Cordilleran Ice Sheet

E311874

The Cordilleran Ice Sheet was a massive Pleistocene ice sheet that covered much of western North America, including present-day British Columbia, Yukon, and parts of the northwestern United States.

All labels observed (3)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Pleistocene ice sheet
continental ice sheet
glacial feature
beganDeglaciation late Pleistocene
causedProcess isostatic depression of the crust beneath western Canada
coexistedWith Laurentide Ice Sheet in North America
surface form: Laurentide Ice Sheet
contributedTo global sea-level lowering during Pleistocene glaciations
coveredRegion Pacific Northwest
surface form: Pacific Northwest (parts)

present-day Alaska (parts)
present-day British Columbia
present-day Idaho (parts)
present-day Montana (parts)
present-day Washington State (parts)
present-day Yukon
western North America
evidenceFrom glacial striations on bedrock in western North America
raised shorelines and isostatic rebound features
till deposits in British Columbia and Yukon
followedBy postglacial isostatic rebound in deglaciated areas
formedLandform drumlins in parts of British Columbia
eskers in interior British Columbia and Yukon
fjords of British Columbia coast
glacial valleys in the Coast Mountains
glacially dammed lakes
kettles and kettle lakes in deglaciated areas
moraines in western Canada
outwash plains in western North America
geologicTimePeriod Pleistocene epoch
hasAlternativeName Cordilleran Ice Sheet
surface form: Cordilleran Ice Complex (in some literature)
influencedClimate regional cooling in western North America during glacial maxima
influencedHydrology Columbia River Basin
surface form: Columbia River system

Fraser River basin
surface form: Fraser River system

Yukon River
surface form: Yukon River headwaters
largelyDisappearedBy early Holocene
lastGlacialMaximumApproximate around 26,000 to 19,000 years ago
locatedOnContinent North America
majorLobe Fraser Glaciation ice lobes
Okanogan Lobe
Puget Lobe
maximumExtent from the Pacific coast to the Rocky Mountains in some sectors
maximumThickness over 3000 meters in some areas
namedAfter North American Cordillera
surface form: Cordillera (North American Cordillera)
relatedTo Cordilleran Ice Sheet self-linksurface differs
surface form: Cordilleran Ice Sheet of previous glacial cycles (earlier Pleistocene)
separatedFrom Laurentide Ice Sheet by ice-free corridor at some times
southernLimitApproximate northwestern United States
studiedInDiscipline Quaternary science
glacial geology
paleoclimatology
westernMargin Pacific Ocean coastline (varied through time)

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (9)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Wisconsin glaciation lastMajorAdvanceOf Cordilleran Ice Sheet
Missoula floods associatedWith Cordilleran Ice Sheet
Channeled Scablands associatedWith Cordilleran Ice Sheet
Last Glacial Maximum hasMajorIceSheet Cordilleran Ice Sheet
Northern Hemisphere ice sheets included Cordilleran Ice Sheet
Cordilleran Ice Sheet relatedTo Cordilleran Ice Sheet self-linksurface differs
this entity surface form: Cordilleran Ice Sheet of previous glacial cycles (earlier Pleistocene)
Cordilleran Ice Sheet hasAlternativeName Cordilleran Ice Sheet
this entity surface form: Cordilleran Ice Complex (in some literature)
Lake Missoula basin formedBy Cordilleran Ice Sheet
Lake Missoula basin relatedTo Cordilleran Ice Sheet