Lateral-Moraine Stratigraphy and Neoglacial History of Bugaboo Glacier, British Columbia

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Abstract
Most studies of alpine glacial history have concentrated on terminal moraines, but such moraines provide dates only for maximum extents of glaciers. Some lateral moraines have the potential for providing more complete glacial histories, because deposition by distal-flank accretion may result in sequences of stacked tills. Interpretation is aided by (1) the approximation that any continuous surface within the moraine parallel to the moraine's distal flank is isochronous, (2) inset gulley-fill deposits, which provide information on ice-margin history, and (3) incorporated organic material which can be radiocarbon dated. Lateral moraine stratigraphy of Bugaboo Glacier in southeastern British Columbia suggests that the glacier was fairly close to its maximum Neoglacial extent about 2500 14C yr B.P. A slow general expansion punctuated by at least one minor retreat continued from that time and culminated probably in the last century.