The structure, isostasy and gravity field of the Levant continental margin and the southeast Mediterranean area

A 3-D layered structure of the Levant and the southeastern Mediterranean lithospheric plates was constructed using interpretations of seismic measurements and borehole data. Structural maps of three principal interfaces, elevation, top basement and the Moho, were constructed for the area studied. This area includes the African, Sinai and Arabian plates, the Herodotus and the Levant marine basins and the Nile sedimentary cone. In addition, an isopach map of the Pliocene sediments, as well as the contemporaneous amount of denuded rock units, was prepared to enable setting up the structural map of the base Pliocene sediment. Variable density distributions are suggested for the sedimentary succession in accord with its composition and compaction. The spatial density distribution in the crystalline crust was calculated by weighting the thicknesses of the lower mafic and the upper felsic crustal layers, with densities of 2.9 g/cm³ and 2.77 g/cm³, respectively. Results of the local (Airy) isostatic modeling with compensation on the Moho interface show significant deviations from the local isostasy and require variable density distribution in the upper mantle. Moving the compensation level to the base of the lithosphere ( 100 km depth) and adopting density variations in the mantle lithosphere yielded isostatic compensation (± 200 m) over most of the area studied. The spatial pattern obtained of a density distribution with a range of ± 0.05 g/cm³ is supported by a regional heat flux. Simulations of the flexure (Vening Meinesz) isostasy related to the Pliocene to Recent sedimentary loading and unloading revealed concentric oscillatory negative and positive anomalies mostly related to the Nile sedimentary cone. Such anomalies may explain the rapid subsidence in the Levant Basin and the arching in central Israel, northern Sinai and Egypt during Pliocene–Recent times. Comparison between the observed (Bouguer) gravity and the calculated gravity for the constructed 3-D lithospheric structure, which has variable density distributions, provided a good match and an independent constraint for the large-scale structure suggested and confirmed an oceanic nature for the Levant Basin lithosphere.     

大别造山带北缘中生代冲积体系对源区构造的沉积响应

大别山北缘中生界的沉积学研究表明,三尖铺组向上变细的巨旋回记录了从河川径流到碎屑流、超浓缩洪流到远端河道以及越岸沉积,显示源区在早侏罗世（205－180Ma)之前快速抬升之后经历了相对平静阶段。凤凰台组向上变粗的扇砾岩巨层序记录了碎屑流－超浓缩洪流沉积,反映了在侏罗纪末（135Ma)到早白垩世源区剧烈的持续上升和剥蚀,导致向盆地远端砾岩的进积作用。早白垩世晚期,黑石渡组巨旋回下部的碎屑流沉积是近源堆积,上部发育湖相浊积岩,反映源区的构造演变为转换拉张。晚白垩世、盆地边缘与源区一道抬升,遭受剥蚀。     

P–T paths in the Handöl area, central Scandinavia: record of Caledonian accretion of outboard rocks to the Baltoscandian margin

The Seve–Köli Nappe Complex is widespread in the Scandinavian Caledonides and is composed of units representing parts of the Baltoscandian margin (Seve Nappes) now overlain by magmatic–sedimentary rocks (Köli Nappes) derived from west of this margin. The metamorphic evolution of Köli and Seve units has been studied in the Handöl area, central Scandinavian Caledonides, where a fragmented ophiolite with cover sequence in the lower Köli units is thrust over the higher grade Seve units. Thermobarometry constrains metamorphic conditions to 490–570° C/950–600 MPa, with a slight downwards increase in grade, for the lower Köli (Bunnerviken lens), 520–620° C/1000–600 MPa for the upper Seve (Täljstensvalen Complex), 630–740° C/750–650 MPa for the middle Seve (Snasahögarna Nappe) and 480–600° C/1150–1000 MPa for the lower Seve (Blåhammarfjället Nappe).
P–T paths during garnet growth have been constructed for all units, except the highest grade middle Seve. These paths record heating at the base of the Köli and cooling in the underlying Seve units. Pressure increase during garnet growth is indicated for all units leading to anticlockwise P–T paths in the Seve. The results imply thermal convergence with time for all units and spatial convergence in metamorphic grade in the Köli. It is suggested that the contrasting metamorphic histories on either side of the Seve–Köli boundary resulted from the emplacement of relatively colder Köli rocks on top of relatively hotter Seve rocks and that emplacement of structurally higher units contributed to the increase in pressure.     

Superpositional tectonic patterns along the continental margin of the southeastern Mediterranean: a review

Resurgent tectonic phases superimposed their structural imprints on the continental margin of the southeastern Mediterranean. This margin underwent a complete cycle, from a margin of a marine basin in the Paleozoic, to the margin of the incipient Neo-Tethys ocean in the early Jurassic, through the margin of the mature ocean in the late Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Paleogene. It became the margin of a desiccated marine basin in the late Miocene, and finally became the margin of a rejuvenated marine basin after the Pliocene.

The margin was affected by folding, faulting and intermittent volcanism during the early Liassic, early Neocomian, late Cretaceous, Oligocene and early Miocene. The younger tectonic phases were superimposed on the older ones, reactivating them in some places and masking them in others. The geological characteristics and this complex tectonic history are masked effectively by the thick Messinian evaporitic sequence. This smoothing effect was further enhanced by the huge pile of sediments that has been deposited by the River Nile since the early Pliocene.     

E–W opening of the Algerian Basin (Western Mediterranean)

We present geophysical and geological evidence of fast (2 cm yr^?1 in the east and 5 cm yr^?1 in the west) E–W spreading between 16 and 8 Ma in the region behind the Gibraltar Arc in the Algerian Basin.     

Vegetation response to obliquity and precession forcing during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition in Western Mediterranean region (ODP site 976)

The ODP leg 161 Site 976 (Alboran Sea) is a deep-sea section sampled at a water depth of 1108 m in the Western Mediterranean Sea. Pollen analysis provides a vegetation and climate record of the Mid Pleistocene Transition (MPT), roughly one million years ago. The age-model tied to biostratigraphic events was revised by aligning the pollen climate index (PCI) to Mediterranean (KC01b) and global (LR04) oxygen isotope records. The studied time slice spans the interval ～1.09 Ma (MIS 31) to ～0.90 Ma (MIS 23).Across this interval, past phytogeography of nowadays extinct taxa, which were rare, allows a successful application of the modern analogues technique (MAT) to quantitative climate reconstructions for the MPT. Five, long-term, obliquity-related vegetation successions (O1 to O5), and eight short-term, precession-related vegetation successions (P1 to P8) are observed within the studied interval. These vegetation successions, regardless of their duration, show the same pattern: the progressive replacement of temperate trees by mountainous taxa, and then by herbs and steppe maxima. Precession-related successions correspond, therefore, to as dramatic vegetation changes as those driven by obliquity, including a final steppe phase under deteriorated climate conditions.Wavelet analysis of the PCI record shows that the Western Mediterranean experienced a shift at 1.01 Ma from precession-dominated frequencies (1.05–1.01 Ma) to obliquity-dominated frequencies (1.01–0.9 Ma). There is, therefore, an apparent discrepancy between wavelet analysis results and vegetation dynamic analysis (which suggests that obliquity and precession are recorded throughout the entire studied interval). This discrepancy could result from the fact that the PCI record sums, somehow, similar vegetation changes (wet to dry) occurring at different periodicities. Such a complex vegetation dynamics is mathematically rendered through a single parameter (i.e. principal component), which does not successfully catch the subtle combinations of variability occurring at two close periodicities. Furthermore, the pollen-inferred Early Pleistocene vegetation dynamic (and climate) of the Western Mediterranean region does not show a decrease of the obliquity response relative to the precession response at the onset of the MPT.     

Geological structure of Cenozoic sedimentary basin in the Northwestern margin of the Barents Sea shelf

There are two stages in Cenozoic development of the West Barents continental margin: rifting and passive margins. The main thickness of the Pliocene-Eocene complex is typical of the Serverstsnaget Basin, Vestbakken Volcanic Province, and Hornsund fault zone formed under conditions of strike-slip tectonics (“pull-apart” conditions). However, the thickness of the Oligocene-Pliocene sediments reaches its maximum on the eastern slope of the North Atlantic ocean basin. Paleogene and Neogene sediments consist mostly of claystones and siltstones but there are also sandy intervals formed because of gravity flows. The sandy layers can form lithological hydrocarbon traps.     

吕宋岛弧西缘浅成低温热液成矿作用——以拉拉布金矿床为例

拉拉布脉状金矿床是西必塔矿集区最典型的矿床,而西必塔矿集区脉状浅成低温热液型金矿是近年来发现的最具经济潜力的金矿床之一.金矿赋存于中新世-更新世马林丹群火山岩中,该火山岩呈零星岛状散布于斯丹岗-哥塔巴托-大姑玛线性构造活动带(SCDL)的东部,并受到安山玢岩侵入.该火山岩可分为上、下段两段.下段由安山质熔岩、英安岩、凝灰岩组成,上段为火山角砾岩和凝灰质角砾岩.拉拉布矿床的安山岩具有明显的热液蚀变,属于冰长石-绢云母型金矿化.金是在pH值近中性的浅表环境中由于热液沸腾并伴随流体的混合沉淀而成,通常富集于标高30~200 m之间.金的富集有4个阶段(1)形成角砾岩之前的围岩蚀变作用;(2)热液角砾岩的形成;(3)形成角砾岩后的围岩蚀变作用;(4)金矿形成.     

A proposed continental margin in the precambrian of Western Kenya

From west to east across the Precambrian of western Kenya a change of tectonic units from Archaean foreland, through reworked Archaean to metasediments and then ophiolitic rocks, of the Pan-African Mozambique belt, is recognised. Although highly deformed and metamorphosed a coincident change from continent to continental margin, to shelf and then deep sea conditions, is also recognised in the associated sedimentary rocks.     

7000 years of paleostorm activity in the NW Mediterranean Sea in response to Holocene climate events

A high-resolution record of paleostorm events along the French Mediterranean coast over the past 7000 years was established from a lagoonal sediment core in the Gulf of Lions. Integrating grain size, faunal analysis, clay mineralogy and geochemistry data with a chronology derived from radiocarbon dating, we recorded seven periods of increased storm activity at 6300–6100, 5650–5400, 4400–4050, 3650–3200, 2800–2600, 1950–1400 and 400–50 cal yr BP (in the Little Ice Age). In contrast, our results show that the Medieval Climate Anomaly (1150–650 cal yr BP) was characterised by low storm activity.The evidence for high storm activity in the NW Mediterranean Sea is in agreement with the changes in coastal hydrodynamics observed over the Eastern North Atlantic and seems to correspond to Holocene cooling in the North Atlantic. Periods of low SSTs there may have led to a stronger meridional temperature gradient and a southward migration of the westerlies. We hypothesise that the increase in storm activity during Holocene cold events over the North Atlantic and Mediterranean regions was probably due to an increase in the thermal gradient that led to an enhanced lower tropospheric baroclinicity over a large Central Atlantic–European domain.     

西秦岭北缘漳县新生代伸展断陷盆地确定及其地质意义

西秦岭北缘断裂带新生代以来挤压逆冲变形起始于何时?挤压逆冲变形之前是否经历过伸展拉张过程?北缘断裂带北侧的新生代红层盆地到底是类前陆压陷挠曲盆地还是拉张断陷盆地?上述问题对西秦岭新生代盆-山构造格局重建和印度-欧亚板块碰撞汇聚的远程构造响应的时间与方式等科学问题的认识具有重要的地质约束。本文通过对西秦岭北缘构造带内漳县渐新世—中新世含盐红层盆地沉积序列和沉积旋回特征以及盆地边界断裂之间的几何学-运动学关系分析,认为西秦岭北缘构造带内漳县含盐红层盆地具有拉张伸展动力学背景下形成的断陷盆地的地质特征。西秦岭北缘构造带内渐新世—中新世断陷盆地的确定,指示了印度板块与欧亚板块碰撞汇聚而导致的青藏高原构造挤压缩短作用至少在盆地沉积充填阶段尚未扩展到西秦岭北缘及以北地区。而漳县含盐红层盆地沉积地层褶皱缩短变形以及之后角度不整合在漳县含盐红层盆地之的上新统韩家沟粗砾岩,可能记录了西秦岭北缘由伸展边界向挤压缩短逆冲边界的转换过程。因此,青藏高原东北缘真正成为青藏高原体系组成部分是在上新世的漳县含盐红层盆地封闭-构造反转之后。这一认识对地学界长期以来认为印度板块与欧亚板块碰撞汇聚而导致的高原隆升和构造挤压早在渐新世就已经波及西秦岭北缘的观点提出了挑战。     

The deglaciation of the western sector of the Irish Ice Sheet from the inner continental shelf to its terrestrial margin

This paper provides a new deglacial chronology for retreat of the Irish Ice Sheet from the continental shelf of western Ireland to the adjoining coastline, a region where the timing and drivers of ice recession have never been fully constrained. Previous work suggests maximum ice-sheet extent on the outer western continental shelf occurred at ~26–24 cal. ka BP with the initial retreat of the ice marked by the production of grounding-zone wedges between 23–21.1 cal. ka BP. However, the timing and rate of ice-sheet retreat from the inner continental shelf to the present coast are largely unknown. This paper reports 31 new terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide (TCN) ages from erratics and ice-moulded bedrock and three new optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages on deglacial outwash. The TCN data constrain deglaciation of the near coast (Aran Islands) to ~19.5–18.5 ka. This infers ice retreated rapidly from the mid-shelf after 21 ka, but the combined effects of bathymetric shallowing and pinning acted to stabilize the ice at the Aran Islands. However, marginal stability was short-lived, with multiple coastal sites along the Connemara/Galway coasts demonstrating ice recession under terrestrial conditions by 18.2–17. ka. This pattern of retreat continued as ice retreated eastward through inner Galway Bay by 16.5 ka. South of Galway, the Kilkee–Kilrush Moraine Complex and Scattery Island moraines point to late stage re-advances of the ice sheet into southern County Clare ~14.1–13.3 ka, but the large errors associated with the OSL ages make correlation with other regional re-advances difficult. It seems more likely that these moraines are the product of regional ice lobes adjusting to internal ice-sheet dynamics during deglaciation in the time window 17–16 ka.     

Defining the shelf edge and the three‐dimensional shelf edge to slope facies variability in shelf‐edge deltas

Shelf‐edge deltas play a critical role in shelf‐margin accretion and deepwater sediment delivery, yet much remains to be understood about the detailed linkage between shelf edge and slope sedimentation. The shelf edge separates the flat‐lying shelf from steeper slope regions, and is observable in seismic data and continuous outcrops; however, it is commonly obscured in non‐continuous outcrops. Defining this zone is essential because it segregates areas dominated by shelf currents from those governed by gravity‐driven processes. Understanding this linkage is paramount for predicting and characterizing associated deepwater reservoirs. In the Tanqua Karoo Basin, the Permian Kookfontein Formation shelf‐slope clinothems are well‐exposed for 21 km along depositional strike and dip. Two independent methods identified the shelf‐edge position, indicating that it is defined by: (i) a transition from predominantly shelf‐current to gravitational deposits; (ii) an increase in soft‐sediment deformation; (iii) a significant gradient increase; and (iv) clinothem thickening. A quantitative approach was used to assess the impact of process‐regime variability along the shelf edge on downslope sedimentation. Facies proportions were quantified from sedimentary logs and photographic panels, and integrated with mapped key surfaces to construct a stratigraphic grid. Spatial variability in facies proportions highlights two types of shelf‐edge depositional zones within the same shelf‐edge delta. Where deposition occurred in fluvial‐dominated zones, the slope is sand rich, channelized with channels widening downslope, and rich in collapse features. Where deltaic deposits indicate considerable tidal reworking, the deposits are thin and pinch‐out close to the shelf edge, and the slope is sand poor and lacks channelization. Amplification of tidal energy, and decrease in fluvial drive on the shelf, coincides with a decrease in mouth bar and shelf‐edge collapse, and a lack of channelization on the slope. This analysis suggests that process‐regime variability along the shelf edge exercised significant control on shelf‐edge progradation, slope channelization and deepwater sediment delivery.     

Late Pleistocene and Holocene cool‐water carbonates of the Western Mediterranean Sea

Post‐glacial, neritic cool‐water carbonates of the Western Mediterranean Sea were examined by means of hydroacoustic data, sediment surface sampling and vibrocoring to unravel geometries and to reconstruct sedimentary evolution in response to the last sea‐level rise. The analysed areas, located on the Alboran Ridge, in the Bay of Oran, and at the southern shelf of the island of Mallorca, are microtidal and bathed by oligotrophic to weakly mesotrophic waters. Seasonal water temperature varies between 13 °C and 27 °C. Echosounder profiles show that the Bay of Oran and the southern shelf of Mallorca are distally steepened ramps, while the Alboran Ridge forms a steep‐flanked rugged plateau around the Alboran Island. In the three areas, an up to 10 m thick post‐glacial sediment cover overlies an unconformity. In Oran and Mallorca, stacked lowstand wedges occur in water depths of 120 to 130 m. On the Alboran Ridge and in the Bay of Oran, highstand wedges occur at 35 to 40 m. Up to 5 m long cores of upper Pleistocene to Holocene successions were recovered in water depths between 40 and 81 m. Deposits contain more than 80% carbonate, with mixed carbonate‐volcaniclastics in the lower part of some cores in Alboran. The carbonates consist of up to 53% of aragonite and up to 83% of high magnesium calcite. Radiocarbon dating of bivalve shells, coralline algae and serpulid tubes indicates that deposits are as old as 12 400 cal yr bp . The carbonate factories in the three areas are dominated mostly by red algae, but some intervals in the cores are richer in bivalves. A facies rich in the gastropod Turritella, reflecting elevated surface productivity, is restricted to the Mallorca Shelf. Rhodoliths occur at the sediment surface in most areas at water depths shallower than 70 m; they form a 10 to 20 cm thick veneer overlying rhodolith‐poor bioclastic sediments which, nonetheless, contain abundant red algal debris. This rhodolith layer has been developing for the past 800 to 1000 years. Similar layers at different positions in the cores are interpreted as reflecting in situ growth of rhodoliths at times of reduced net sedimentation. Sedimentary successions in the cores record the post‐glacial sea‐level rise and the degree of sediment exposure to bottom currents. Deepening‐upward trends in the successions are either reflected by shallow to deep facies transitions or by a corresponding change of depth‐indicative red algae. There are only weak downcore variations of carbonate mineralogy, which indicate that no dissolution or high magnesium to low magnesium calcite neomorphism occurs in the shallow subsurface. These new data support the approach of using the Recent facies distribution for interpretation of past cool‐water, low‐energy, microtidal carbonate depositional systems. Hydroacoustic data show that previous Pleistocene transgressive and highstand inner ramp deposits and wedges were removed during sea‐level lowstands and accumulated downslope as stacked lowstand wedges; this suggests that, under conditions of high‐amplitude sea‐level fluctuations, the stratigraphic record of similar cool‐water carbonates may be biased.     

青藏高原东北缘龙首山晚新生代多阶段构造隆升的盆地记录

龙首山地区位于青藏高原与阿拉善地块的结合部位,其盆山演化过程和断裂带扩展模式的恢复对揭示青藏高原新生代北东向生长具有重要意义。本文基于龙首山南北两麓3个新近系沉积剖面的构造特征和5个砂岩样品的碎屑锆石U-Pb同位素LA-ICP-MS年龄结果,重建了青藏高原东北缘龙首山地区晚新生代的盆山演化过程。研究结果显示,龙首山地区晚新生代沉积-构造演化经历了3个主要阶段：（1）~14Ma,龙首山南缘断裂带活化,阿拉善地块南缘沿此断裂逆冲于张掖盆地之上,张掖盆地开始接收阿拉善地块的物源;（2）~5Ma,龙首山南缘断裂带的次级断裂开始发育,使龙首山南侧山麓白垩系开始剥露并为张掖盆地提供物源,同时,龙首山北缘断裂带活化并导致潮水盆地发生挠曲沉降,接收龙首山的物源;（3）5~2.5Ma,龙首山北缘断裂带的次级断裂开始发育,导致龙首山北麓白垩系开始剥露并为潮水盆地提供物源。通过对龙首山周缘盆地沉积相和物源开展分析,本研究反演了龙首山地区中新世以来的断裂带活动和山体隆升过程,表明在14~2.5Ma,随着龙首山南缘断裂、北缘断裂的活化和次级断裂的发育,龙首山经历了3次强烈的隆升,这对揭示青藏高原北东向的扩展过程具有重要的指示意义。

     

The innovation of greenhouse crops in the Mediterranean area: The Turkish case

The cultivation of early vegetables has altered the agrarian regions of the Mediterranean coast. Even if this restructuring process has already been completed in many countries, it can still be observed in Turkey. The development on the S coast of Turkey, where in 1985 a total of 113 villages with winter vegetable cultivation were studied, serves as an example. Hot-house cultivation was introduced here in glass greenhouses near Antalya around 1940 and spread only slowly along the S coast. An accelerated increase in the land used for early season vegetables was triggered off by the technical innovation of under-plastic cultivation (plastic greenhouses, plastic tunnels) around 1965. The partial innovations glass greenhouse — plastic greenhouse — plastic tunnel were, because of their different capital intensity, adopted by different agrarian social groups. Today glass greenhouse-, plastic greenhouse-and plastic tunnel-regions have formed which have recently undergone a considerable degree of intermingling. The diffusion process of early vegetables in total, like that of the partial innovations, did not happen continuously, rather the changes were carried erratically over wide distances; the process of intermingling also showed such a form of spreading. A sociopsychological motive can be offered as a basis for this type of spreading, for which the term spasmodic diffusion is suggested: the comparatively high degree of isolation of the Turkish village communities from the outside world and their strong orientation inwards lead inevitably to isolation of innovations. Derived from this is the thesis that other spontaneous innovations in similarly structured agrarian regions also always spread erratically (spasmodic).     

Differential exhumation in response to episodic thrusting along the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau

Thermochronological data from the Songpan-Ganze˛Fold Belt and Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt, on the eastern margin of the Tibetan Plateau in central China, reveal several phases of differential cooling across major listric thrust faults since Early Cretaceous times. Differential cooling, indicated by distinct breaks in age data across discrete compressional structures, was superimposed upon a regional cooling pattern following the Late Triassic Indosinian Orogeny. ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar data from muscovite from the central and southern Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt suggest a phase of differential cooling across the Wenchuan-Maouwen Shear Zone during the Early Cretaceous. The zircon fission track data also indicate differential cooling across a zone of brittle re-activation on the eastern margin of the Wenchuan-Maouwen Shear Zone during the mid-Tertiary, between 38 and 10 Ma. Apatite fission track data from the central and southern Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt reveal differential cooling across the Yingxiu-Beichuan and Erwangmiao faults during the Miocene. Forward modelling of apatite fission track data from the northern Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt suggests relatively slow regional cooling through the Mesozoic and early Tertiary, followed by accelerated cooling during the Miocene, beginning at ca. 20 Ma, to present day.

Regional cooling is attributed to erosion during exhumation of the evolving Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt (LMTNB) following the Indosinian Orogeny. Differential cooling across the Wenchuan-Maouwen Shear Zone and the Yingxiu-Beichuan and Erwangmiao faults is attributed to exhumation of the hanging walls of active listric thrust faults. Thermochronological data from the Longmen Mountains Thrust-Nappe Belt reveal a greater amount of differential exhumation across thrust faults from north to south. This observation is in accord with the prevalence of Proterozoic and Sinian basement in the hanging walls of thrust faults in the central and southern Longmen Mountains. The two most recent phases of reactivation occurred following the initial collision of India with Eurasia, suggesting that lateral extrusion of crustal material in response to this collision was focused along discrete structures in the LMTNB.     

Ice‐margin and meltwater dynamics during the mid‐Holocene in the Kangerlussuaq area of west Greenland

Land‐terminating parts of the west Greenland ice sheet have exhibited highly dynamic meltwater regimes over the last few decades including episodes of extremely intense runoff driven by ice surface ablation, ponding of meltwater in an increasing number and size of lakes, and sudden outburst floods, or ‘jökulhlaups’, from these lakes. However, whether this meltwater runoff regime is unusual in a Holocene context has not been questioned. This study assembled high‐resolution topographical data, geological and landcover data, and produced a glacial geomorphological map covering ~1200 km². Digital analysis of the landforms reveals a mid‐Holocene land‐terminating ice margin that was predominantly cold‐based. This ice margin underwent sustained active retreat but with multiple minor advances. Over c. 1000 years meltwater runoff became impounded within numerous and extensive proglacial lakes and there were temporary connections between some of these lakes via spillways. The ice‐dams of some of these lakes had several quasi‐stable thicknesses. Meltwater was apparently predominantly from supraglacial sources although some distributary palaeochannel networks and some larger bedrock palaeochannels most likely relate to mid‐Holocene subglacial hydrology. In comparison to the geomorphological record at other Northern Hemisphere ice‐sheet margins the depositional landforms in this study area are few in number and variety and small in scale, most likely due to a restricted sediment supply. They include perched fans and deltas and perched braidplain terraces. Overall, meltwater sourcing, routing and the proglacial runoff regime during the mid‐Holocene in this land‐terminating part of the ice sheet was spatiotemporally variable, but in a manner very similar to that of the present day.