Knowra Laurentide Ice Sheet Laurentide Ice Sheet The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a vast continental glacier that covered much of Canada and parts of the northern United States during the Pleistocene, reaching its greatest extent during the Last Glacial Maximum.
Glacial mass balance : The balance between snow and ice accumulation and losses through melting, sublimation, and iceberg discharge. Changes in accumulation and melting governed the ice sheet’s expansion and retreat.
Pleistocene : The geological epoch from about 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, marked by repeated glacial cycles. The Laurentide Ice Sheet grew and shrank during the Pleistocene glacial cycles.
Continental glacier : A large, dome-shaped mass of land ice that covers broad areas and flows outward under its own weight. The Laurentide was one of the major continental glaciers of the last glacial period.
Great Lakes : A connected system of five large freshwater lakes on the Canada–United States border. Glacial erosion and meltwater helped shape the basins that hold the Great Lakes.
Heinrich event : A North Atlantic episode marked by abundant ice-rafted debris, commonly linked to major iceberg discharge from northern ice sheets. Some Heinrich layers record Laurentide iceberg discharge, though its precise triggers remain debated.
Ice stream : A corridor of fast-moving ice within a slower-moving ice sheet or ice cap. Fast-flowing ice streams helped drain the Laurentide interior toward its margins.
Last Glacial Maximum : The interval when global ice sheets reached their greatest extent during the last glacial cycle, roughly 26,000–19,000 years ago. The Laurentide reached its largest extent during this interval.
Cordilleran Ice Sheet : A Pleistocene ice sheet that covered parts of western Canada and the northwestern United States. It occupied western North America while the Laurentide covered the continent’s east and center.
Glacial lake Agassiz : A vast proglacial lake that occupied parts of central North America during Laurentide retreat. The ice sheet dammed meltwater to form this immense lake.
8.2-kiloyear event : A brief cooling episode about 8,200 years ago, associated with freshwater entering the North Atlantic. Drainage from a Laurentide-dammed lake is a leading explanation for its freshwater trigger.
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