Glacial Lake Yukon

It has always been a good theory. Undoubtedly the most important lake that ever formed in Yukon. 2.6 million years ago, during the first ice age, glaciers redirected the Yukon River and reversed it from a south-flowing to a north-flowing drainage. In this process a glacial lake flooded the upper Yukon River basin. Thanks to placer mining exposures by Stuart Schmidt just outside of Dawson City we think we’ve located the first physical evidence of this mysterious lake. Preserved high on top of a terrace, on one of the most stable landscape positions in all of the Klondike, is 8 m of bedded clay, silt and sand. Together with my colleagues, Brent Ward and Raphael Gromig from Simon Fraser University, we initiated work on this site last August. Our main goal is to confirm its age, document the sedimentary characteristics, and raise awareness of this important event in Yukon history. Here is a sneak peak link https://youtu.be/kfWu2sAvnJs to the site to give you an idea of where we were working.