Yukon Territory has been glaciated by Cordilleran and montane glaciers at various times throughout the Pleistocene, as well as by continental ice, the Laurentine Ice Sheet in the Late Pleistocene. Throughout the Late Cenozoic, each successive glaciation appears to have been less extensive than the previous one. In west-central Yukon the earliest glaciation occurred between 2.6 and 2.9 Ma. ago (Duk-Rodkin and Barendregt, 1997). This glaciation was the most extensive and formed a continuous carapace of ice covering all the mountain ranges, except for a small area of Dawson Range and a more extensive area in northern Yukon. The Mid Pleistocene Cordilleran glaciation was less extensive than older glaciations but it formed an extensive ice sheet covering most of the northern Cordillera. The Late Pleistocene glaciation was the most restrictive and formed a continuous carapace of ice from the continental divide to the Saint Elias Mountains, but only restricted ice caps formed on the Ogilvie Mountains. During the last glaciation, the Laurentide Ice Sheet, flowing from the east, reached the northeast part of the Yukon Territory ca. 30 ka ago.

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