Lake Agassiz - Geological Progression

Geological Progression

During the last Ice Age, northern North America was covered by a glacier, which alternately advanced and deteriorated with variations in the climate. This continental ice sheet formed during the period now known as the Wisconsin glaciation, and covered much of central North America between 30,000 and 10,000 years ago. As the ice sheet disintegrated, it created at its front an immense proglacial lake, formed from its meltwaters, as the retreat of glacial margins is not caused by a reversal of the glacier's flow, but rather from melting of the ice sheet.

Around 13,000 years ago, the lake came to cover much of Manitoba, northwestern Ontario, northern Minnesota, eastern North Dakota, and Saskatchewan. At its greatest extent, it may have covered as much as 440,000 km2 (170,000 sq mi), larger than any currently existing lake in the world (including the Caspian Sea) and approximately the size of the Black Sea.

The lake drained at various times south through the Traverse Gap into Glacial River Warren (parent to the Minnesota River, a tributary of the Mississippi River), east through Lake Kelvin (modern Lake Nipigon) to what is now Lake Superior, or west via the Mackenzie River through the Northwest Territories. Geologists have found evidence that a major outbreak of Lake Agassiz, about 13,000 years ago, drained north through the Mackenzie River into the Arctic Ocean. A return of the ice for some time offered a reprieve, but after retreating north of the Canada–United States border around 10,000 years ago, Lake Agassiz refilled. The last major shift in drainage occurred around 8,200 years ago. The melting of remaining Hudson Bay ice caused Lake Agassiz to drain nearly completely. This final drainage of Lake Agassiz is associated with an estimated 0.8 to 2.8 m (2.6 to 9.2 ft) rise in global sea levels.

Lake Agassiz' major drainage reorganization events were of such magnitudes that they had significant impact on climate, sea level and possibly early human civilization. Major freshwater release into the Arctic Ocean is considered to disrupt oceanic circulation and cause temporary cooling. The draining of 13,000 years ago may be the cause of the Younger Dryas stadial. The draining at 9,900–10,000 years ago may be the cause of the 8,200 yr climate event. A recent study by Turney and Brown links the 8,500 years ago drainage to the expansion of agriculture from east to west across Europe; he suggests that this may also account for various flood myths of prehistoric cultures, including the Biblical flood myth.