Lichenometry in dating recent glacial landforms and deposits, southeast Iceland

Lichenometry curves were derived for the glacier forelands of Breidamerkurjokull and Skalafellsjökull using measurements of the collective species, Rhizocarpon geographicum , from independently dated surfaces deglaciated during the period since the late-19th century ice maximum episode in the area. The form of the curves appears to be linear. Several methods of predicting the ages of undated surfaces were compared for specific test examples, including single lichenometry curves, families of curves and multiple curves based on randomly selected largest lichens. The last method provided a useful means of assessing the reproducibility of predicted ages. Where substrate conditions were highly variable, a lichenometry curve based on single largest lichens provided a preferred result.     

The internal structure of glacial landforms: an example from the Halton till plain, Scarborough Bluffs, Ontario

Current views on the internal structure of many glacial landforms need further definition. For example, drumlinized Halton till plain near the Scarborough Bluffs, Ontario would traditionally be. viewed as a lodgement till sheet, but it was found to consist of complex sedimentary assemblages including sediment flows, melt-out, deformation and lodgement tills. These facies vary spatially depending on whether deposition occurred beneath grounded ice or within subglacial cavities. Proglacial sediments bury portions of the till plain. Surface Rutings and drumlins clearly indicate the action of subglacial processes on the surface of Halton drift. Sedimentary structures at the contact between stratified sediments and diamictons within the Late Wisconsinan Halton drift are similar to those in older beds exposed at Scarborough Bluffs. The demonstration of the role of grounded ice in Halton drift and the similarity of sedimentary structures to those of the underlying Thorncliffe and Sunnybrook sediments suggests that the action of grounded ice cannot be ruled out in the case of the lower beds, as has been done by Eyles & Eyles ( Geology 11 , 146–152, 1983). Thus, surface Halton drift may be a model for recognition of similar environments of deposition in older beds beneath Halton. This analysis indicates flaws in a recent re-evaluation of Scarborough Bluffs sediment interpreted as solely lacustrine and not directly affected by glaciers.     

Importance of sampling across an assemblage of glacial landforms for interpreting cosmogenic ages of deglaciation

Deglaciation chronologies for some sectors of former ice sheets are relatively poorly constrained because of the paucity of features or materials traditionally used to constrain the timing of deglaciation. In areas without good deglaciation varve chronologies and/or without widespread occurrence of material that indicates the start of earliest organic radiocarbon accumulations suitable for radiocarbon dating, typically only general patterns and chronologies of deglaciation have been deduced. However, mid-latitude ice sheets that had warm-based conditions close to their margins often produced distinctive deglaciation landform assemblages, including eskers, deltas, meltwater channels and aligned lineation systems. Because these features were formed or significantly altered during the last glaciation, boulder or bedrock samples from them have the potential to yield reliable deglaciation ages using terrestrial cosmogenic nuclides (TCN) for exposure age dating. Here we present the results of a methodological study designed to examine the consistency of TCN-based deglaciation ages from a range of deglaciation landforms at a site in northern Norway. The strong coherence between exposure ages across several landforms indicates great potential for using TCN techniques on features such as eskers, deltas and meltwater channels to enhance the temporal resolution of ice-sheet deglaciation chronologies over a range of spatial scales.     

Map and GIS database of glacial landforms and features related to the last British Ice Sheet

A review of the academic literature and British Geological Survey mapping is employed to produce a 'Glacial Map', and accompanying geographic information system (GIS) database, of features related to the last (Devensian) British Ice Sheet. The map (1:625 000) is included in a folder and GIS data are freely available by web download (http://www.shef.ac.uk/geography/staff/clark_chris/britice.html). Emphasis is on information that constrains the last ice sheet. The following are included: moraines, eskers, drumlins, meltwater channels, tunnel valleys, trimlines, limit of key glacigenic deposits, glaciolacustrine deposits, ice-dammed lakes, erratic dispersal patterns, shelf-edge fans and the Loch Lomond Readvance limit of the main ice cap. The GIS contains over 20 000 features split into thematic layers (as above). Individual features are attributed such that they can be traced back to their published sources. Given that the published sources of information that underpin this work were derived by piecemeal effort over 150 years, then our main caveat is of data consistency and reliability. It is hoped that this compilation will stimulate greater scrutiny of published data, assist in palaeoglaciological reconstructions and facilitate use of field evidence in numerical ice-sheet modelling. It may also help direct field workers in their future investigations.     

Retreat pattern of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet in central British Columbia at the end of the last glaciation reconstructed from glacial meltwater landforms

The Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS) covered much of the mountainous northwestern part of North America at least several times during the Pleistocene. The pattern and timing of its growth and decay are, however, poorly understood. Here, we present a reconstruction of the pattern of ice‐sheet retreat in central British Columbia at the end of the last glaciation based on a palaeoglaciological interpretation of ice‐marginal meltwater channels, eskers and deltas mapped from satellite imagery and digital elevation models. A consistent spatial pattern of high‐elevation (1600–2400 m a.s.l.), ice‐marginal meltwater channels is evident across central British Columbia. These landforms indicate the presence of ice domes over the Skeena Mountains and the central Coast Mountains early during deglaciation. Ice sourced in the Coast Mountains remained dominant over the southern and east‐central parts of the Interior Plateau during deglaciation. Our reconstruction shows a successive westward retreat of the ice margin from the western foot of the Rocky Mountains, accompanied by the formation and rapid evolution of a glacial lake in the upper Fraser River basin. The final stage of deglaciation is characterized by the frontal retreat of ice lobes through the valleys of the Skeena and Omineca Mountains and by the formation of large esker systems in the most prominent topographic lows of the Interior Plateau. We conclude that the CIS underwent a large‐scale reconfiguration early during deglaciation and was subsequently diminished by thinning and complex frontal retreat towards the Coast Mountains.     

An outline of physical geography including Pleistocene glacial landforms of Eastern Tibet (provinces Sichuan and Qinghai)

The relief of the expedition area in NW-Sichuan and SE-Qinghai can simply be separated into two main areas: the catchment area of the Yangtze with deeply incised rivers in narrow V-shaped valleys up to about 3,000 m and the plateau area with old peneplains in the Huang He catchment with meandering rivers up to more than 4,000 m. Precipitation and temperature decrease towards the NW. All zonal boundaries, eg the vegetation boundaries or the snowline, are ascending in elevation towards the interior of the plateau. The natural vegetation, especially the forests, are modified by anthropo-zoogenic influences. Within the zone of alpine meadows and the uppermost region of natural forest as well as in the Red Basin evidence of pasture and agriculture goes back by at least 2,000 years. During the last 20 years within the transition zone of the deeply incised valleys towards the plateau one third of the forests have been cut down.The main investigation area of Nianbaoyeze is built up by a granite-dome being about 500 to 800 m higher than the surrounding peneplains. The extent of Pleistocene glaciations can be mapped by the distribution of terminal and lateral moraines and erratic granite boulders on the slopes of the surrounding schists. The altitude of terminal moraines indicates a snowline of the last glaciation at about 4,300 m, which is about 800 m below the present snowline. Three main Pleistocene glaciations can be separated due to palaeosols, the overlying stratum being either aeolian sandy silt or solifluction debris. The ice free areas shows several Pleistocene terraces and in addition loess deposits with palaeosols in the deeper basins. In summary there is a rising of the snowline of the last glaciation at the E margin of the Tibetan Plateau from about 4,000 m in the E (Minshan) to 4,300 m at Nianbaoyeze and to about 4,700 m in the W (Bayan Har Shan). The hypothesis of an extensive plateau glaciation could not be verified for this region.     

Monitoring playa sedimentation using sequential radar images

A series of ERS-1 radar images of the Chott el Djerid playa in Tunisia obtained at intervals of 35 days demonstrates the ability to monitor geological change from space. The C-band radar backscatter is shown from field measurements to be sensitive to changes in surface roughness at millimetric scale due to evaporative growth of halite and gypsum crystals. Backscatter increases gradually during the dry summer months and decreases rapidly in early winter as the rains begin. Episodic hydrogeological and sedimentological events including lake development, channel flow and aeolian deposition can also be detected in addition to the seasonal pattern. Multitemporal, spaceborne radar offers the prospect of being able to map the dynamics of evaporite sedimentation in continental playas.     

Oceanic eddies in synthetic aperture radar images

Continuous observations since 1991 by using synthetic aperture radar (SAR) on board the Almaz1, ERS-1/2, JERS-1, and RADARSAT satellites support the well-known fact that oceanic eddies are distributed worldwide in the ocean. The paper is devoted to an evaluation of the potential of SAR for detection of eddies and vortical motions in the ocean. The classification of typical vortical features in the ocean detected in remote sensing images (visible, infrared, and SAR) is presented as well as available information on their spatial and temporal scales. Examples of the Almaz-1 and ERS-1/2 SAR images showing different eddy types, such as rings, spiral eddies of the open ocean, eddies behind islands and in bays, spin-off eddies and mushroom-like structures (vortex dipoles) are given and discussed. It is shown that a common feature for most of the eddies detected in the SAR images is a broad spectrum of spatial scales, spiral shape and shear nature. It is concluded that the spaceborne SARs give valuable information on ocean eddies, especially in combination with visible and infrared satellite data.     

High‐resolution bathymetric mapping reveals subaqueous glacial landforms in the Arctic alpine lake Tarfala,Sweden

In Arctic alpine regions, glacio‐lacustrine environments respond sensitively to variations in climate conditions, impacting, for example,glacier extent and rendering former ice‐contact lakes into ice distal lakes and vice versa. Lakefloors may hold morphological records of past glacier extent, but remoteness and long periods of ice cover on such lakes make acquisition of high‐resolution bathymetric datasets challenging. Lake Tarfala and Kebnepakte Glacier, located in the Kebnekaise mountains, northern Sweden, comprise a small, dynamic glacio‐lacustrine system holding a climate archive that is not well studied. Using an autonomous surface vessel, a high‐resolution bathymetric dataset for Lake Tarfala was acquired in 2016, from which previously undiscovered end moraines and a potential grounding line feature were identified. For Kebnepakte Glacier, structure‐from‐motion photogrammetry was used to reconstruct its shape from photographs taken in 1910 and 1945. Combining these methods connects the glacial landform record identified at the lakefloor with the centennial‐scale dynamic behaviour of Kebnepakte Glacier. During its maximum 20^th century extent, attained c. 1910, Kebnepakte Glacier reached far into Lake Tarfala, but had retreated onto land by 1945, at an average of 7.9 m year^–1. Copyright © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cosmogenic radionuclide dating of glacial landforms in the Lahul Himalaya,northern India: defining the timing of Late Quaternary glaciation

The timing of glaciation in the Lahul Himalaya of northern India was ascertained using the concentrations of cosmogenic ¹⁰Be and ²⁶Al from boulders on moraines and drumlins, and from glacially polished bedrock surfaces. Five glacial stages were identified: Sonapani I and II, Kulti, Batal and Chandra. Of these, cosmogenic exposure ages were obtained on samples representative of the Batal and Kulti glacial cycles. Stratigraphical relationships indicate that the Sonapani I and II are younger. No age was obtained for the Chandra glacial advance. Batal Glacial Stage deposits are found throughout the valley, indicating the presence of an extensive valley glacial system. During the Kulti Stage, glaciers advanced ca. 10 km beyond their current positions. Moraines produced during the Batal Stage, ca. 12–15.5 ka, are coeval with the Northern Hemisphere Late‐glacial Interstadial (Bølling/Allerød). Deglaciation of the Batal Glacial Stage was completed by ca. 12 ka and was followed by the Kulti Glacial Stage during the early Holocene, at ca. 10–11.4 ka. On millennial time‐scales, glacier oscillations in the Lahul Himalaya apparently reflect periods of positive mass‐balance coincident with times of increased insolation. During these periods the South Asian summer monsoon strengthened and/or extended its influence further north and west, thereby enhancing high‐altitude summer snowfall. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Mapping tropical forest vegetation from Landsat TM images based on fusion of knowledge and geo-data

Tropical forests play a crucial role in the function of our planet and in the maintenance of life. Tropical forest vegetation maps are very important for managing tropical forests. Mapping tropical forest vegetation only by spectral-based remote sensing techniques has proven to be problematic. The objective of the study is to develop a rule-based model to identify different forest types using Landsat TM images and GIS. In this paper, we developed the rule-based model to identify different forest types in Xishuangbanna, P.R. of China, using two temporal Landsat TM images and geo-data such as DEM, rainfall and temperature. The results show that the method put forward is useful and effective in tropical forest vegetation mapping, which can effectively integrate multi-knowledge and multi-resource data to identify the tropical forest vegetation types with higher accuracy.     

Status of glacial Lake Columbia during the last floods from glacial Lake Missoula

The last floods from glacial Lake Missoula, Montana, probably ran into glacial Lake Columbia, in northeastern Washington. In or near Lake Columbia's Sanpoil arm, Lake Missoula floods dating from late in the Fraser glaciation produced normally graded silt beds that become thinner upsection and which alternate with intervals of progressively fewer varves. The highest three interflood intervals each contain only one or two varves, and about 200–400 successive varves conformably overlie the highest flood bed. This sequence suggests that jökulhlaup frequency progressively increased until Lake Missoula ended, and that Lake Columbia outlasted Lake Missoula. The upper Grand Coulee, Lake Columbia's late Fraser-age outlet, contains a section of 13 graded beds, most of them sandy and separated by varves, that may correlate with the highest Missoula-flood beds of the Sanpoil River valley. The upper Grand Coulee also contains probable correlatives of many of the approximately 200–400 succeeding varves, as do nearby parts of the Columbia River valley. This collective evidence casts doubt on a prevailing hypothesis according to which one or more late Fraser-age floods from Lake Missoula descended the Columbia River valley with little or no interference from Lake Columbia's Okanogan-lobe dam.     

地质雷达特征图像与典型地质现象的对应关系

地质雷达是浅层地质勘探的有效方法,其对断层破碎带、裂隙带、富水带、岩溶洞穴等不良地质灾害有明显的异常反映。地质雷达测量方式、测线布置及系统参数的选择,可根据测量环境以及探测目标体的大致走向、规模、物性等情况综合分析,做出合理选择。通过用地质雷达对多个工区进行工程勘查,从地质雷达图像的波形、频率、振幅、相位及电磁波能量吸收情况(或自动增益梯度)等细节特征的变化规律出发,建立了典型地质现象与地质雷达特征图像的对应关系,可以作为地质雷达图像解释的重要判据。     

Outburst floods from glacial Lake Missoula

The Pleistocene outburst floods from glacial Lake Missoula, known as the “Spokane Floods”, released as much as 2184 km³ of water and produced the greatest known floods of the geologic past. A computer simulation model for these floods that is based on physical equations governing the enlargement by water flow of the tunnel penetrating the ice dam is described. The predicted maximum flood discharge lies in the range 2.74 × 10⁶−13.7 × 10⁶ m³ sec⁻¹, lending independent glaciological support to paleohydrologic estimates of maximum discharge.     

BRITICE Glacial Map,version 2: a map and GIS database of glacial landforms of the last British–Irish Ice Sheet

During the last glaciation, most of the British Isles and the surrounding continental shelf were covered by the British–Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). An earlier compilation from the existing literature (BRITICE version 1) assembled the relevant glacial geomorphological evidence into a freely available GIS geodatabase and map (Clark et al. 2004: Boreas 33, 359). New high‐resolution digital elevation models, of the land and seabed, have become available casting the glacial landform record of the British Isles in a new light and highlighting the shortcomings of the V.1 BRITICE compilation. Here we present a wholesale revision of the evidence, onshore and offshore, to produce BRITICE version 2, which now also includes Ireland. All published geomorphological evidence pertinent to the behaviour of the ice sheet is included, up to the census date of December 2015. The revised GIS database contains over 170 000 geospatially referenced and attributed elements – an eightfold increase in information from the previous version. The compiled data include: drumlins, ribbed moraine, crag‐and‐tails, mega‐scale glacial lineations, glacially streamlined bedrock (grooves, roches moutonnées, whalebacks), glacial erratics, eskers, meltwater channels (subglacial, lateral, proglacial and tunnel valleys), moraines, trimlines, cirques, trough‐mouth fans and evidence defining ice‐dammed lakes. The increased volume of features necessitates different map/database products with varying levels of data generalization, namely: (i) an unfiltered GIS database containing all mapping; (ii) a filtered GIS database, resolving data conflicts and with edits to improve geo‐locational accuracy (available as GIS data and PDF maps); and (iii) a cartographically generalized map to provide an overview of the distribution and types of features at the ice‐sheet scale that can be printed at A0 paper size at a 1:1 250 000 scale. All GIS data, the maps (as PDFs) and a bibliography of all published sources are available for download from: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/geography/staff/clark_chris/britice .     

利用ASTER卫星立体像对提取喀斯特数字地形模型——以广西大化高峰丛深洼地喀斯特地貌为例

ASTER卫星立体像对已经被成功地用于提取全球数字地形模型（DEM）,其有效性已经在不同类型的非喀斯特地貌区域得到验证。和一般地貌相比,喀斯特地形,特别是中国南方喀斯特,具有自己独特的形态特征。能否从ASTER影像中精确地提取喀斯特地貌DEM目前尚未见到有任何报道。本文利用ASTER影像成功地提取了广西大化地区高峰丛深洼地的喀斯特地貌DEM,并且将提取结果与同一地区1∶5万地形图控制点的高程和4个剖面的高程变化进行了对比。研究区内绝大部分区域是喀斯特地貌,但在其西北部有一舌状砂岩地貌分布,从而提供了一个很好的喀斯特和非喀斯特地貌DEM精度对比的机会。本文的研究结果表明,从ASTER影像提取出来的砂岩地貌的DEM均方根误差要小于喀斯特地区,表明从ASTER影像中能更有效地提取非喀斯特地貌的DEM。相比之下,提取得到的喀斯特DEM精确度则稍差。究其原因主要是因为研究区内独特的高峰丛深洼地地形形态。由于峰丛地形的阴影在构成立体像对的两幅影像（nadir-looking和aft-loo-king）上的大小和形态差异很大,导致了DEM生产过程中两幅影像不能精确配准,从而产生比较大的误差。相比之下,砂岩地区地貌相对比较平坦,地形阴影大小和形态在两幅影像上差别不大,故而能得到精度比较高的数字地形模型。本文研究结果同时还表明适当增加地面控制点能在一定程度上改善提取出来的喀斯特地貌DEM的精度。尽管提取的数字地形模型精度稍低,其均方根误差仍然远远小于该地区峰丛和洼地个体体量。因此本研究认为从ASTER立体像对提取的数字地形模型可广泛用于喀斯特地貌形态特征研究。     

The age of Canberra landforms

The interpretation of Canberra's landforms as unexhumed survivals from Bowning faulting and mid‐Devonian vulcanicity is opposed. Some major faults are truncated whereas sharp scarps coincide with others. In the nearby Taemas area, the Canberra‐Yass Plains cut across Tabberabberan folds. Summit surface remnants surviving high in the A.C.T. Ranges and discordant river gorges are incompatible with extreme age of the relief. River nick‐points and steps between surfaces are some related and some unrelated to faults, with like import. Stripping of the Murrumbidgee Batholith, also of Bowning age, would have caused substantial filling of the Canberra Rift; during subsequent removal, erosion would not have entirely respected Silurian rocks similar in resistance to Devonian fill. Permian rocks to the east must in part derive from erosion of the Canberra area. Local rates of denudation of 5 cm/1000 y. are hard to reconcile with survival of high steep relief from the mid‐Devonian.

Alternative explanations are given for those characters of the Fyshwick Gravels which led them to be regarded as Permian glaciofluvials.

The same evidence supports Browne's standpoint that the relief is polycyclic through epeirogenic uplift at intervals, together with posthumous movement along some old faults.