Lichenometric dating of little ice age glacier activity in the central british columbia coast mountains, canada

The ittle ce ge behaviour of glaciers in the central ritish olumbia oast ountains, anada, was described by conducting lichenometric surveys of hizocarpon spp. found on recently deposited moraines in the itimat and acific ranges. At attullo lacier in the southern itimat ange, surveys across four sets of nested lateral moraines describe advances prior to the late thirteenth century, 1550–1610, 1680–1710, and 1850 ad. In the onarch cefield area in the northern acific ange, ittle ce ge moraines stabilized prior to 1380–1430 ad, the mid‐seventeenth and mid‐eighteenth centuries, and in the mid‐nineteenth century. The timing of these moraine‐building episodes corresponds closely to the intervals of glacier expansion recorded in complementary studies in the region. These findings indicate that most glaciers in the region reached their maximum downvalley ittle ce ge extent prior to 1780 ad, and suggest that climate forcing likely contributed to regionally synchronous glacier fluctuations.