Cosmogenic 10Be Chronologies of Moraines and Glacially Scoured Bedrock in the Teton Range, with Implications for Paleoclimatic Events and Tectonic Activity

Abstract:

At its Pleistocene maximum, the greater Yellowstone glacial system consisted of an ice cap on the Yellowstone Plateau joined by glaciers from adjacent high mountains, including the Teton Range. In prior research, we obtained 112 exposure ages from moraines and bedrock in this region. These chronologies identified asynchronous outlet glacier culminations around the periphery of the Yellowstone glacier complex, supporting a model of spatial and temporal progressions in buildup and decay of the various ice source regions. Here we build on this previous work and present >30 recently developed ¹⁰Be exposure ages on glacial features in the Teton Range. Although the Tetons harbored a relatively small portion of the greater Yellowstone ice complex, glaciers in this range left behind some of the region’s best-preserved moraine sequences and scoured bedrock. Ongoing investigations are focused on developing moraine chronologies in several drainages on the eastern and western Teton Range fronts, and obtaining exposure ages along scoured bedrock transects in glacial troughs upvalley from the dated moraines to define rates of ice recession. Notably, our dating campaign includes lateral moraines that are offset by the Teton fault, providing a rare opportunity to establish direct constraints on integrated long-term slip rates. All new and previously obtained ¹⁰Be ages are calculated using recently published calibrations and scaling of ¹⁰Be production rates.

Initial results show that massive lateral moraines in selected drainages are several thousands of years older than adjacent distal end moraines, implying that the laterals were constructed during an earlier phase of the last glaciation and then acted to topographically confine subsequent ice advances. Mean ages of ca. 17-16 ka from terminal moraine loops along with limiting ages from scoured bedrock upvalley of the moraines indicate glacier culminations followed by the onset of rapid ice retreat long after the end of the global Last Glacial Maximum, but well before the start of the Bølling-Allerød warm interval. This expanded chronology provides a refined understanding of the timing of late Pleistocene glacier events in the central Rocky Mountains, and allows a more critical examination of climatic influences on glacier fluctuations in this region.