The Latest Major Advance of Malaspina Glacier, Alaska

Abstract

Evidence from many widely separated localities indicates that hundreds or possibly thousands of years ago Alaskan glaciers were much smaller than at present. The shrinking of the ice is usually attributed to the unfavorable environment of the post-Wisconsin warm-dry interval, during which spruce forests spread across much of the area laid bare by glacier recession. With the return to cooler, moister conditions in more recent times, the glaciers expanded and invaded the forested areas, smashing down and overriding the trees. The advance reached its culmination at different times in different places, ranging from 300 years ago to the present. The information presented here shows that Malaspina Glacier participated in this sequence of events, and that the culmination of its latest major advance occurred 200 ± 50 years ago.