Aeolian sediment transport and deposition in a modern high‐latitude glacial marine environment

Aeolian sand and dust in polar regions are transported offshore over sea ice and released to the ocean during summer melt. This process has long been considered an important contributor to polar sea floor sedimentation and as a source of bioavailable iron that triggers vast phytoplankton blooms. Reported here are aeolian sediment dispersal patterns and accumulation rates varying between 0·2 g m^?2 yr^?1 and 55 g m^?2 yr^?1 over 3000 km² of sea ice in McMurdo Sound, south‐west Ross Sea, adjacent to the largest ice free area in Antarctica. Sediment distribution and the abundance of southern McMurdo Volcanic Group‐derived glass, show that most sediment originates from the McMurdo Ice Shelf and nearby coastal outcrops. Almost no sediment is derived from the extensive ice free areas of the McMurdo Dry Valleys due to winnowed surficial layers shielding sand‐sized and silt‐sized material from wind erosion and because of the imposing topographic barrier of the north‐south aligned piedmont glaciers. Southerly winds of intermediate strength (ca 20 m sec^?1) are primarily responsible for transporting sediment northwards and offshore. The results presented here indicate that sand‐sized sediment does not travel more than ca 5 km offshore, but very‐fine sand and silt grains can travel >100 km from source. For sites >10 km from the coast, the mass accumulation rate is relatively uniform (1·14 ± 0·57 g m^?2 yr^?1), three orders of magnitude above estimated global atmospheric dust values for the region. This uniformity represents a sea floor sedimentation rate of only 0·2 cm kyr^?1, well below the rates of >9 cm kyr^?1 reported for biogenic‐dominated sedimentation measured over much of the Ross Sea. These results show that, even for this region of high‐windblown sediment flux, aeolian processes are only a minor contributor to sea floor sedimentation, excepting areas proximal to coastal sources.     

Discussion and Reply: Shaping the Australian crust over the last 300 million years: Insights from fission track thermotectonic imaging and denudation studies of key terranes

Ellis Fjord is a small, fjord‐like marine embayment in the Vestfold Hills, eastern Antarctica. Modern sediment input is dominated by a biogenic diatom rain, although aeolian, fluvial, ice‐rafted, slumped and tidal sediments also make a minor contribution. In areas where bioturbation is significant relict glaciogenic sediments are reworked into the fine‐grained diatomaceous sediments to produce poorly sorted fine sands and silts. Where the bottom waters are anoxic, sediments remain unbioturbated and have a high biogenic silica component. Three depositional and non‐depositional facies can be recognised in the fjord: an area of non‐deposition around the shoreline; a relict morainal facies in areas of low sedimentation and high bioturbation; and a basinal facies in the deeper areas of the fjord.     

Sedimentology and depositional model for glaciolacustrine deposits in an ice-dammed tributary valley, western Tasmania, Australia

Quaternary sedimentary successions are described from the Linda Valley, a small valley in western Tasmania that was dammed by ice during Early and Middle Pleistocene glaciations. Mapping and logging of exposures suggest that an orderly sequence of deposits formed during ice incursion, occupation and withdrawal from tributary valleys. Four principal sediment assemblages record different stages of ice occupation in the valley. As the glacier advanced, a proglacial, lacustrine sediment assemblage dominated by laminated silts and muds deposited from suspension accumulated in front of the glacier. A subglacial sediment assemblage consisting of deformed lacustrine deposits and lodgement till records the overriding of lake-bottom sediments as the glacier advanced up the valley into the proglacial lake. As the glacier withdrew from the valley, a supraglacial sediment assemblage of diamict, gravel, sand and silt facies formed on melting ice in the upper part of the valley. A lacustrine regression in the supraglacial assemblage is inferred on the basis of a change from deposits mainly resulting from suspension in a subaqueous setting to relatively thin and laterally discontinuous laminated sediments, occurrence of clastic dykes, and increasing complexity of the geometry of deposits that indicate deposition in a subaerial setting. A deltaic sediment assemblage deposited during the final stage of ice withdrawal from the valley consists of steeply dipping diamict and normally graded gravel facies formed on delta foresets by subaqueous sediment gravity flows. The sediment source for the delta, which prograded toward the retreating ice margin, was the supraglacial sediment assemblage previously deposited in the upper part of the valley. A depositional model developed from the study of the Linda Valley may be applicable to other alpine glaciated areas where glaciers flowed through or terminated in medium- to high-relief topography.     

Till body morphology and structure related to glacier flow

Tills are described which occur in ridges and mounds arranged both parallel and transverse to the flow direction of the depositing glacier. Field localities are drawn from the English Midlands, Western Canada, and South Victoria Land, Antarctica. The tills retain textural and structural properties associated with glacial transport, and have suffered a minimum of redistribution suhsequent to their release from glacier ice. It is shown that ridges and mounds cannot he explained in terms of preferential till accretion. An alternative mechanism is presented in which form and structurc are a result of redistribution of debris in transport by secondary flows in ice.
Flutings are longitudinal forms which are related to helicoidal flow cells. Fabric distributions, patterns of till thickness, and internal structure support the helicoidal flow hypothesis.
Debris entrainment by Antarctic cold-based glaciers is explained by consideration of the morphology and sedimentology of the ice margin and the pattern of glacier flow. Deposition by sublimation and melt-out produces an upwards succession of (1) undisturbed proglacial deposits; (2) a complex of poorly sorted flow deposits intercalated with sorted and stratified water-lain deposits; (3) foliated till with sub-horizantal jointing and isolated clasts. A section shobbing this succession is described from Taylor Valley, Antarctica.
Transverse asymmetric ridges are related to till stacking by over-folding in the marginal compressive zone of cold-based glaciers. Plastic deformation of the debris-laden ice may be enhanced by incorporated salts. The folding process is illustrated by structures within Taylor glacier, and is used to explain Pleistocene landforms and structures in Shropshirc, England and Taylor Valley, Antarctica.     

Development of sediment–landform associations at cold glacier margins,Dry Valleys,Antarctica

The impact of modern cold glaciers on arid periglacial landscapes has received little attention compared with other glacial regimes, and there is a widely held assumption that cold glaciers are not effective geomorphological agents, despite recent studies to the contrary. This paper focuses on the processes operating at the margins of a number of glaciers in the Dry Valleys of Victoria Land, notably the Wright Lower Glacier. The glaciers are entraining primarily older drift deposits and highly weathered regolith which texturally are sandy gravels, as well as well‐sorted sands of fluvial origin. Despite basal temperatures of the order of ?16°C, frozen layers and blocks of sand and gravel are being incorporated into the base of the glaciers by folding and thrusting. The sedimentary products are ridges and aprons several metres high within which the principal lithofacies are sand, gravel, foliated glacier ice, lake ice and snow. These facies are glaciotectonized strongly. Draped over these landforms is a veneer of well‐sorted aeolian sand up to half a metre thick. Supraglacial streams flowing off the glaciers incise these landforms and the sediment is redeposited as alluvial fans, lake deltas and lake‐bottomset deposits. Overall the sediment/landform association differs markedly from those of other glacial regimes, with sand and gravel being the dominant facies, while the usual indicators of glacier working (such as facets and striations on clasts) are lacking. The preservation potential for these landforms on a thousand‐year time scale is high, as modification in this arid regime by slope processes and running water is limited. Sublimation of buried ice is so slow that ridge features are likely to remain ice‐cored almost indefinitely, modified only by wind transport and weathering.     

In a PICL: The sedimentary deposits and facies of perennially ice‐covered lakes

Perennially ice‐covered lakes can have significantly different facies than open‐water lakes because sediment is transported onto the ice, where it accumulates, and sand grains preferentially melt through to be deposited on the lake floor. To characterize the facies in these lakes, sedimentary deposits from five Antarctic perennially ice‐covered lakes were described using lake‐bottom observations, underwater video and images, and sediment cores. One lake was dominated by laminated microbial mats and mud (derived from an abutting glacier), with disseminated sand and rare gravel. The other four lakes were dominated by laminated microbial mats and moderately well to moderately sorted medium to very coarse sand with sparse granules and pebbles; they contained minor interstitial or laminated mud (derived from streams and abutting glaciers). The sand was disseminated or localized in mounds and 1 m to more than 10 m long elongate ridges. Mounds were centimetres to metres in diameter; conical, elongate or round in shape; and isolated or deposited near or on top of one another. Sand layers in the mounds had normal, inverse, or no grading. Nine mixed mud and sand facies were defined for perennially ice‐covered lakes based on the relative proportion of mud to sand and the style of sand deposition. While perennially ice‐covered lake facies overlap with other ice‐influenced lakes and glaciomarine facies, they are characterized by a paucity of grains coarser than granules, a narrow range in sand grain sizes, and inverse grading in the sand mounds. These facies can be used to infer changes in ice cover through time and to identify perennially ice‐covered lakes in the rock record. Ancient perennially ice‐covered lakes are expected on Earth and Mars, and their characterization will provide new insights into past climatic conditions and habitability.     

Hyperpycnal delivery of sand to the continental shelf: Insights from the Jurassic Lajas Formation,Neuquén Basin,Argentina

Hyperpycnal currents are river‐derived turbidity currents capable of transporting significant volumes of sediment from the shoreline onto the shelf and potentially further to deep ocean basins. However, their capacity to deposit sand bodies on the continental shelf is poorly understood. Shelf hyperpycnites remain an overlooked depositional element in source to sink systems, primarily due to their limited recognition in the rock record. Recent discoveries of modern shelf hyperpycnites, and previous work describing hyperpycnites deposited in slope or deep‐water settings, provide a valuable framework for understanding and recognizing shelf hyperpycnites in the rock record. This article describes well‐sorted lobate sand bodies on the continental shelf of the Neuquén Basin, Argentina, interpreted to have been deposited by hyperpycnal currents. These hyperpycnites of the Jurassic Lajas Formation are characterized by well‐sorted, medium‐grained, parallel‐laminated sandstones with hundreds of metre extensive, decimetre thick beds encased by organic‐rich, thinly laminated sandstone and siltstone. These deposits represent slightly obliquely‐migrating sand lobes fed by small rivers and deposited on the continental shelf. Hyperpycnites of the Lajas Formation highlight several unique characteristics of hyperpycnal deposits, including their distinctively thick horizontal laminae attributed to pulsing of the hyperpycnal currents, the extraction of coarse gravel due to low flow competence, and the extraction of mud due to lofting of light interstitial fluid. Recognition of shelf hyperpycnites in the Lajas Formation of the Neuquén Basin allows for a broader understanding of shelf processes and adds to the developing facies models of hyperpycnites. Recognizing and understanding the geometry and internal architecture of shelf hyperpycnites will improve current understanding of sediment transfer from rivers to deeper water, will improve palaeoenvironmental interpretations of sediment gravity‐flow deposits, and has implications for modelling potentially high‐quality hydrocarbon reservoirs.     

Sediment record of short-lived ice-contact lakes, Burroughs Glacier, Alaska

Sediments deposited in two small ice-contact lakes with low rates of sediment input have been studied in subaerial exposures. Sediment characteristics are a function of the water source (glacial meltwater versus non-meltwater), proximity to the glacier margin and lake shore, amount of supraglacial debris, and lake duration. Calving Lake expanded (and later partially drained) as a calving ice margin retreated. Nearshore deltas contain 1 × 10⁵ m³ stratified sand and gravel deposited at rates up to 1 m/yr during a 9-yr interval. Deltaic sediment contains types A and B ripple-drift cross-lamination, draped lamination, and scour surfaces caused by variations in water-flow velocity and the amount of sediment settling from suspension. Most water inflow came from non-subglacial meltwater sources and was sediment-poor, so overflow and interflow sedimentation processes dominated the offshore environment. Offshore sediment generally contains massive silt or silt interbedded with fine-grained sand deposited at rates of 1.3-1.5 cm/yr. Iceberg gravity craters observed on the lake plain were formed when icebergs impacted the lake floor during calving events. In Bruce Hills Lake, proximity to glacier ice and the presence of supraglacial sediment formed coarsening-upward successions when debris fell directly from an ice ledge onto silty lacustrine sediment.     

Examining the geometry,age and genesis of buried Quaternary valley systems in the Midland Valley of Scotland,UK

Buried palaeo‐valley systems have been identified widely beneath lowland parts of the UK including eastern England, central England, south Wales and the North Sea. In the Midland Valley of Scotland palaeo‐valleys have been identified yet the age and genesis of these enigmatic features remain poorly understood. This study utilizes a digital data set of over 100 000 boreholes that penetrate the full thickness of deposits in the Midland Valley of Scotland. It identified 18 buried palaeo‐valleys, which range from 4 to 36 km in length and 24 to 162 m in depth. Geometric analysis has revealed four distinct valley morphologies, which were formed by different subglacial and subaerial processes. Some palaeo‐valleys cross‐cut each other with the deepest features aligning east–west. These east–west features align with the reconstructed ice‐flow direction under maximum conditions of the Main Late Devensian glaciation. The shallower features appear more aligned to ice‐flow direction during ice‐sheet retreat, and were therefore probably incised under more restricted ice‐sheet configurations. The bedrock lithology influences and enhances the position and depth of palaeo‐valleys in this lowland glacial terrain. Faults have juxtaposed Palaeozoic sedimentary and igneous rocks and the deepest palaeo‐valleys occur immediately down‐ice of knick‐points in the more resistant igneous bedrock. The features are regularly reused and the fills are dominated by glacial fluvial and glacial marine deposits. This suggests that the majority of infilling of the features happened during deglaciation and may be unrelated to the processes that cut them.     

Stratigraphic architecture and sedimentology of a Late Pleistocene subaqueous moraine complex,southwest Ireland

Glacigenic sediments exposed in coastal cliffs cut through undulatory terrain fronting the Last Glacial Maximum laterofrontal moraine at Waterville on the Iveragh Peninsula, southwest Ireland, comprise three lithofacies. Lithofacies 1 and 2 consist of interdigitated, offlapping and superimposed ice‐proximal subaqueous outwash and stacked sequences of cohesionless and cohesive subaqueous debris flows, winnowed lag gravels and coarse‐grained suspension deposits. These are indicative of sedimentation in and around small grounding line fans that prograded from an oscillating glacier margin into a proglacial, interlobate lake. Lithofacies 3 comprises braided river deposits that have undergone significant syn‐sedimentary soft‐sediment deformation. Deposition was likely related to proglacial outwash activity and records the reduction of accommodation space for subaqueous sedimentation, either through the lowering of proglacial water levels or due to basin infilling. The stratigraphic architecture and sedimentology of the moraine at Waterville highlight the role of ice‐marginal depositional processes in the construction of morphostratigraphically significant ‘end moraine’ complexes in Great Britain and Ireland. Traditional ‘tills’ in these moraines are often crudely stratified diamictons and gravelly clinoforms deposited in ice‐proximal subaqueous and subaerial fans. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Sea-level related resedimentation processes on the northern slope of Little Bahama Bank (Middle Pleistocene to Holocene)

Middle Pleistocene to Holocene sediment variations observed in a 26 metre long core taken during a cruise of the RV Marion Dufresne are presented. Core MD992202 was retrieved from the northern slope of Little Bahama Bank and provides an excellent example for sedimentation processes in a mid‐slope depositional environment. The sediment composition indicates sea‐level related deposition processes for the past 375 000 years (marine isotope stages 1 to 11). The sediments consist of: (i) periplatform ooze (fine‐grained particles of shallow‐water and pelagic origin) with moderate variations in carbonate content, carbonate mineralogy and grain‐size; and (ii) coarser intervals with cemented debris consisting of massive, poorly sorted, mud‐supported or clast‐supported deposits with an increased high‐magnesium calcite content. During interglacial stages (marine isotope stages 1, 5, 7, 9 and 11) periplatform oozes (i) are characterized by higher aragonite contents, finer grain‐size and higher organic contents, whereas during glacial stages (marine isotope stages 2 to 4, 6, 8 and 10), increased low‐magnesium and high‐magnesium calcite values, coarser grain‐size and lower organic contents are recorded. These glacial to interglacial differences in mineralogy, grain‐size distribution and organic content clearly show the impact of climatically controlled sea‐level fluctuations on the sedimentation patterns of the northern slope of Little Bahama Bank. The coarser deposits (ii) occur mainly at the transitions from glacial to interglacial and interglacial to glacial stages, and are interpreted as redeposition events, indicating a direct link between sediment properties (changes in mineralogy, grain‐size distribution, variations in organic contents) and sea‐level fluctuations. Changes in hydrostatic pressure and the wave base position during sea‐level changes are proposed to have triggered these large‐scale sediment redepositions.     

Subglacial processes and drumlin formation in a confined bedrock valley,northwest Ireland

Knight, J. 2010: Subglacial processes and drumlin formation in a confined bedrock valley, northwest Ireland. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00182.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Subglacial processes beneath the Late Weichselian ice sheet in northwest Ireland are deduced from sediments and structures within drumlins in a bedrock valley at Loughros Beg, County Donegal. Here, a glacially smoothed bedrock surface underlies the drumlins, which are composed on their up‐ice side of stacked, angular rafts of local bedrock. Overlying and down‐ice from these rafts are down‐ice‐dipping beds of massive to bedded diamicton that contain sand and gravel interbeds. In a down‐ice direction the diamicton matrix coarsens and the beds become laterally transitional to water‐sorted gravels. The down‐ice end of one drumlin shows a concentrically bedded stratified gravel core aligned parallel to ice flow and resembling the internal structure of an esker. With distance away from this core, the gravels become more poorly sorted with an increase in matrix content, and are transitional to massive to stratified diamicton. A four‐stage model describes the formation of drumlins in this sediment‐poor setting. The sediments that are located directly above the bedrock represent deposition in a semi‐enclosed subglacial cavity. A trigger for this process was the formation of subglacial relief by the thrusting up of bedrock rafts, which created the leeside cavity. Subsequent sediment deposition into this cavity represents a form of feedback (self‐regulation), which may be a typical characteristic of subglacial processes in sediment‐poor settings.     

Quaternary interaction of cryospheric and oceanographic processes along the central‐east Greenland margin

The east Greenland margin has been influenced by oceanographic and cryospheric processes since the late Miocene, when the southwards flow of the East Greenland Current (EGC) initiated and ice sheets first advanced across the margin. However, the relative importance of these processes, and their influence on the sedimentation of the margin through time remains poorly understood. High‐resolution single‐channel seismic, chirp sub‐bottom profiles and swath bathymetry data were acquired along the middle/lower slope and proximal basinal area off Liverpool Land, central‐east Greenland margin. In this study, seismic‐stratigraphical and morphological analyses allowed us to distinguish between the major sedimentary processes that influenced this margin during the Quaternary. The stratigraphical architecture reveals mass transport deposits (MTDs) related to glacially influenced down‐slope sedimentation. These are intercalated with buried contourite systems associated with bottom‐current controlled along‐slope sedimentation. The distribution of the MTDs suggests the influence of two distinct ice‐stream systems. Initial phases of down‐slope deposition during the early‐middle Quaternary appears to be related to distal deposition fed by an ice stream from the Scoresby Sund area in the south. Shallow sedimentary processes, together with morphological analysis of the sea floor, show that the most recent activity of down‐slope processes during the latest Quaternary has occurred in the north, linked to an ice stream from the Kong Oscar Fjord area. These observations document a temporal shift in the relative dominance of the Scoresby Sund and Kong Oscar Fjord ice‐stream systems. The glacial influence on the margin has been interrupted by periods of stronger activity of along‐slope bottom‐current flow, demonstrating that the EGC periodically controlled sedimentation on the continental margin.     

The Morwell interseam “sands”

Interseam “sands” of Morwell form part of a sequence of brown‐coal seams, sediments and volcanic rocks which, together, make up the Tertiary Latrobe Valley Coal Measures. A detailed investigation and computer analysis of the “sands” show that they are fluviatile deposits which accumulated within the tectonically stable Latrobe Valley Depression.

On an inclusive‐graphic comparative scale, particle‐size analyses show that the sediments tend to be poorly sorted, positively skewed and mesocurtic with a mean size within the coarse‐sand range. Modal frequency peaks occur between –0.5 and –1 and between 1 and 2 phi. Presented evidence suggests that the coarser fraction represents a rolled grain population with fine‐medium sand reflecting parallel deposition from graded suspension.     

Sedimentology of tsunami inflow and backflow deposits: key differences revealed in a modern example

Onshore tsunami deposits may consist of inflow and backflow deposits. Grain sizes can range from clay to boulders of several metres in diameter. Grain‐size distributions reflect the mode of deposition and may be used to explore the hydrodynamic conditions of transport. The absence of unique sedimentary features identifying tsunami deposits makes it difficult in some cases to distinguish inflow from backflow deposits. On Isla Mocha off central Chile, the 27 February 2010 tsunami left behind inflow and backflow deposits of highly variable character. Tsunami inflow entrained sands, gravels and boulders in the upper shoreface, beach, and along coastal terraces. Boulders of up to 12 t were transported up to 300 m inland and 13 m above sea‐level. Thin veneers of coarse sand were found up to the maximum runup at 600 m inland and 19 m above sea‐level. Backflow re‐mobilized most of the sands and gravels deposited during inflow. The orientation of erosional structures indicates that significant volumes of sediment were entrained also during backflow. A major feature of the backflow deposits are widespread prograding fans of coarse sediment developed downcurrent of terrace steps. Fan sediments are mostly structureless but include cross‐bedding, imbrication and ripples, indicating deposition from bedload traction currents. The sediments are poorly sorted, grain sizes range between medium to coarse sand to gravel and pebbles. An assessment of the backflow transport conditions of this mixed material suggests that bedload transport at Rouse numbers >2·5 was achieved by supercritical flows, whereas deposition occurred when currents had decelerated sufficiently on the low‐gradient lower coastal plain. The sedimentary record of the February 2010 tsunami at Isla Mocha consists of backflow deposits to more than 90%. Due to the lack of sedimentary structures, many previous studies of modern tsunami sediments found that most of the detritus was deposited during inflow. This study demonstrates that an uncritical use of this assumption may lead to erroneous interpretations of palaeotsunami magnitudes and sedimentary processes if unknowingly applied to backflow deposits.     

Aeolian sand sea development along the mid‐Cretaceous western Tethyan margin (Spain): erg sedimentology and palaeoclimate implications

The existence of a mid‐Cretaceous erg system along the western Tethyan margin (Iberian Basin, Spain) was recently demonstrated based on the occurrence of wind‐blown desert sands in coeval shallow marine deposits. Here, the first direct evidence of this mid‐Cretaceous erg in Europe is presented and the palaeoclimate and palaeoceanographic implications are discussed. The aeolian sand sea extended over an area of 4600 km². Compound crescentic dunes, linear draa and complex aeolian dunes, sand sheets, wet, dry and evaporitic interdunes, sabkha deposits and coeval extradune lagoonal deposits form the main architectural elements of this desert system that was located in a sub‐tropical arid belt along the western Tethyan margin. Sub‐critically climbing translatent strata, grain flow and grain fall deposits, pin‐stripe lamination, lee side dune wind ripples, soft‐sediment deformations, vertebrate tracks, biogenic traces, tubes and wood fragments are some of the small‐scale structures and components observed in the aeolian dune sandstones. At the boundary between the aeolian sand sea and the marine realm, intertonguing of aeolian deposits and marine facies occurs. Massive sandstone units were laid down by mass flow events that reworked aeolian dune sands during flooding events. The cyclic occurrence of soft sediment deformation is ascribed to intermittent (marine) flooding of aeolian dunes and associated rise in the water table. The aeolian erg system developed in an active extensional tectonic setting that favoured its preservation. Because of the close proximity of the marine realm, the water table was high and contributed to the preservation of the aeolian facies. A sand‐drift surface marks the onset of aeolian dune construction and accumulation, whereby aeolian deposits cover an earlier succession of coastal coal deposits formed in a more humid period. A prominent aeolian super‐surface forms an angular unconformity that divides the aeolian succession into two erg sequences. This super‐surface formed in response to a major tectonic reactivation in the basin, and also marks the change in style of aeolian sedimentation from compound climbing crescentic dunes to aeolian draas. The location of the mid‐Cretaceous palaeoerg fits well to both the global distribution of other known Cretaceous erg systems and with current palaeoclimate data that suggest a global cooling period and a sea‐level lowstand during early mid‐Cretaceous times. The occurrence of a sub‐tropical coastal erg in the mid‐Cretaceous of Spain correlates with the exposure of carbonate platforms on the Arabian platform during much of the Late Aptian to Middle Albian, and is related to this eustatic sea‐level lowstand.     

Recent, arctic deltaic sedimentation: Olivier Islands, Mackenzie Delta, North-west Territories, Canada

Despite a low tidal range and relatively low wave conditions, the Mackenzie Delta is not prograding seaward but rather is undergoing transgressive shoreface erosion and drowning of distributary channel mouths. In the Olivier Islands region of the Mackenzie Delta the resultant morphology consists of a network of primary and secondary channels separated by vegetated islands. New ground is formed through channel infilling and landward-directed bar accretion. This sedimentation is characterized by seven sedimentary facies: (1) hard, cohesive silty clay at the base of primary channels which may be related to earlier, offshore deposition; (2) ripple laminated sand beds, believed to be channel-fill deposits; (3) ripple laminated sand and silt, interpreted as flood-stage subaqueous bar deposits; (4) ripple laminated or wavy bedded sand, silt and clay, representing the abandonment phase of channel-fill deposits and lateral subaqueous bar deposition from suspension settling; (5) a well sorted very fine sand bed, presumed to result from a single storm event; (6) parallel or wavy beds of rooted silt, sand and clay, interpreted as lower energy emergent bar deposits; and (7) parallel or wavy beds of rooted silt and clay, believed to represent present-day subaerial bar aggradation. The distribution of sedimentary facies can be interpreted in terms of the morphological evolution of the study area. Initial bar deposition of facies 3 and channel deposition of facies 2 was followed by lateral and upstream bar sedimentation of facies 3 and 4 which culminated with the deposition of the storm bed of facies 5. Facies 6 and 7 signify bar stabilization and abandonment. Patterned ground formed by thermal contraction and preserved in sediments as small, v-shaped sand wedges provides the most direct sedimentological indicator of the arctic climate. However, winter ice and permafrost also govern the stratigraphic development of interchannel and channel-mouth deposits. Ice cover confines flow at primary channel mouths, promoting the bypassing of sediments across the delta front during peak discharge in the spring. Permafrost minimizes consolidation subsidence and accommodation in the nearshore, further enhancing sediment bypass. Storms limit the seaward extent of bar development and promote a distinctive pattern of upstream and lateral island growth. The effects of these controls are reflected in the vertical distribution of facies in the Olivier Islands. The sedimentary succession differs markedly from that of a low-latitude delta.     

Resedimentation of cold pumiceous ignimbrite into water: facies transformations simulated in flume experiments

Deposits and transport processes resulting from the resedimentation of cold, unconsolidated ignimbrite into water were simulated by flume experiments. The ignimbrite sample used was poorly sorted (σ = 2·4–3), fine ash‐rich (< 63 μm, 17–30 wt%) and included both dense lithic clasts (> 2000 kg m^?3) and pumice (500 to ca 1300 kg m^?3). As a result of the binding forces of the ash matrix, the experiments involved resedimentation from a steep front onto the floor (with or without an initial ramp) of the water‐filled tank under both still and wave‐generated conditions. Larger discrete collapse events were induced by oversteepening the sample front and by undercutting from wave action. The mass of the collapse and proportion of pore–space water strongly influenced the style of resedimentation and the deposits. Initial collapse events were from the top of the steep front and fell onto the floor. The largest, densest clasts were deposited as a lithic lag in a proximal sediment wedge or rolled down to a break‐in‐slope. Fine ash was transported in dilute turbidity currents, and coarse unsaturated pumice clasts floated off. Moderate collapse events generated high‐density turbidity currents, trapping pumice in the flow, causing them to saturate. These low‐density pumice clasts were easily remobilized by wave activity and passing currents and accumulated on the gentle slope at the bottom of the resedimented deposit. Large collapse events slumped, producing poorly sorted mounds similar in texture to the original starting material. As the matrix of the ignimbrite sample became saturated with water, moderate and large collapse events generated debrisflows and slurries that deposited massive, poorly sorted deposits. Furthermore, once more gentle slopes were established between the sample and deposit, small cascading grainflows deposited lithic clasts on the upper slopes and levees of pumice at the terminus of low‐relief, ash channels. The experiments show that, excluding large collapse events and debrisflows, resedimenting ignimbrite in water is effective at segregating low‐density pumice clasts from dense lithic clasts and fine ash. Experiments using fine‐ash poor ignimbrite and well‐sorted quartz sand for comparison formed an inherently unstable initial steep front that immediately collapsed by continuous grain avalanches. The grainflow deposits had textures similar to the fines‐poor starting material.     

Tracking the isostatic and eustatic signals in an end Ordovician–early Silurian deglacial sedimentary record (Algeria – Libya border)

To elucidate the signature of isostatic and eustatic signals during a deglaciation period in pre‐Pleistocene times is made difficult because very little dating can be done, and also because glacial erosion surfaces, subaerial unconformities and subsequent regressive or transgressive marine ravinement surfaces tend to amalgamate or erode the deglacial deposits. How and in what way can the rebound be interpreted from the stratigraphic record? This study proposes to examine deglacial deposits from Late‐Ordovician to Silurian outcrops at the Algeria–Libya border, in order to define the glacio–isostatic rebound and relative sea‐level changes during a deglaciation period. The studied succession developed at the edge and over a positive palaeo‐relief inherited from a prograding proglacial delta that forms a depocentre of glaciogenic deposits. The succession is divided into five subzones, which depend on the topography of this depocentre. Six facies associations were determined: restricted marine (Facies Association 1); tidal channels (Facies Association 2); tidal sand dunes (Facies Association 3); foreshore to upper shoreface (Facies Association 4); lower shoreface (Facies Association 5); and offshore shales (Facies Association 6). Stratigraphic correlations over the subzones support the understanding of the depositional chronology and associated sea‐level changes. Deepest marine domains record a forced regression of 40 m of sea‐level fall resulting from an uplift caused by a glacio‐isostatic rebound that outpaces the early transgression. The rebound is interpreted to result in a multi‐type surface, which is interpreted as a regressive surface of marine erosion in initially marine domains and as a subaerial unconformity surface in an initially subaerial domain. The transgressive deposits have developed above this surface, during the progressive flooding of the palaeo‐relief. Sedimentology and high‐resolution sequence stratigraphy allowed the delineation of a deglacial sequence and associated sea‐level changes curve for the studied succession. Estimates suggest a relatively short (<10 kyr) duration for the glacio‐isostatic uplift and a subsequent longer duration transgression (4 to 5 Myr).     

Late Quaternary marine deposition in New South Wales and southern Queensland — An evolutionary model

From new data on coastal and continental shelf morphology, sediments, stratigraphy and chronology, it is possible to formulate a general model of late Quaternary marine sedimentation, for New South Wales and southern Queensland. This model integrates various factors influencing deposition in coastal and shelf environments, in relation to glacio‐eustatic sea level oscillations.

The model involves several components, including (i) very slow to negligible continental margin subsidence during the Quaternary, (ii) an inherited geomorphic framework; (iii) oscillations of sea level of c 100 m amplitude every 100 000 years, with interglacial high sea levels being close to present and only the Last Interglacial being significantly higher; and (iv) a wave climate that induces a potential south to north littoral sand transport at all sea level positions.

Terrigenous sediment that is moved from the hinterland through embayments to the shelf is either stored as barrier, estuarine or inner shelf deposits, or lost to depositional sinks on the continental slope or into coastal dune fields. Over many glacial‐interglacial cycles, sand has been progressively moved northward and has accumulated in vast aeolian sand deposits in southern Queensland. Littoral sand transport was especially effective during sea levels lower than present. The relatively shallow and lower gradient shelf north of Newcastle (33°S) has encouraged preservation at the coast of a wide range of depositional morphologies, including Pleistocene barriers, whereas the steeper southern shelf has induced net sediment loss seawards and shoreline erosion, excpt in the Holocene. To account for Holocene barrier development in the southern region, the model invokes reworking of sand deposits stranded high on the inner shelf at the end of the Pleistocene Epoch. These were in disequilibrium with Postglacial marine processes that operated at a lower level of the sea than did those during the Last Interglacial maximum.