North America

I am involved in three projects examining the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum and its subsequent deglaciation.

For one collaborative project, I am applying surface-exposure dating of glacial features west of Lake Superior to determine a chronology of Laurentide Ice Sheet deglaciation.  This work aims to understand how and why the ice-sheet receded and whether flood-related meltwater features were related to abrupt climate events.  Results thus far are published in these papers: Kelly et al., 2016 and Lowell et al., 2021.

My collaborators on this project are Peter Barnett (Laurentian University), Tim Fisher (University of Toledo), Thomas Lowell (University of Cincinnati), Andrew Malone (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Susan Zimmerman (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory).

For another project, I am providing a chronology of features associated with former ice streaming flow in the southwestern sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. This project will provide information about the style and rate at which the Laurentide collapsed during the last deglaciation.  We report preliminary results from this project in Kelly et al., 2020, AGU – Abstract.  My collaborators on this project are Brenda Hall (University of Maine) and Thomas Lowell (University of Cincinnati).

Funding for these projects is from the Comer Family Foundation.

I am also conducting research using lake and bog sediment cores to examine the late glacial and Holocene environmental and climate conditions in New England. Part of this research focuses on Glacial Lake Hitchcock, which filled the Connecticut River Valley at the end of the Last Glacial Period, and the timing of its drainage.  I am using varved sediments from within modern lake basins to determine the timing of lowering and ultimate drainage of  Glacial Lake Hitchcock. Initial results were presented at the 2013 NE GSA meeting (Bigl et al., 2013, NE GSA – Abstract).

Funding for this project is from Dartmouth College.