Periglacial trimlines and nunataks of the Last Glacial Maximum: the Gap of Dunloe,southwest Ireland

During the last main phase of glaciation (26–13 ka) an ice‐cap developed in southwest Ireland and ice, from a dispersal centre in the vicinity of Kenmare, flowed north through the Gap of Dunloe in the Macgillycuddy's Reeks. On surrounding hillsides a weathering limit separates ice‐moulded bedrock, on low ground, from frost‐weathered terrain above. Assessment of bedrock dilation joint characteristics, Schmidt hammer R‐value data and clay‐sized mineral contents of basal soil samples, demonstrate significant contrasts in the degree of weathering above and below this limit. The weathering limit declines in altitude along former ice flow‐lines and is confluent with morainic deposits on the eastern side of the Gap. This supports the assertion that the high‐level weathering limit is a periglacial trimline that marks the former maximum upper limit of the body of ice which occupied the Gap of Dunloe during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Reconstruction of the former ice‐surface profile from periglacial trimline limits on the eastern side of the Gap yields a mean estimate for basal shear stress of 106.5 kPa. This value suggests that the ice mass which occupied the Gap of Dunloe at the LGM was warm based and flowed on a bedrock substrate. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Periglacial trimlines,former nunataks and the altitude of the last ice sheet in Wester Ross,northwest Scotland

High-level weathering limits separating ice-scoured topography from frost-weathered detritus were identified on 28 mountains in Wester Ross at altitudes of 700–960 m, and a further 22 peaks support evidence of ice scouring to summit level. Weathering limits are defined most clearly on sandstone and gneiss, which have resisted frost shattering during the Late Devensian Lateglacial, but can also be distinguished on schists and quartzite. Schmidt hammer measurements and analyses of clay mineral assemblages indicate significantly more advanced rock and soil weathering above the weathering limits. The persistence of gibbsite above weathering limits indicates that they represent the upper limit of Late Devensian glacial erosion. The regular decline of weathering-limit altitudes along former flowlines eliminates the possibility that the weathering limits represent former thermal boundaries between protective cold-based and erosive warm-based ice. The weathering limits are therefore interpreted as periglacial trimlines that define the maximum surface altitude of the last ice sheet. Calculated basal shear stresses of 50–95 kPa are consistent with this interpretation. Reconstruction of ice-sheet configuration indicates that the former ice-shed lay above 900 m along the present watershed, and that the ice surface descended northwestwards, with broad depressions along major troughs and localised domes around independent centres of ice dispersal. Extrapolation of the ice surface gradient and altitude suggests that the ice sheet did not overrun the Outer Hebrides, but was confluent with the independent Outer Hebrides ice-cap in the North Minch basin. Erratics located up to 140 m above the reconstructed ice surface are inferred to have been emplaced by a pre-Late Devensian ice sheet (or ice sheets) of unknown age. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

THE LAST ICE SHEET IN NORTH-WEST SCOTLAND: RECONSTRUCTION AND IMPLICATIONS

Recent models of the last Scottish ice sheet suggest that nunataks remained above the ice surface in areas peripheral to the main centres of accumulation. This proposition has been investigated on 140 mountains over an area of 10,000 km² in NW Scotland. Outside the limits of the later Loch Lomond Readvance in this area there is evidence for a single high-level weathering limit that separates glacially eroded terrain from higher areas of in situ frost debris. This limit occurs at altitudes ranging from 425 to 450 m in the Outer Hebrides to >950 m on the mainland, and is best developed on lithologies that resisted breakdown after ice-sheet downwastage. Interpretation of this weathering limit as a periglacial trimline cut by the last ice sheet at its maximum thickness is supported by: (1) joint-depth and Schmidt hammer measurements that indicate significantly more advanced rock breakdown above the weathering limit; (2) a much greater representation of gibbsite (a pre-Late Devensian weathering product) in the clay fraction of soils above the limit; (3) cosmogenic isotope dating of the exposure ages of rock outcrops above and below the limit; (4) the sharpness of the limit at some sites and its regular decline along former ice flowlines; and (5) shear stress calculations based on the inferred altitude and gradient of the former ice surface. Reconstruction of the ice surface based on trimline evidence indicates that the mainland ice shed lay near or slightly east of the present watershed and descended northwards from >900 m to ca. 550 m at the north coast. Independent dispersion centres fed broad ice streams that occupied major troughs. On Skye an ice dome >800 m deflected the northwestwards movement of mainland ice, but the mountains of Rum were over-ridden by mainland ice up to an altitude of ca. 700 m. The Outer Hebrides supported an independent ice cap that was confluent with mainland ice in the Minches. Extrapolation of the trimline evidence indicates that most reconstructions of ice extent are too conservative, and suggests that low-gradient ice streams extended across the Hebridean Shelf offshore. Wider implications of this research are: (1) that blockfields and other periglacial weathering covers are not all of the same age or significance, depending on the resistance of different lithologies to frost weathering; (2) that the contrasting degree of glacial modification in the Western and Eastern Highlands of Scotland may reflect a former cover of predominantly warm-based ice in the former and predominantly cold-based ice in the latter; and (3) that the approach and techniques developed in this study have potential application for constraining ice-sheet models, not only in areas peripheral to the main centres of ice accumulation in Britain and Ireland, but also in other mountain areas where nunataks protruded through warm-based Late Pleistocene ice masses.     

Buried Late Weichselian thermokarst landscape discovered in the Czech Republic,central Europe

Pronounced climatic warming associated with the Late Weichselian Pleniglacial‐to‐Lateglacial transition caused considerable environmental changes throughout the former periglacial zones (in Europe ~53°–46°N). During permafrost degradation and subsequent ground subsidence (i.e. thermokarst processes), the landscape changed rapidly. In this study we investigated a flat mid‐altitude area in south Bohemia, Czech Republic, lying close to the southern limit of the Weichselian permafrost. We discovered palaeo‐lake basins with sedimentary infillings up to 11 m in depth. According to radiocarbon and palynostratigraphical dating, these basins were formed at the onset of the Late Pleniglacial‐to‐Lateglacial transition, whereas the smaller depressions were formed later. We suggest that the basins resulted from thermal and fluvio‐thermal erosion of the former permafrost and represent remnants of discontinuous gullies and possibly collapsed frost mounds (pingo/lithalsa scars). The formation of this a fossil thermokarst landscape was climatically driven and multiple phased, with the major phase during the climatic warming and wetting at the onset of GI‐1e (Bølling) and the minor phase during GI‐1c (Allerød). This study enhances knowledge of the palaeogeography of the former European periglacial zone by showing that Late Pleistocene thermokarst activity could have had a significant impact on the evolution of the landscape of at least some regions of central Europe along the southern limit of the continuous permafrost zone. The research also points to a similar history for the physical transformation of the landscape of the former European periglacial zone and current thermokarst landscapes and could be a valuable source of information with respect to the future transformation of the Arctic under conditions of ongoing global warming.     

The vertical dimensions of Late Devensian glaciation on the mountains of Harris and southeast Lewis,Outer Hebrides,Scotland

On North Harris and southeast Lewis a weathering limit separates glacially-moulded bedrock on low ground from frost-shattered bedrock and blockfields on high plateaux. Analysis of the depths of horizontal stress-release joints demonstrates significant contrasts in bedrock weathering above and below this boundary, and the survival of gibbsite only in soils above the weathering limit indicates that it represents the upper limit of Late Devensian glacial erosion. The weathering limit declines regularly in altitude on either side of the former ice shed, and is therefore interpreted as a periglacial trimline defining the upper limit of a locally-nourished ice mass at its maximum extent, rather than a former thermal boundary between protective cold-based and erosive warm-based ice. Calculated basal shear stress values are consistent with this interpretation. The configuration of the trimline indicates that at the last glacial maximum the area supported an ice cap that achieved a maximum altitude of ca. 700 m above present sea level and declined in altitude to the west-northwest and east-southeast at an average gradient of ca. 20 m km^?1. Extrapolation of the dimensions of this ice cap suggests that it terminated ca. 7–10 km west of the present coast of Harris, and was confluent with mainland ice a short distance east of the present coastline.     

现代乌伦古湖滨岸沉积环境与沉积体系分布及其控制因素

通过现场实地踏勘、拍照、开挖探槽、利用卫星图解译等方法,对乌伦古湖环布伦托海区域和吉力湖北部乌伦古河现代三角洲地区的湖泊滨岸沉积环境和沉积体系进行了现代沉积调查。研究表明乌伦古湖滨岸沉积环境可以划分为基岩型湖岸、砾质湖岸、砂质湖岸、泥质湖岸等4种类型,发育山前基岩型湖岸、侵蚀基岩型湖岸、砾质冲积扇-扇三角洲、砾质辫状河三角洲、砾质滩坝、砂质滩坝、砂质三角洲、风成沙丘和泥质沼泽等9种滨岸沉积体系。山前基岩湖岸分布在布伦托海的北部,主要发育小型塌积扇、倒石锥和狭窄的湖滩。侵蚀型基岩湖岸位于布伦托海西岸和东北角地区,发育湖滩宽20~40 m。砾质冲积扇-扇三角洲沉积体系分布在布伦托海西北部25.8 km狭长区域,表现为一系列冲积扇-扇三角洲体系在山前形成裙边状展布的辫状平原,顺流向长5~15 km。砾质辫状河三角洲体系发育在布伦托海西部,砾质滩坝发育在砾质三角洲前缘,沉积物一般为中砾和粗砾,泥质含量低。现代乌伦古河三角洲位于吉力湖北部,沙丘广泛分布在布伦托海东部的三角洲平原。砂质滩坝发育在布伦托海东岸南部地区,滩坝带宽30~100 m,发育大量障碍痕、冰划痕。泥质沼泽占据湖岸总长度29.22 km,沼泽地带植物繁茂,水动力微弱,泥质和有机质含量高。根据卫星照片推测乌伦古湖水位可能发生过3次较大的下降,现代乌伦古河三角洲可能经过了4个发育阶段,但目前缺乏地质年代学证据。构造格局控制了湖泊边界的地形地貌特征,平行构造线走向容易形成规模较大的沉积体系,垂直构造走向形成的沉积体系规模较小。寒旱地区湖泊周缘入湖河流较少,具有季节性和暂时性特点,洪水泥石流、塌积扇等重力沉积体系比较发育。湖泊封冻是寒旱区湖泊区别于温暖地区湖泊的重要特征。在相同气候背景下,源汇地区的高差和河流的流程、流量决定了沉积物的供给总量和沉积体系的特征。湖盆边界形态影响沿岸流的发育,也影响湖泊风动力方向和强度。乌伦古湖滨岸沉积体系的多样性对研究古代湖泊滨岸沉积体系具有重要的启发,开展湖泊滨岸沉积环境和沉积体系调查对完善陆相湖盆沉积体系模式,对发现新的储层类型,对重建湖泊古地理环境具有重要的意义。     

Ice action in the lacustrine environment. A review with particular reference to subarctic Quebec,Canada

Erosional and depositional features produced by lake ice occur in many lakes of temperate and cold regions. Ice-push ridges, grooves with a boulder at their head, ice-rafted sediments, boulder ridges, stone pavements, beach micro-relief, and destruction of shore vegetation, are features common to many lakes in the James Bay area, subarctic Quebec. However, the ice cover offers good protection against shore erosion by waves, during six months per year, permitting varve sedimentation. Ice-push ridges and grooves with a boulder at their head are the two most common ice-made features: 95 ice-push ridges, up to 7 m high, have been observed in 35 lakes, and grooves, up to 300 m long have been found in 81 sites from 69 lakes. These features resulted from ice movements caused either by ice expansion and wind action, at breakup. A review of the literature indicates that several factors must be considered in any investigation of ice action in the lacustrine environment.     

Seismic stratigraphy of Waterton Lake, a sediment-starved glaciated basin in the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, Canada and Montana, USA

Upper and Middle Waterton lakes fill a glacially scoured bedrock basin in a large (614 km²) watershed in the eastern Front Ranges of the Rocky Mountains of southern Alberta, Canada and northern Montana, U.S.A. The stratigraphic infill of the lake has been imaged with 123 km of single-channel FM sonar (‘chirp') reflection profiles. Offshore sonar data are combined with more than 2.5 km of multi-channel, land-based seismic reflection profiles collected from a large fan-delta. Three seismic stratigraphic successions (SSS I to III) are identified in Waterton Lake resting on a prominent basal reflector (bedrock) that reaches a maximum depth of about 250 m below lake level. High-standing rock steps (reigels) divide the lake into sub-basins that can be mapped using lake floor reflection coefficients. A lowermost transparent to poorly stratified seismic succession (SSS I, up to 30 m thick) is present locally between bedrock highs and has high seismic velocities (1750–2100 m/s) typical of compact till or outwash. A second stratigraphic succession (SSS II, up to 50 m thick), occurs throughout the lake basin and is characterised by continuous, closely spaced reflectors typical of repetitively bedded and rhythmically laminated silts and clays most likely deposited by underflows from fan-deltas; paleo-depositional surfaces identify likely source areas during deglaciation. Intervals of acoustically transparent seismic facies, up to 5 m thick, are present within SSS II. At the northern end of Upper Waterton Lake, SSS II has a hummocky surface underlain by collapse structures and chaotic facies recording the melt of buried ice. Sediment collapse may have triggered downslope mass flows and may account for massive facies in SSS II. A thin Holocene succession (SSS III, <5 m) shows very closely spaced reflectors identified as rhythmically laminated fine pelagic sediment deposited from interflows and overflows. SSS III contains Mt. Mazama tephra dated at 6850 yr BP.     

Rock glaciers and block fields,review and new data

Tongue-shaped and lobate rock glaciers are recognized in most alpine regions today. For the tongue-shaped, two situations emerge: those with buried glacier ice (debris-covered glaciers) called ice-cored rock glaciers, and those with interstitial ice known as ice-cemented rock glaciers. Those with ice cores are revealed by depressions between rock glacier and headwall cliff (where a former glacier melted), longitudinal marginal and central meandering furrows, and collapse pits. Ice-cemented rock glaciers ordinarily do not possess these features. As applied to 18 rock glaciers in the Colorado Front Range, 11 of 12 east of the Continental Divide are ice-cored, 6 west of the Divide are ice-cemented. The majority of lobate rock glaciers in the Colorado Front Range are on the south sides of valleys, and, except for talus, are the most voluminous form of mass wasting. All those active and above treeline have characteristics common to all rock glaciers. In addition, they originate from talus, contain interstitial ice, move outward from valley walls at 1–6 cm/yr, and transport more debris as a process of erosion than heretofore realized. Block fields and block slopes, in polar and alpine regions, are thin accumulations of angular to subrounded blocks, on bedrock, weathered rock, or transported debris. They extend along slopes parallel to the contour. Block streams are similar but extend downslope normal to the contour and into valleys. They are made of interlocked blocks without interstitial detritus, but many have finer material deeper inside. The fabric of surface blocks indicates that motion most likely occurred during a periglacial time when interstitial debris, now washed or piped out, permitted movement of the whole deposit.     

大兴安岭南段赛罕乌拉石海剖面分析及其与蒙山拦马墙石河结构对比

石海（石河/冰石河）作为冰缘地貌的重要标志之一,在国内地学界尚未引起足够的重视,以至于缺少介绍石海结构特征的中文文献,更未建立判别标准,在地貌认知阶段就发生很多误判。为了揭示石海的剖面结构特征,笔者等对位于大兴安岭南段的赛罕乌拉国家级自然保护区乌兰坝石海首次进行了开挖解剖,从而归纳了原生石海的基本结构特征：岩块棱角鲜明,呈镂空状堆积,岩块直径总体上上大下小。根据野外调查确认,赛罕乌拉海拔1800 m以上的区域至少还存在着局部现代石海,也就是说,还残存着不连续冻土带,而且保持年平均气温0℃左右的气候环境。根据赛罕乌拉现今气候记录和石海分布,笔者等估算了全新世初期赛罕乌拉石海开始发育时的地表温度在0~-4℃,而今天年平均气温已经升高到2℃,升温幅度2~6℃。根据赛罕乌拉石海剖面结构特征,笔者等对山东蒙山石河进行了结构对比,认为二者剖面结构基本一致,排除了前人近年来争议明显的冰川侧碛堤和泥石流成因说。结构对比揭示山东蒙山境内全新世早期至少局部存在过冰缘气候环境,而这也为山东境内更新世冰川地貌研究提供了重要的信息。此外,本研究也为中国冰缘地貌解剖和资源调查提供了一个可以参考的研究实例。     

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.     

Periglacial disruption and subsequent glacitectonic deformation of bedrock: an example from Anglesey,North Wales,UK

The deformed metasedimentary bedrock and overlying diamictons in western Anglesey, NW Wales, record evidence of glacier-permafrost interactions during the Late Devensian (Weichselian). The locally highly brecciated New Harbour Group bedrock is directly overlain by a bedrock-rich diamicton which preserves evidence of having undergone both periglacial (brecciation, hydrofracturing) and glacitectonic deformation (thrusting, folding), and is therefore interpreted as periglacial head deposit. The diamicton locally posses a well-developed clast macrofabric which preserves the orientation of the pre-existing tectonic structures within underlying metasedimentary rocks. Both the diamicton and New Harbour Group were variably reworked during the deposition of the later Irish Sea diamicton, resulting in the detachment of bedrock rafts and formation of a pervasively deformed glacitectonite. These structural and stratigraphic relationships are used to demonstrate that a potentially extensive layer of permafrost developed across the island before it was overridden by the Irish Sea Ice Stream. These findings have important implications for the glacial history of Anglesey, indicating that the island remained relatively ice-free prior to its inundation by ice flowing southwards down the Irish Sea Basin. Palynological data obtained from the diamictons across Anglesey clearly demonstrates that they have an Irish Sea provenance. Importantly no Lower Palaeozoic palynomorphs were identified, indicating that it is unlikely that Anglesey was overridden by ice emanating from the Snowdon ice cap developed on the adjacent Welsh mainland. Permafrost was once again re-established across Anglesey after the Irish Sea Ice Stream had retreated, resulting in the formation of involutions which deform both the lower bedrock-rich and overlying Irish Sea diamictons.     

A methodology to reconstruct small and short-lived ice-dammed lakes in the Appalachians of Southern Québec

Previous studies on the deglaciation of the Appalachians of southern Québec reconstructed only the most extensive ice-dammed lakes and the most stable glaciolacustrine water levels. They only used the best developed shoreline features, and thus were not able to reconstruct small or short-lived ice-dammed lakes, both being characterized by a weak development of their features. We propose a methodology to reconstruct glacial lakes which follows three main steps: (1) the mapping of shoreline features, generally the best developed ones, as in previous studies; (2) the delineation of the former shoreline for each water level, by also considering the less well-developed shoreline features which were found during field surveys designed as a function of the presumed shoreline position; and (3) the mapping of the maximum extension of the water plane, which includes the location of the former ice dam and of the former glacial lake spillway. In southern Québec, small ice-dammed lakes were numerous and important because they shaped the geomorphology of the region during the deglaciation. They are thus among the key components of a deglaciation model for this area.     

Strandflat development and Quaternary shorelines on Tiree and Coll,Scottish Hebrides

The islands of Tiree and Coll in the Scottish Inner Hebrides are dominated by staircases of glaciated rock-platform surfaces in Lewisian gneiss that are interpreted here as areas of strandflat. The rock platform surfaces exhibit differential glacio-isostatic uplift from east to west and are considered to indicate at least four separate periods of strandflat formation during prolonged intervals of Quaternary cold climate. It is suggested that many of the well-known areas of high rock platform located farther east in the Scottish Inner Hebrides represent eroded remnants of the strandflat surfaces described here. The existence of the Tiree and Coll strandflat surfaces in conjunction with their formation during periods of Quaternary glaciation implies that they were produced during periods when mainland Scotland was ice-covered yet when the western margin of the ice sheet was normally located east of these islands. A prominent Late-glacial raised shoreline also occurs on both islands and declines in altitude to the west, from 22 m in northeastern Coll to 9 m in western Tiree. It is believed that this shoreline, whose regional gradient is 0.39 m km^?1, may represent part of the Main Wester Ross Shoreline that was formed in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland during a period of glacial advance that interrupted the decay of the last (Late Devensian) ice sheet. The general similarity in altitude between the Late-glacial shoreline features and rock platform surfaces implies that during each period of Quaternary strandflat formation, relative sea-level returned to the same approximate position. This would appear to indicate that the glacio-isostatic and glacio-eustatic components affecting the positions of relative sea level in Scotland have remained in approximate equilibrium throughout the duration of the Quaternary.     

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.     

青藏高原发现大型冻胀丘群

在青藏高原黄河源地区多格茸盆地内发现大型冻胀丘群,这些冻胀丘外观多呈穹窿状,有些呈脊状、新月状.盆地内的冻胀丘隆起高度多在3~6 m,最高不超过10 m,水平扩展范围数十米到上百米,最大超过300 m.冻胀丘在盆地内密集分布,众多小型湖塘嵌于其中,分布密度估计5~8个·km^-2,局部区域内可达10个·km^-2以上.从外观看,多数冻胀丘形态较完整,但有的已经部分塌陷,有的几乎完全塌陷,不同塌陷阶段的冻胀丘在盆地内均有发现.冻胀丘顶部钻孔岩芯揭示高含冰地层从丘顶以下5 m左右一直延续到20多米,局部发育厚层地下纯冰层,厚度可达2 m以上.根据外观形态、地下冰类型判断,这些多年生的冻胀丘属冰土丘(lithalsa),和常见的冰核丘(pingo)有所区别.初步判断,这些冻胀丘形成于全新世大暖期以后的新冰期时期.多格茸盆地冻胀丘群的发现对现行的工程建设及工程建筑物的运营安全、区域古环境、流域水文等方面的研究都具有重要意义.     

Sedimentology and origin of deposits from a small ice-dammed lake, Leirbreen, Norway

This paper describes recent proglacial lacustrine sediments exposed by the drainage of a small (probably never more than 0·03 km²) ice-dammed lake basin at Leirbreen, central Jotunheimen, Norway. The dominant facies include ripple-laminated, massive and horizontally-stratified sands, massive and horizontally-laminated silts, and irregularly-laminated fine sands and silts. The major control on lake circulation and the nature and distribution of these facies was an underflow driven by a subglacial meltwater stream which formed the major lake input. Although much of the sedimentary sequence indicates a pulsatory input, the proximal character of this small lake prevented the development of classic varved silts. Compressional deformation of shoreline sediments was due to winter lake ice push. Other deformational processes included the grounding of icebergs, water escape and syn-sedimentary downslope collapse. Observations from an adjacent small ice-marginal lake at Leirbreen provide support for several of the inferences drawn from the sediments of the former ice-dammed lake.     

Proglacial damlakes in eastern Transbaikalia: New insight into the Pleistocene paleogeography

Paleogeographic reconstructions for the Samarovo, Taz, Murukta, and Sartan glaciations reveal the formation conditions of proglacial lakes dammed by ice in intermontane depressions and valleys of large rivers in eastern Transbaikalia. Middle-Late Pleistocene climate change is reconstructed using spore-pollen spectra from Pleistocene sediments in northern Transbaikalia. The age and lifetime of proglacial lakes are constrained by radiocarbon, thermoluminescence, and varve chronology of their bottom sediments in the periglacial zone. The lake levels remain recorded in sediments produced by deposition and erosion along the former lake shores, as well as in morphology and lithology variations of terminal moraines. A large proglacial lake, with a maximum level of 1020 m, occupied vast areas in Transbaikalia and its surroundings during the Samarovo glaciation. After the glaciers degraded, the Amur River system expanded into the area of closed lake basins in the southeastern Baikal region, including North China and Mongolia. The obtained results have implications for the Middle-Late Pleistocene history of lake deposition.     

The Late Devensian periglaciation of upland Scotland

A wide variety of Late Devensian periglacial landforms developed on Scottish mountains both before ca. 13,000 BP and during the Loch Lomond Stadial of ca. 11,000-10,000 BP. Nearly all such features are now inactive. Late Devensian periglacial weathering produced three types of regolith mantle (openwork block deposits, sandy diamicts and silt-rich frost-susceptible diamicts), each of which supports a characteristic assemblage of relict landforms. On upper slopes these include large-scale sorted circles and stripes, earth hummocks and nonsorted relief stripes, sorted and nonsorted solifluction features, massive boulder sheets and lobes, and nivation benches. Talus, protalus ramparts, rock glaciers and alluvial fans also developed at the base of mountain slopes.The distribution of Late Devensian periglacial features on Scottish mountains is locally controlled by topography, the response of underlying rocks to periglacial weathering and the limits of former glaciers. Regional variations in the altitude of certain forms of Loch Lomond Stadial age (particularly protalus ramparts and rock glaciers) indicate a decrease in former snowfall eastwards across the Scottish Highlands and northwards from the Highland Boundary Fault. Several upland periglacial features are also diagnostic of former permafrost, and complement palaeotemperature reconstructions based on ice-wedge casts and the equilibrium firn line altitudes of stadial glaciers. These suggest that under stadial conditions mean January temperatures at 600 m and 1000 m on mountains in the Western Grampians must have been no higher than −20°C and −23°C respectively, and possibly several degrees lower.