variable history of Quaternary ice-sheet
contours advance across the Beaufort Sea margin pro-
Chaotic to weakly stratified a a
semi-transparent (T) duced significant contrasts in the large-scale
Asymmetric stratified wedge a′ a′ architecture of the neighboring Mackenzie,
(Siii) b b
Thickness (m) Amundsen Gulf, and M’Clure Strait systems
Low-amplitude chaotic (Cii)
50 km 270 (Fig. 1C). There is seismic evidence of con-
High-amplitude stratified (Si)
100 m siderable progradation across the Amundsen
Low-amplitude s tratified (Sii) contours Seq. 1 0 Seq. 2 Gulf margin (Fig. 4), in the form of a major
b′ G b′ H b′ I trough-mouth fan containing a minimum of
10,000 km3 of glacier-derived debris. Bathy-
a a a metric data from the M’Clure Strait margin
suggest that an even larger fan, with a volume
a′ a′ a′ of ~60,000 km3, is present beyond the M’Clure
b b b
Strait Trough (Stokes et al., 2005; Niessen et al.,
50 km 50 km 50 km 2010). These fan volumes are of the same order
50 m 50 m 50 m as other Arctic and Antarctic fan systems, such
contours Seq. 3 contours Seq. 4 contours Seq. 5 as the Scoresby Sund Fan in the Greenland Sea
(15,000 km3), and the Belgica Fan in West Ant-
arctica (60,000 km3) (Dowdeswell et al., 2008).

Figure 4. A: Seismic pro-

AC Depth (m)
0 file of dip line (line 6590)
- 4538 through Amundsen Gulf
100 km Trough and upper slope
(vertical exaggeration
a 60 × ). B: Schematic draw-
ing of seismic sequences
(1–8), mega-sequences
a′ (MSA – MSD), and facies in
the profile shown in A. MSA
200 m consists of sequences 1
a a′ contours and 2; MSB consists of
TWT (s) BD Thickness (m)
1283
sequence 3; MSC consists
4 of sequences 4–7; MSD
MSD 8 0 consists of sequence 8.
0.5 7 MSC
6 2 100 km TWT—two-way time. C:
3 Contoured structure map
1 a showing depth of Amund-
5
200 m

1 MSB sen Gulf Trough base be-

low seafloor. D: Contoured
MSA
20 000 m a′ isopach map of thickness
Pre-glacial from trough base to sea-
100 m
1.5 floor. Dashed black line
Chaotic to weakly stratified semi-transparent (T) contours
marks shelf edge.

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 By contrast, there is little seismic or morpho-
logical evidence suggesting a major fan beyond
the more westerly Mackenzie Trough (Fig. 1A).
Given that buildup of high-latitude trough-
mouth fans is related to rapid delivery of glacial
sediments over successive glaciations (Vorren et
al., 1998), observation of only two ice advances
through the Mackenzie Trough is likely to be a
factor in this lack of a major glacial-sedimentary
depocenter. When ice did occupy the Macken-
zie Trough, the ice stream was positioned at
the extreme northwest LIS margin (Fig. 1B),
whereas the Amundsen Gulf and M’Clure Strait
ice streams had a more central location, with
larger paleo-drainage basins (~500,000 km2
each, compared with <250,000 km2 for the
Mackenzie Trough ice stream).
Although the timing of each ice advance can-
not be constrained, the onshore record suggests
that glaciation of the Mackenzie Delta became
progressively more extensive through the Quater-
nary (Murton et al., 1997; Dyke et al., 2002). A
Late Wisconsinan ice stream has been inferred to
have extended across Richards Island (Fig. 1A)
sometime between 22 and 16 k.y. ago (Murton,
2009). This event is interpreted to correspond
with the younger of the two ice advances inferred
from the Mackenzie Trough stratigraphy (Fig. 3).
The older ice advance, which excavated the
trough, probably occurred during the penultimate
(Illinoian) or Early Wisconsinan glaciation.
By contrast, seismic stratigraphy of the
Amundsen Gulf Trough (Fig. 4) records evi-
dence of ice advances earlier in the Quaternary,
suggesting that the onset of cross-shelf glacia-
tion on the eastern Beaufort Sea margin occurred
significantly prior to the initial glaciation of the
Mackenzie Trough to the west (Fig. 1A). Previ-
ous work has indicated that ice-rafted debris
(IRD) and detrital-carbonate maxima in sediment
cores from the Arctic Ocean reflect IRD input
from the Banks Island area during LIS disinte-
gration at the end of several Quaternary glacia-
tions, including marine oxygen isotope stages 16,
12, 10 and 8 (Stein et al., 2010), as well as the
Late Wisconsinan (Stokes et al., 2005). In addi-
tion to delivering significant quantities of ice
and sediment to the Arctic Ocean through much
of the Quaternary, ice streams in the Amundsen
Gulf and M’Clure Strait probably nourished
ice shelves beyond their grounding lines during
some Quaternary glaciations, including the Illi-
noian, in which a particularly extensive ice shelf
is suggested to have developed around the mar-
gins of the Arctic Ocean (Jakobsson et al., 2010).
CONCLUSIONS
The number of Quaternary ice advances
across the Beaufort Sea shelf varies markedly
between the Mackenzie Trough (two) and the
134
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Amundsen Gulf Trough (at least nine). The
Mackenzie Trough was probably occupied by
an ice stream during the Late Wisconsinan and
either the Illinoian or Early Wisconsinan glacia-
tion. The Amundsen Gulf ice stream was initi-
ated earlier in the Quaternary.
Whereas the slope beyond the Mackenzie
Trough lacks a significant glacial-sedimentary
depocenter, major trough-mouth fans (of vol-
umes of ~10,000 km3 and 60,000 km3) are pres-
ent beyond the Amundsen Gulf and M’Clure
Strait, respectively. Ice streams in the Amundsen
Gulf and M’Clure Strait delivered large quanti-
ties of ice and sediment to the Arctic Ocean
through much of the Quaternary. Their dynam-
ics influenced past ice-sheet configuration and
may have forced abrupt climatic change through
transport of ice and freshwater to the Arctic
Ocean (e.g., Stokes et al., 2005).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We thank ION Geophysical Corporation for per-
mission to reproduce seismic data from the Beaufort
Sea margin, and Liz Jolley for her support. The project
was funded by BP America and a UK Natural Envi-
ronment Research Council studentship to Batchelor.
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Manuscript received 24 May 2012
Revised manuscript received 21 August 2012
Manuscript accepted 22 August 2012
Printed in USA
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