Early Pleistocene to Holocene glacial activity along the southern Alaska continental shelf inferred from the sedimentary record in the northern Gulf of Alaska - preliminary results

Preliminary analyses of the lithology at Site U1418 (IODP Expedition 341), located on the proximal Surveyor Fan, provide evidence of continuous presence of tidewater glaciers on the southern Alaska continental shelf for more than c. 1.2 Ma, as well as evidence of prolonged presence of grounded ice at the shelf break and/or the initiation of ice streams. The lowermost lithostratigraphic unit (Unit IV) of the 941 m long record is composed of heavily deformed sediments that are interpreted to be the top of the recently discovered Surveyor mass-transport deposit. Unit III contains mostly laminated mud with thin interbeds of sand, silt and clast-rich muddy diamict with rip-up clasts. A few lonestones of granule and pebble size are present. Massive and laminated mud with scattered lonestones, as well as interbedded intervals of clast-poor diamict (clasts of granule and pebble size) compose Unit II. Unit I contains massive mud with interbedded silt laminae and sand beds. Most silt laminae have the same color as the matrix, but some are lighter. Diatom oozes and graded sand beds occur infrequently and lonestones are present below 3 m. The dominance of mud suggests that sedimentation at Site U1418 was strongly influenced by suspension settling from turbid meltwater plumes emanating into the Gulf of Alaska during the past c. 1.2 Ma. Laminated intervals may reflect temporal variations in meltwater runoff from a single sediment source and/or supply from several sources during the deposition of Units II and III. Lonestones and clasts of granule and pebble size are regarded to be mostly iceberg-rafted debris, indicating that tidewater glaciers have been present on the continental shelf for most of the time since the onset of the deposition of Unit III. Diamicts in Unit II most probably reflect periods of enhanced ice rafting and/or reduced meltwater runoff. Minor silt and sand beds provide evidence of occasional sediment reworking during the deposition of Units II and III. The abrupt occurrence of silt laminae and sand beds at the transition from Unit II to Unit I is suggested to reflect a major reorganization of the sediment delivery system to Site U1418. We suggest that these deposits reflect increased turbidity-flow activity related to the first expansion of grounded ice to the shelf break and/or the initiation of ice streams during the Late Pleistocene, transporting large amounts of sediment across the shelf. Slope failures most probably resulted from oversteepening and/or seismicity related to either glacio-isostatic adjustments or tectonic processes. Occasionally occurring different-colored silt laminae indicate that sediments probably originated from multiple sources.