A palaeoglaciological reconstruction of the Newfoundland Ice Complex, Canada using a remote sensing and GIS approach

A palaeoglaciological reconstruction of the Newfoundland Ice Complex, Canada using a remote sensing and GIS approach. The Newfoundland Ice Complex was situated on the fringes of the northeast Atlantic Ocean and the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS) during the Wisconsinan glaciation (80ka BP to 10ka BP). This location suggests the evolution of this ice sheet during the last glacial cycle was likely influenced by a number of external and internal drivers including configuration changes in the LIS, ice stream initiation and shutdown, changes in oceanic circulation, fluctuating sea levels and climate signals from the wider Amphi-North Atlantic. As such Newfoundland is a key location for examining ice sheet response to a number of internal and external forcing mechanisms. An established technique used to reconstruct former ice sheets is to use a remote sensing approach to map the glacial geomorphology. Spatial analysis of this record can be used to decipher the former dynamics, extent, retreat patterns and configuration changes of the ice sheet throughout its evolution. Here we present new mapping based on our interpretation of SPOT satellite imagery and Digital Elevation Models across the entire island of Newfoundland as well as swath bathymetric imagery from several locations offshore. Our new database consisting of ~150,000 individually mapped subglacial bedforms which includes glacial lineations and ribbed moraines significantly increases the known landform record in this region. Here we illustrate how this data is being used to reconstruct this ice sheet using established glaciological principles and flowset analysis to separate discrete ice flow patterns into snapshots of ice sheet behaviour through time.