the geomorphic impact of glaciers as indicated by tors in north sweden aurivaara 68 n abstract geomorphological investigations carried out on 15 tor like features located on the aurivaara plateau north sweden 68 n provide new insights in the greatly debated age of these landforms erratics and till trapped deep in the tor joints support a pre weichselian age for tor formation moreover the occurrence of various weathering stages in allochtonous material the joint width up to 1 5 m requiring long term weathering and the frequent association of tors with pediment like forms suggest pre quaternary tor formation the juxtaposition of fresh erratics and in situ old weathering features mushroom rocks concentrically weathered well rounded corestones and grus indicates a predominantly cold based regime for the scandinavian ice sheet with erratics carried by the overlying moving ice being repeatedly deposited on tor summits during deglaciation phases the relationships between tors and ice action indicated for the aurivaara plateau result in the proposal of a morphodynamical succession of five tor subtypes ranging from the preservation of well rounded corestones still embedded in grus suggesting negligible glacial erosion to the almost complete removal of tor features by ice scouring a comparison with tors in similar geological and topographical contexts from the unglaciated dartmoor area allows a tentative evaluation of an average overall glacial erosion of 0 10 m on the northern sweden plateaus in sharp contrast with the 190 m overdeepening of the nearby tornetrask basin thus this case study of swedish tors provides additional support to the recent interpretations of relict landscapes in previously glaciated areas and is in accordance with the classical model of glacial selective erosion established in the nordic and arctic mountains

distribution and glaciological implications of relict surfaces on the ultevis plateau northwestern sweden distribution and glaciological implications of relictsurfaces on the ultevis plateau northwestern sweden

segmented lateral dyke growth in a rifting event at barðarbunga volcanic system iceland crust at many divergent plate boundaries forms primarily by the injection of vertical sheet like dykes some tens of kilometres long1 previous models of rifting events indicate either lateral dyke growth away from a feeding source with propagation rates decreasing as the dyke lengthens2 3 4 or magma flowing vertically into dykes from an underlying source5 6 with the role of topography on the evolution of lateral dykes not clear here we show how a recent segmented dyke intrusion in the bar arbunga volcanic system grew laterally for more than 45 kilometres at a variable rate with topography influencing the direction of propagation barriers at the ends of each segment were overcome by the build up of pressure in the dyke end then a new segment formed and dyke lengthening temporarily peaked the dyke evolution which occurred primarily over 14 days was revealed by propagating seismicity ground deformation mapped by global positioning system gps interferometric analysis of satellite radar images insar and graben formation the strike of the dyke segments varies from an initially radial direction away from the bar arbunga caldera towards alignment with that expected from regional stress at the distal end a model minimizing the combined strain and gravitational potential energy explains the propagation path dyke opening and seismicity focused at the most distal segment at any given time and were simultaneous with magma source deflation and slow collapse at the bar arbunga caldera accompanied by a series of magnitude m 5 earthquakes dyke growth was slowed down by an effusive fissure eruption near the end of the dyke lateral dyke growth with segment barrier breaking by pressure build up in the dyke distal end explains how focused upwelling of magma under central volcanoes is effectively redistributed over long distances to create new upper crust at divergent plate boundaries

palaeo ice stream onsets examples from the north eastern laurentide ice sheet in this paper we report on observations of glacial landscapes at the head of geomorphologically interpreted palaeo ice streams i e palaeo ice stream onsets our work is based on the results of sy

holocene development and geomorphic processes at omnsbreen southern norway evidence for glacier permafrost interactions omnsbreen is a small 0 5 km2 and degrading glacier situated at the regional lower limit of present day permafrost distribution and glaciation at present the existence of omnsbreen is mainly de

ice stream shear margin moraines the distribution and pattern of subglacial bedforms provides valuable insights into the configuration and behaviour of former ice sheets and recent work has begun to address the landform assemblages of palaeo ice streams in this paper we focus on subglacially formed ice stream shear margin moraines these landforms are thought to form in the shear zone between fast flowing stream ice and slow moving sheet ice using satellite imagery and aerial photographs we identify four ice stream shear margin moraines associated with the former m clintock channel palaeo ice stream victoria island arctic canada the moraines range in length from 11 to 22 km maintain fairly constant widths of around 500 m and range in height from 10 to 50 m above the surrounding terrain they are composed of carbonate drift of a similar composition as the ice stream bedforms and have been laid down irrespective of local and regional topography two of the moraines display a lateral offset and are thought to reflect minor migrations of the ice stream margin we explore their possible mode of formation and suggest that they occur when erosion at the ice stream margin provides a surplus of sediment which is smeared out in the downstream direction the identification of other palaeo ice stream shear margin moraines has probably been hampered by their interrupted continuity which can only be appreciated at the large scale it is hoped that the descriptions presented in this paper will help to identify these landforms and increased detection of palaeo ice streams will reveal other ice stream shear margin moraines copyright 2002 john wiley sons ltd

formation mechanisms for ice stream lateral shear margin moraines the lateral shear margins of palaeo ice stream beds are occasionally marked by large curvilinear moraines but little work has addressed how they might form in this paper we review the characteristics of lateral shear margin moraines and present two quantitative models for their formation i differential erosion rates related to lateral variations in the stream velocity and ii lateral incursion from inter stream ridges after the thinner stream retreats where the shear margin moraine is consequently just a terminal moraine of the inter stream ridge other possible mechanisms of formation are addressed qualitatively both of our quantitative theories are in principle feasible but the incursion model is less plausible and inconsistent with observations the differential erosion model can predict moraines tens of metres thick and several kilometres wide which can be formed in a thousand years the width of the moraine depends on the competition between a term that varies across the ice stream because it is dependent on ice velocity and that always causes erosion and a term related to the local accumulation rate which causes erosion if is positive and deposition if negative these terms combine to create the possibility of deposition at the shear margins of ice streams in ablation areas the width of the moraine has a tendency to increase with the width of the stream the conditions that permit shear margin moraines to form are quite constrained too much ablation and deposition occurs everywhere rather than just near the lateral margins of the ice streams too little ablation and there is erosion everywhere this is consistent with the infrequent observations of lateral shear margin moraines

how summit calderas collapse on basaltic volcanoes new insights from the april 2007 caldera collapse of piton de la fournaise volcano in april 2007 piton de la fournaise volcano experienced a caldera collapse during its largest historical eruption we present here a structural analysis both of the caldera and the surrounding area and precise gps data recorded with a dense gps network specifically dedicated to the analysis of deformation related to the summit collapse structures despite a collapse of more than 300 m in the central zone the geometry of the new caldera is similar in map view to that of the pre existing collapsed structure which was formed from the coalescence of several pit craters the caldera shows an asymmetric inner geometry with sub vertical walls in the nw quadrant and steep scarps composed of inward tilted blocks in the southern half the presence of preserved polished surfaces on the lower part of the sub vertical scarp indicates that it corresponds to the caldera north western ring fault the april 2007 caldera collapse led to the development and the reactivation of concentric fractures on the caldera rim mostly along the southern limit of the caldera gps data show that fractures result from radial extensional stresses that are restricted within the first tens of meters of the caldera edge gps data also reveal that the caldera collapse was coeval with a centripetal deflation whose magnitude is largest along the southern half of the caldera the displacements recorded by gps result from both a general deflation due to magma withdrawal from piton de la fournaise s summit magma chamber and additional local effects related to the caldera collapse comparison of the caldera collapses at piton de la fournaise miyakejima and fernandina reveals striking similarities with cyclic seismic signals accompanying small scale deflation inflation cycles this strongly suggests a common mode of collapse hence we propose a unifying model of caldera collapse in basaltic setting in which the inward deflation due to magma withdrawal from the magma chamber prevents the collapse of the caldera roof until the gravitational stress acting on the rock column above the magma chamber exceeds the shear strength along pre existing ring faults the downward displacement stops when the pressure increase into the magma chamber is able to again sustain the rock column the succession of 1 inward deflation that prevents the collapse 2 collapse due to gravitational stress and 3 stopping of the downward motion is repeated many times the frequency of the cycles is influenced by the rate of magma withdrawal and by the amount of intrusion of magma along the ring faults

the collapse of barðarbunga caldera iceland lying below vatnajokull ice cap in iceland bar arbunga stratovolcano began experiencing wholesale caldera collapse in 2014 august 16 one of the largest such events recorded in the modern instrumental era simultaneous with this collapse is the initiation of a plate boundary rifting episode north of the caldera observations using the international constellation of radar satellites indicate rapid 50 cm d 1 subsidence of the glacier surface overlying the collapsing caldera and metre scale crustal deformation in the active rift zone anomalous earthquakes around the rim of the caldera with highly nondouble couple focal mechanisms provide a mechanical link to the dynamics of the collapsing magma chamber a model of the collapse consistent with available geodetic and seismic observations suggests that the majority of the observed subsidence occurs aseismically via a deflating sill like magma chamber

constraining landscape history and glacial erosivity using paired cosmogenic nuclides in upernavik northwest greenland high latitude landscape evolution processes have the potential to preserve old relict surfaces through burial by cold based nonerosive glacial ice to investigate landscape history and age in the high arctic we analyzed in situ cosmogenic 10 be and 26 al in 33 rocks from upernavik northwest greenland we sampled adjacent bedrock boulder pairs along a 100 km transect at elevations up to 1000 m above sea level bedrock samples gave significantly older apparent exposure ages than corresponding boulder samples and minimum limiting ages increased with elevation two isotope calculations 26 al 10 be on 20 of the 33 samples yielded minimum limiting exposure durations up to 112 k y minimum limiting burial durations up to 900 k y and minimum limiting total histories up to 990 k y the prevalence of 10 be and 26 al inherited from previous periods of exposure especially in bedrock samples at high elevation indicates that these areas record long and complex surface exposure histories including significant periods of burial with little subglacial erosion the long total histories suggest that these high elevation surfaces were largely preserved beneath cold based nonerosive ice or snowfields for at least the latter half of the quaternary because of high concentrations of inherited nuclides only the six youngest boulder samples appear to record the timing of ice retreat these six samples suggest deglaciation of the upernavik coast at 11 3 0 5 ka average 1 standard deviation there is no difference in deglaciation age along the 100 km sample transect indicating that the ice marginal position retreated rapidly at rates of 120 m yr 1

understanding caldera structure and development an overview of analogue models compared to natural calderas abstract understanding the structure and development of calderas is crucial for predicting their behaviour during periods of unrest and to plan geothermal and ore exploitation geological data including that from analysis of deeply eroded examples allow the overall surface setting of calderas to be defined whereas deep drillings and geophysical investigations provide insights on their subsurface structure collation of this information from calderas worldwide has resulted in the recent literature in five main caldera types downsag piston funnel piecemeal trapdoor being viewed as end members despite its importance such a classification does not adequately examine a the structure of calderas particularly the nature of the caldera s bounding faults and b how this is achieved including the genetic relationships among the five caldera types various sets of analogue models specifically devoted to study caldera architecture and development have been recently performed under different conditions apparatus materials scaling parameters stress conditions the first part of this study reviews these experiments which induce collapse as a result of underpressure or overpressure within the chamber analogue the experiments simulating overpressure display consistent results but the experimental depressions require an exceptional amount of doming seldom observed in nature to form therefore these experiments are not appropriate to understand the structure and formation of most natural calderas the experiments simulating underpressure reveal a consistent scenario for caldera structure and development regardless of their different boundary conditions these show that complete collapse proceeds through four main stages proportional to the amount of subsidence progressively characterized by 1 downsag 2 reverse ring fault 3 peripheral downsag 4 peripheral normal ring fault the second part of this study verifies the possibility that these latter calderas constitute a suitable analogue to nature and consists of a comprehensive comparison of the underpressure experiments to natural calderas this shows that all the experimental structures as well as their progressive development are commonly observed at natural calderas highlighting a consistency between models and nature as the shallow structure of experimental calderas corresponds to a precise architecture at depth it provides a unique key to infer the deeper structure of natural calderas recognizing diagnostic surface features within a caldera will thus allow it to be categorized within a precise structural and evolutionary context the general relationship between the evolutionary stage of a caldera and its d s diameter subsidence ratio allows such a quantification with stage 1 calderas characterized by d s 40 stage 2 by 18 the four stages adequately explain the architecture and development of the established caldera end members along a continuum where one or more end members downsag piston funnel piecemeal trapdoor may correspond to a specific stage while such a continuum is controlled by progressive subsidence specific collapse geometries will result from secondary contributory factors roof aspect ratio collapse symmetry pre existing faults these considerations allow proposing an original classification of calderas incorporating their structural and genetic features

paleoglaciology s grand unsolved problem the paleoglaciological concept that during the pleistocene glacial hemi cycles a super large structurally complex ice sheet developed in the arctic and behaved as a single dynamic system as the antarctic ice sheet does today has not yet been subjected to concerted studies designed to test the predictions of this concept yet it may hold the keys to solutions of major problems of paleoglaciology to understanding climate and sea level changes the russian arctic is the least known region exposed to paleoglaciation by a hypothetical arctic ice sheet but now it is more open to testing the concept implementation of these tests is a chaillenging task as the region is extensive and the available data are controversial well planned and coordinated field projects are needed today as well as broad discussion of the known evidence existing interpretations and new field results here we present the known evidence for paleoglaciation of the russian arctic continental shelf and reconstruct possible marine ice sheets that could have produced that evidence

modeling ice sheets from the bottom up abstract three facts should guide ice sheet modeling 1 ice height above the bed is controlled by the strength of ice bed coupling reducing ice thickness by some 90 percent when coupling vanishes 2 ice bed coupling vanishes along ice streams that end as floating ice shelves and drain up to 90 percent of an ice sheet 3 because of 1 and 2 ice sheets can rapidly collapse and disintegrate thereby removing ice sheets from earth s climate system and forcing abrupt climate change the first model of ice sheet dynamics was developed in australia and applied to the present antarctic ice sheet in 1970 it treated slow sheet flow which prevails over some 90 percent of the ice sheet but is the least dynamic component the model made top down calculations of ice velocities and temperatures based on known surface conditions and an assumed basal geothermal heat flux in 1972 joseph fletcher proposed a six step research strategy for studying dynamic systems the first step was identifying the most dynamic components which for antarctica are fast ice streams that discharge up to 90 percent of the ice ice sheet models developed at the university of maine in the 1970s were based on the fletcher strategy and focused on ice streams including calving dynamics when ice streams end in water these models calculated the elevation of ice sheets based in the strength of ice bed coupling this was a bottom up approach that lowered ice elevations some 90 percent when ice bed coupling vanished top down modeling is able to simulate changes in the size and shape of ice sheets through a whole glaciation cycle provided the mass balance is treated correctly bottom up modeling is able to produce accurate changes in ice elevations based on changes in ice bed coupling provided the force balance is treated correctly truly holistic ice sheet models should synthesize top down and bottom up approaches by combining the mass balance with the force balance in ways that merge abrupt changes in stream flow with slow changes in sheet flow then discharging 90 percent of the ice by ice streams mobilizes 90 percent of the area so ice sheets can self destruct and thereby terminate a glaciation cycle

generation of a heavy mineral glacial indicator dispersal train from a diabase sill nipigon region northwestern ontario the heavy clinopyroxene mineral pigeonite forms a glacial indicator dispersal train originating from diabase intrusions in the nipigon region of northwestern ontario analysis and interpretation of the pigeonite dispersal pattern adjacent to the up ice portion of the diabase provides a number of insights into the nature of glacial erosion of bedrock and the generation of heavy mineral dispersal trains bedrock erosion and entrainment rates at the time of pigeonite dispersal train formation were high 3 14 mm a 1 suggesting that bedrock erosion was rapid yet spatially and temporally restricted contrasting erosion rates between the diabase and surrounding greenstone lithologies suggests that modern shield topography is not an assemblage of equilibrium bedforms with respect to the ice sheet this agrees with hypothesized low total erosion of shield bedrock during the pleistocene pigeonite grain size coarsens over the diabase source indicating that most of the pigeonite was quarried from outcrops as coar

basal ice temperatures during late weichselian deglaciation comparison of landform assemblages in west central sweden the mountainous area of west central sweden has a varied glacial morphology and three unique landform assemblages appear to mark areas of different basal thermal conditions during the decay of late weichselian ice a glacial geomorphological map was constructed through interpretation of aerial photographs at a scale 1 60 000 the relative abundance of landforms interpreted to indicate a frozen bed a thawed bed and late frozen to thawed bed conditions were used for a first order reconstruction of the basal temperature pattern of the decaying ice sheet the features used to outline areas with different temperature regimes during deglaciation are glacial scouring flutings eskers meltwater channels boulder blankets rogen moraines relict surfaces and thermoerosion features in the northern part of the area as well as along most of the water divide to the atlantic ocean the ice was warm based during deglaciation glacially scoured bedrock fluting drumlinization subglacial eskers and extensive glacial lake sediments characterize the area in the high mountain area lateral meltwater channels are short and curve downslope to form chutes or eskers the basal ice conditions changed from frozen to thawedbed in a late stage of the late weichselian cycle in most of the southern part of the area shown by the rogen moraines on both sides of the ice divide however substantial areas in the eastern and southern low mountains had frozen bed conditions during the complete late weichselian in the high mountains in the north only the summits were frozen

sorted clastic polygons in the argyre region mars and possible evidence of pre and post glacial periglaciation in the late amazonian epoch abstract the argyre basin and associated rim materials in the southern highlands of mars are ancient having been formed by the impact of a large body 3 9 gya despite its age the regional landscape exhibits a wide range of geological geomorphological modifications and or features e g fluvial lacustrine aeolian glacial and periglacial collectively this bears witness to the dynamic evolution of the argyre region from the deep past through to perhaps the present day here we present three principal findings that point to at least two distinct episodes of periglaciation separated by a possible glacial interval during the very late amazonian epoch in eastern aonia terra at i e on the western flank of the argyre basin these findings are the product of our circum argyre study of all hirise images 35 65 s and 290 350 e 1 a the first periglacial episode involves the development of small sized 15 25 m in diam and clastically sorted polygons sps the sps are observed at eighteen locations within eastern at hitherto the presence of sps in this region has been reported at one location alone no other observations of sps in the southern hemisphere of mars have been documented morphologically similar landforms develop in cold climate permafrost landscapes on earth by means of periglacial processes i e freeze thaw cycling segregated ice formation cryoturbation and frost heave b we ascribe a periglacial origin to the sps in eastern at on the basis of this similarity of form and no less importantly on the close spatial association of the sps with blockfields whose weathered clastic products are the building blocks of periglacial sorting on earth gelifluction like lobes and possible wet gullies where similar assemblages occur in terrestrial permafrost landscapes the presence of liquid water and of boundary conditions tolerant of freeze thaw cycling are observed or inferred c fifteen of the eighteen sp locations are clustered longitudinally 44 4 57 5 s 289 9 302 4 e this is inconsistent with the latitudinal and obliquity driven dependency of freeze thaw cycling in the late amazonian epoch hypothesised by many workers in the discipline 2 the second periglacial episode is highlighted by the development of small sized and clastically non sorted polygons nsps these polygons could have formed by means of a dry cryotic process i e thermal contraction cracking 3 the nsps incise and thus postdate a light toned mantle thought by numerous workers to comprise an ice dust admixture at some of the locations where the putatively icy mantle has undergone apparent ablation underlying sps are observed this suggests that the sps predate the mantle and derivatively the nsps as well the proposed geochronology of wet based sp icy mantle dry based nsp periods and interval is entirely new to the community moreover it underlines the possibility that periglacial and glacial boundary conditions at least in our study area may have oscillated much more substantially in the very late amazonian epoch than many workers have thought possible

regional reconstruction of subglacial hydrology and glaciodynamic behaviour along the southern margin of the cordilleran ice sheet in british columbia canada and northern washington state usa abstract subglacial landsystems in and around okanagan valley british columbia canada are investigated in order to evaluate landscape development subglacial hydrology and cordilleran ice sheet dynamics along its southern margin major landscape elements include drumlin swarms and tunnel valleys drumlins are composed of bedrock diamicton and glaciofluvial sediments their form truncates the substrate tunnel valleys of various scales km to 100s km length incised into bedrock and sediment exhibit convex longitudinal profiles and truncate drumlin swarms okanagan valley is the largest tunnel valley in the area and is eroded 300 m below sea level over 600 m of late wisconsin age sediments consisting of a fining up sequence of cobble gravel sand and silt fill okanagan valley landform substrate relationships landform associations and sedimentary sequences are incompatible with prevailing explanations of landsystem development centred mainly on deforming beds they are best explained by meltwater erosion and deposition during ice sheet underbursts during the late wisconsin glaciation okanagan valley functioned as part of a subglacial lake spanning multiple connected valleys few 100s km of southern british columbia subglacial lake development started either as glaciers advanced over a pre existing sub aerial lake catch lake or by incremental production and storage of basal meltwater high geothermal heat flux geothermal springs and or subglacial volcanic eruptions contributed to ice melt and may have triggered along with priming from supraglacial lakes subglacial lake drainage during the underburst s sheetflows eroded drumlins in corridors and channelized flows eroded tunnel valleys progressive flow channelization focused flows toward major bedrock valleys in okanagan valley most of the pre glacial and early glacial sediment fill was removed a fining up sequence of boulder gravel and sand was deposited during waning stages of the underburst s and bedrock drumlins in okanagan valley were enhanced or wholly formed by this underburst s subglacial lake development and drainage had an impact on ice sheet geometry and ice volumes the prevailing conceptual model for growth and decay of the cis suggests significantly thicker ice in valleys compared to plateaus subglacial lake development created a reversal of this ice sheet geometry where grounded ice on plateaus thickened while floating valley ice remained thinner due to melting and enhanced sliding with significant transfer of ice toward the ice sheet margin subglacial lake drainage may have hastened deglaciation by melting ice lowering ice surface elevations and causing lid fracture this paper highlights the importance of ice sheet hydrology its control on ice flow dynamics distribution and volume in continental ice masses

palaeo ice streams abstract the location and behaviour of ice streams is one of the most important controls on ice sheet configuration and stability in order to reconstruct former ice sheets we need to know ice stream location and timing once identified the beds of palaeo ice streams provide an unprecedented opportunity to glean information about their basal environment something that remains very difficult under contemporary ice streams this paper represents the first synthesis and discussion of palaeo ice stream research from a variety of former ice sheets and includes new insights relating their configuration and activity to the evidence they leave behind the ambiguous use of the term ice stream is addressed and four possible configurations for ice streams are presented diagnostic landforms and landform assemblages that we would expect an ice stream to produce are discussed and the temporal context of bedform generation is described as either a rubber stamped or smudged bedform imprint resulting from isochronous or time transgressive landform generation in particular we focus on the configuration of terrestrially terminating ice streams for which there are no modern analogues technological advances in marine geophysics are helping to generate a convergence of interest between antarctic glaciology and palaeo glaciology it is suggested that investigations around the fringes of contemporary ice sheets i e west antarctica can provide evidence that directly links the geomorphological record of palaeo ice streams with their contemporary counterparts in addition computational advances and modelling adaptations have permitted the incorporation of ice streams within ice sheet models we argue that data from palaeo ice stream beds are invaluable to ice sheet stream modelling experiments and will help us understand ice stream operation and the linkages between climate perturbations and both palaeo and contemporary ice sheets

early holocene deglaciation of the eastern coast of hudson bay abstract the final stage of deglaciation of hudson bay was a major holocene catastrophic event marked by the drainage of lake agassiz ojibway at 8 47 ka cal bp and the rapid collapse of the laurentide ice sheet previous work undertaken in the nastapoka river area eastern hudson bay demonstrated that during the relative sea level highstand that shortly followed the drainage of the lake the western margin of the quebec labrador ice sector rapidly retreated eastward to reach a stillstand position in a coastal hill range in this study an analysis of landsat 7tm images has allowed a mapping of large scale glacial landforms outwash deposits eskers flutings and de geer and rogen moraines between kuujjuaraapik se hudson bay and puvirnituq ne hudson bay the key results from this mapping are i ice contact outwash deposits mapped along the entire arc shaped coastline of the eastern hudson bay outline a major ice stillstand phase in the coastal hills that extended at least from kuujjuaraapik to inukjuak the presence of these hills allowed a stabilisation of the ice margin that led to the accumulation of thick and extensive ice contact submarine fans ii the position of these deposits on the down ice side west of large sets of flutings indicates an important phase of sediment delivery by a rapid ice flow phase toward a marine based ice margin iii a second system of outwash deposits observed farther inland indicates a subsequent phase of stabilisation of the ice margin during its retreat toward central quebec labrador

a relict landscape in the centre of fennoscandian glaciation geomorphological evidence of minimal quaternary glacial erosion abstract the parkajoki area in northeastern sweden is situated near the central area of fennoscandian glaciation despite its location the area is dominated by landforms induced by subaerial weathering and erosion processes such as well developed tors and associated saprolites boulder fields and boulder depressions the glacial geomorphology is dominated by lateral and proglacial meltwater channels subglacial imprints indicative of thawed bed conditions and reshaping by glacier sliding e g fluting drumlins striae are lacking hence most of the landscape still exhibits a preglacial appearance because of its location near the central area of glaciation we attribute preservation to frozen bed conditions of overriding ice sheets the widespread distribution of well developed tors and boulder fields and the degree of chemical weathering of the bedrock indicate that the area has been protected from glacial erosion during all glacial cycles since ice sheet initiation in the late cenozoic unlike most other areas with tors in glaciated regions the parkajoki area is uniquely situated in the lowlands at 150 400 m a s l moreover this relict landscape is surrounded by glacial landscapes including drumlins ribbed moraine and eskers of varying age and at similar elevation hence topographical reasons for this area being persistently cold based cannot be invoked by inference we conclude that strain heat release never managed to cancel the initial subglacial permafrost conditions we attribute this to divergent ice flow towards the convex outline of the ice sheet margin during deglaciations and to the relative roughness of the area compared to its surroundings the implication is that to explain preservation throughout the quaternary all large scale glaciations must have had a similar evolution concerning ice sheet configuration and internal dynamics as the last glaciation for which good constraints on evolution and outline are available

ribbed moraines in northern manitoba canada characteristics and preservation as part of a subglacial bed mosaic near the core regions of ice sheets abstract ribbed moraines are enigmatic glacial landforms for which different models with contrasting paleoglaciologic implications have been proposed to explain their formation despite the great deal of attention this type of landform has received over the last several decades ribbed moraine fields in northern manitoba canada are among the largest in the world but have been seldom studied ribbed moraines in this part of the world overlie the low relief canadian shield are not constrained by topography and are part of a spatial subglacial landform assemblage associated with drumlinoid ridges within palimpsest and relict type glacial terrain zones field observations herein provide new insights into the characteristics of these transverse to ice flow ridges at landscape mapping and spatial analysis and landform internal structure using high resolution shear wave s wave seismic reflection surveys sedimentological characteristics clast fabric analyses scales two main types of ribbed moraine are recognized pristine high amplitude straight crested ridges and secondarily modified subdued drumlinized ridges ribbed moraine in northeast manitoba consist of massive matrix supported till at surface which is similar in matrix texture and composition to the regional till sheet though pristine moraines show a higher concentration of boulders a seismic profile reveals subparallel to surface layered stratigraphy with only minor folding and no major unconformities stacking or faulting the demonstrated fragmentary nature of ribbed moraine fields the inherited signature of the till within these fields the secondary patchy drumlinization of the ridges and the more abundant granitoid outcrops in areas of intense modification all suggest that subglacial ribbed moraine formed from pre existing sediments and were later preserved and or partially reworked through a regional mosaic of shifting subglacial bed conditions we therefore make the case that pristine unmodified moraines were preserved beneath stable sticky spots we support a link between ribbed moraine and widespread cold based and or dewatered subglacial conditions in inner core regions of ice sheets but for reasons of preservation and not necessarily formation

supraglacial and proglacial valleys on amazonian mars abundant evidence exists for glaciation being an important geomorphic process in the mid latitude regions of both hemispheres of mars as well as in specific environments at near equatorial latitudes such as along the western flanks of the major tharsis volcanoes detailed analyses of glacial landforms lobate debris aprons lineated valley fill concentric crater fill viscous flow features have suggested that this glaciation was predominantly cold based this is consistent with the view that the amazonian has been continuously cold and dry similar to conditions today we present new data based on a survey of images from the context camera ctx on the mars reconnaissance orbiter that some of these glaciers experienced limited surface melting leading to the formation of small glaciofluvial valleys some of these valleys show evidence for proglacial erosion eroding the region immediately in front of or adjacent to a glacier while others are supraglacial eroding a glacier s surface these valleys formed during the amazonian consistent with the inferred timing of glacial features based on both crater counts and stratigraphic constraints the small scale of the features interpreted to be of glaciofluvial origin hindered earlier recognition although their scale is similar to glaciofluvial counterparts on earth these valleys appear qualitatively different from valley networks formed in the noachian which can be much longer and often formed integrated networks and large lakes the valleys we describe here are also morphologically distinct from gullies which are very recent fluvial landforms formed during the last several million years and on much steeper slopes 20 30 for gullies versus 10 for the valleys we describe these small valleys represent a distinct class of fluvial features on the surface of mars glaciofluvial their presence shows that the hydrology of amazonian mars is more diverse than previously thought

source analysis of the crandall canyon utah mine collapse analysis of seismograms from a magnitude 3 9 seismic event on 6 august 2007 in central utah reveals an anomalous radiation pattern that is contrary to that expected for a tectonic earthquake and which is dominated by an implosive component the results show that the seismic event is best modeled as a shallow underground collapse interestingly large transverse surface waves require a smaller additional noncollapse source component that might represent either faulting in the rocks above the mine workings or deformation of the medium surrounding the mine seismic moment tensor results for nuclear explosions explosion and other mining cavity collapses and tectonic earthquakes are compared and the separation of the different populations indicates that the seismic moment tensor may be used for source type discrimination

constraining multi stage exposure burial scenarios for boulders preserved beneath cold based glacial ice in thule northwest greenland abstract boulders and landscapes preserved beneath cold based non erosive glacial ice violate assumptions associated with simple cosmogenic exposure dating in such a setting simple single isotope exposure ages over estimate the latest period of surface exposure hence alternate approaches are required to constrain the multi stage exposure burial histories of such samples here we report 28 paired analyses of 10be and 26al in boulder samples from thule northwest greenland we use numerical models of exposure and burial as well as monte carlo simulations to constrain glacial chronology and infer process in this arctic region dominated by cold based ice we investigate three specific cases that can arise with paired nuclide data 1 exposure ages that are coeval with deglaciation and 26al 10be ratios consistent with constant exposure 2 exposure ages that pre date deglaciation and 26al 10be ratios consistent with burial following initial exposure and 3 exposure ages that pre date deglaciation and 26al 10be ratios consistent with constant exposure most glacially transported boulders in thule have complex histories some were exposed for tens of thousands of years and buried for at least hundreds of thousands of years while others underwent only limited burial these boulders were probably recycled through different generations of till over multiple glacial interglacial cycles likely experiencing partial or complete shielding during interglacial periods due to rotation or shallow burial by sediments our work demonstrates that the landscape in thule like many high latitude landscapes was shaped over long time durations and multiple glacial and interglacial periods throughout the quaternary

glacial terrain zone analysis of a fragmented paleoglaciologic record southeast keewatin sector of the laurentide ice sheet abstract a highly fragmented subglacial landscape is recognized at the regional to sub regional scales in northeastern manitoba canada in the southeast keewatin sector a core region of the laurentide ice sheet new field based ice flow indicator measurements mapping of subglacial landforms remote sensing and aerial photograph and a re examination of previously published data from an 8100 km2 area in northeastern manitoba show that the preserved subglacial record reflects a complex and potentially long glacial history five streamlined landform flowsets are mapped a much higher degree of inheritance in the field based ice flow indicator data than previously reported allows for recognition of multiple ice flow phases analysis of the characteristics of the subglacial landscape combined with a relative age chronology established with field based indicators led to the recognition of disjoint zones with internally consistent glacial histories termed glacial terrain zones gtz these gtz were then classified as 1 relict glacial 2 palimpsest or 3 deglacial in nature our data suggest that while the southern keewatin sector was affected by regional ice divide translocation this alone cannot explain the fragmented high inheritance landscape we suggest that the subglacial landscape was continually evolving and subject to spatio temporal variations in intensity of erosion transportation and or deposition throughout multiple glacial events subglacial bed mosaic preservation of relict and palimpsest terrain likely occurred under large sticky low erosion regions these regions could have formed by at least two different mechanisms heterogeneous switch from warm based to cold based ice or within a warm based subglacial environment from wet to stiff dewatered till establishment of the regionally extensive 700 km wide by at least 500 km long dendritic esker channel system may have caused rapid spatially variable dewatering of the substrate far back under the ice sheet the gtz approach integrates all available data e g flowsets and other landform data striations to advance our interpretation of the spatio temporal evolution of subglacial dynamics in areas where the degree of landscape inheritance and overprinting is spatially highly variable this mosaic may be a characteristic net effect of landscape evolution beneath the core regions of ice sheets

ice ages and nuclear waste isolation abstract the greatest natural threats to the integrity of the geological barriers to nuclear wastes isolated in cavities mined at depths between 400 and 800 m are likely during rapid retreats of future ice sheets the next major glacial retreat is expected at ca 70 ka well within the lifetime of high grade nuclear waste but it is not yet clear how long man s greenhouse effect may delay it this contribution discusses the potential problems posed to european waste isolation sites during erosion by ice and over pressurizing of meltwater and gasses in a lithosphere flexed by major ice sheets these depend on the target rocks and the location of the site with respect to the ice streams and margins of future ice sheets of particular size no sites are planned under the centres of future ice sheets in europe where end glacial earthquakes can be expected to reactivate major faults nor where ice can be expected to deepen and lengthen fjords along the atlantic coast sites in the alps may be vulnerable to radical changes in the patterns of glacial troughs the stability and geohydrology of sites in coastal areas beyond future ice margins are threatened by river gorges when sea level falls ca 125 m or in enclosed basins like the mediterranean ever lower the greatest problems are likely in lowland regions exposed by the rapid retreat of thick ice fronts where large lakes on or under thick warm based ice are dammed by more distal cold based ice groundwater in subhorizontal fractures dilated by glacial unloading may reach over pressures capable of hydraulically lifting megablocks of bedrock with fracture permeability and or the ice damming them so that less permeable substrates are susceptible to incisions eroded to depths of ca 360 at locations controlled mainly by ice topography kinematics and history

variable regimes in magma systems documented in plagioclase zoning patterns el misti stratovolcano and andahua monogenetic cones abstract magmas may experience closed or open system evolution during their ascent and evolution in the upper crust chemically closed system processes can involve heat transfer from underplating mafic magmas or decompression due to magma ascent on the other hand newly injected magmas can mix with the residing magma and hybridize plagioclase zonation patterns and electron microprobe major and trace element analysis constrain these contrasting scenarios for andesites from the 80 km3 el misti stratovolcano 5822 m and a field of relatively small monogenetic andahua scoria cones both in southern peru in particular fe concentration in plagioclase reveals valuable information within a magmatic system to explore the dominance of closed vs open system processes large and correlated anorthite fe contrasts at resorption zones identify compositional mixing related to recharge subhorizontal an fe variations record thermal or water induced effects el misti volcano a large but still relatively youthful stratovolcano is dominated during most of its approx 120 ka history by closed system effects during its evolution recharge and mixing mostly occurred cryptically as it is not recorded in drastic compositional changes in magmas or their phenocrysts a small volume erupted at el misti however is affected by strong open system behaviour as reflected in strongly correlated variations in an and fe contents of plagioclase compositions its crystal population is texturally and chemically very similar to lavas of the monogenetic cinder cones of the andahua volcanic field for the el misti magma reservoir resorption events caused by thermal effects or magma ascent are more frequent in comparison to the actual eruption frequencies many cycles of closed system evolution heat transfer and decompression therefore occurred without resulting in an eruption plagioclase zonations from lavas of the monogenetic andahua field indicate that any mafic batch that intruded the much smaller reservoirs immediately triggered an eruption by contrast a large magma system that feeds el misti volcano can easily accommodate a new batch without causing eruption

interactions between the greenland ice sheet and the liverpool land coastal ice cap during the last two glaciation cycles the sedimentary record from the ugleelv valley on central jameson land east greenland adds new information about terrestrial palaeoenvironments and glaciations to the glacial history of the scoresby sund fjord area a western extension of a coastal ice cap on liverpool land reached eastern jameson land during the early scoresby sund glaciation approximate to the saalian during the following glacial maximum the greenland ice sheet inundated the jameson land plateau from the west the weichselian also starts with an early phase of glacial advance from the liverpool land ice cap while polar desert and ice free conditions characterised the subsequent part of the weichselian on the jameson land plateau the two glaciation cycles show a repeated pattern of interaction between the greenland ice sheet in the west and an ice cap on liverpool land in the east each cycle starts with extensive glacier growth in the coastal mountains followed by a decline of the coastal glaciation a change to cold and arid climate and a late stage of maximum extent of the greenland ice sheet less

late pliocene glaciation and landscape evolution of vestfirðir northwest iceland abstract vestfir ir northwest iceland has been extensively modified by glacial activity but the timing and landscape impact of pre last glacial maximum lgm glacial activity is not well known we present new geochemical and chronological data from two tephras o oli and hjallanes which constrain the age of high altitude ice dammed lake sediments near the plateau surface of skagafjall located on the outer westernmost fjords of vestfir ir our findings provide the first dated evidence of late pliocene glaciation on vestfir ir the 2 26 0 11 ma fission track age of the airfall rhyolitic o oli tephra is compatible with reversed palaeomagnetic polarity data and suggests an ice dammed lake existed on skagafjall at broadly the same time as a major and well documented late pliocene downturn in global climate we assess the likely impact of late pliocene and subsequent glacial activity on vestfir ir landscapes and propose that 1 geomorphological features and sedimentary deposits on or near the skagafjall plateau surface could have survived beneath relatively low basal velocity areas and or relatively non erosive areas of glacial maxima ice sheets on vestfir ir at glacial maxima and 2 the heavily incised fjord network the principal macroscale landscape feature of vestfir ir existed in the late pliocene

very long period seismic signals and caldera formation at miyake island japan over a period of roughly 40 days starting on 8 july 2000 a caldera structure 1 7 kilometers in diameter developed by means of gradual depression and expansion of the summit crater at miyake island japan at the same time very long period vlp seismic signals were observed once or twice a day source mechanism analyses of the vlp signals show that the moment tensor solutions are smooth step functions over a time scale of 50 seconds with dominant volumetric change components we developed a model to explain the caldera and the vlp signals in which a vertical piston of solid materials in the conduit is intermittently sucked into the magma chamber by lateral magma outflow this model offers potential for making quantitative estimations of the characteristic physical properties of magma systems

frozen bed fennoscandian and laurentide ice sheets during the last glacial maximum the areal extents of the laurentide and fennoscandian ice sheets during the last glacial maximum about 20 000 years ago are well known1 but thickness estimates range widely from high domed2 to thin3 with large implications for our reconstruction of the climate system regarding for example northern hemisphere atmospheric circulation and global sea levels this uncertainty stems from difficulties in determining the basal temperatures of the ice sheets and the shear strength of subglacial materials4 a knowledge of which would better constrain reconstructions of ice sheet thickness here we show that in the absence of direct data the occurrence of ribbed moraines in modern landscapes can be used to determine the former spatial distribution of frozen and thawed bed conditions we argue that ribbed moraines were formed by brittle fracture of subglacial sediments induced by the excessive stress at the boundary between frozen and thawed bed conditions resulting from the across boundary difference in basal ice velocity maps of glacial landforms from aerial photographs of canada and scandinavia reveal a concentration of ribbed moraines around the ice sheet retreat centres of quebec keewatin newfoundland and west central fennoscandia together with the evidence from relict landscapes that mark glacial areas with frozen bed conditions the distribution of ribbed moraines on both continents suggest that a large area of the laurentide and fennoscandian ice sheets was frozen based and therefore high domed and stable during the last glacial maximum

styles of sedimentation beneath svalbard valley glaciers under changing dynamic and thermal regimes glacier beds provide crucial information concerning past and present ice dynamics and thermal regime in this paper we present structural and sedimentological data from four valley glaciers austre lovenbreen midtre lovenbreen vestre lovenbreen and austre broggerbreen on broggerhalvoya nw spitsbergen the main focus of this paper is midtre and austre lovenbreen two typical high arctic land based polythermal valley glaciers the former has a long record of documentation regarding its response to twentieth century climatic warming structural mapping on the glacier surface and analysis of sediments in the proglacial area of midtre lovenbreen indicate that the dynamic regime and thermal structure of the glacier have changed through time dynamically midtre lovenbreen was once heavily crevassed and relatively fast moving but now is virtually crevasse free and slow moving the sedimentary record indicates that extensive areas of this glacier were wet based when it was in a more advanced state probably at its neoglacial maximum late nineteenth early twentieth centuries during this advance a thin deforming layer of diamicton commonly fluted was draped over the existing morphology in the presently exposed proglacial area this morphology consisted of large streamlined ridges aligned parallel to ice flow erosion of the underlying bedrock appears to have been limited radio echo soundings of the glacier show that at present it is characterized by a polythermal basal thermal regime with wet based subglacial conditions only beneath its thicker parts modification of the bed is limited under this thermal regime and as a result the supraglacial environment dominates modern sedimentation comparative studies on austre lovenbreen which also is probably polythermal indicate similar sedimentary characteristics and facies associations although here there are much more extensive areas of striated bedrock indicative of former basal sliding in contrast both austre broggerbreen and by analogy vestre lovenbreen are known to be predominantly cold based collectively these four glaciers suggest a trend of glacier recession and thinning accompanied by a change in thermal regime from predominantly wet based through partly frozen to completely frozen this study suggests that svalbard valley glaciers have several dynamic modes and that glaciers switch between these modes largely as a reaction to changes in mass balance

glacier permafrost interactions processes products and glaciological implications abstract glaciers and permafrost represent key components of the global cryosphere widely held assumptions that 1 they are largely mutually exclusive and 2 glaciers resting on permafrost are slow moving and geomorphologically ineffectual have meant that glacier permafrost interactions have been given little attention within the research literature recent research however has demonstrated that such interactions are likely to have been more extensive than previously thought particularly during periods of ice sheet growth when glaciers would have advanced over pre existing permafrost work in both modern and ancient environments has revealed that subglacial processes such as basal sliding and subglacial sediment deformation can remain active at temperatures below the pressure melting point due to the persistence of premelted liquid water consequently cold based glaciers resting on permafrost are potentially more dynamic than previously thought and are capable of creating subglacial features typically viewed as only forming beneath warm based ice in addition the active coupling of cold based ice with ice marginal permafrost means such ice masses are capable of deforming sediments and occasionally bedrock to depths of tens or even hundreds of meters and are commonly associated with the development of a range of distinctive ice marginal landforms including push or thrust moraines and hummocky or controlled moraines this reflects the influence of permafrost on the entrainment of debris rich basal ice as well as the hydraulic transmissivity of the groundwater system and the associated porewater pressures within the substrate this review considers the key characteristics of permafrost and its formation likely extent and rheological behaviour within glacial environments traditional conceptions regarding the motion and landscape impact of cold based glaciers resting on permafrost are considered before their re examination in light of recent work demonstrating the operation of basal processes at sub freezing temperatures the implications for our understanding of the dynamics of glaciers and ice sheets as well as landforms and sedimentary sequences indicative of glacier permafrost interactions are explored and exemplified with reference to modern and ancient glacial environments gaps in our existing knowledge are identified and profitable areas for future research suggested

zooming in on frozen bed patches scale dependent controls on fennoscandian ice sheet basal thermal zonation in this paper we explore geomorphological evidence allowing a first order reconstruction of the extent and pattern of frozen bed conditions under the last fennoscandian ice sheet we mapped relict landscapes i e glacial landforms and subaerially developed ground surfaces predating the last ice sheet and marking sustained frozen bed conditions at four different spatial scales at the ice sheet scale relict landscapes are most abundant between the last glacial maximum ice divide and the elevation axis of the scandinavian mountain range the location of frozen bed zones was mainly a function of dispersal centre location low surface temperatures and small strain heating and small ice thickness over the eastern flank of the mountain range at the mesoscale 260 360 km map area the pattern of relict surfaces is governed by inward cutting ice stream erosion topographical control was weak but relation to flow pattern was strong with the major frozen bed zone located where ice flow was strongly divergent at the regional scale 40 65 km map area in hilly terrain topographical control was strong with relict surfaces only appearing above a plane dipping in the up ice direction at the local scale 12 14 km map area control by topography was likewise strong but the detailed boundary pattern was irregular with specific landforms occurring both up and down ice of frozen patches

the last interglacial glacial cycle in fennoscandia abstract the climate and glacier fluctuations during the last interglacial glacial cycle in fennoscandia seem to correspond roughly in time with the climate fluctuations recorded in france germany holland however the climate in fennoscandia was considerably colder and the coldest phases are recorded as periods with glacier fluctuations admittedly the exact age and amplitudes of some fluctuations are still much debated

ice stream sticky spots a review of their identification and influence beneath contemporary and palaeo ice streams rapidly flowing ice streams are the arterial drainage routes in continental ice sheets and exert a major influence on ice sheet mass balance recent observations have revealed that ice stream flow exhibits considerable variability with relatively rapid changes taking place in speed and direction this spatial and temporal variability is intimately linked to the conditions at the base of the ice streams and the distribution of localised patches of basal friction known as sticky spots in this paper we provide a detailed review of sticky spot observations from both contemporary and palaeo ice stream beds in order to better understand their nature and influence observations and theoretical considerations reveal four primary causes of stickiness i bedrock bumps ii till free areas iii areas of strong well drained till and iv freeze on of subglacial meltwater these may act together in one location or in isolation and a progressive increase in their distribution could lead to ice stream shut down bedrock bumps are influential under active ice streams where they provide form drag and can create thinner ice which increases the likelihood of basal freeze on increased bed roughness may prevent the lateral migration of some ice streams but bedrock bumps are unlikely to cause ice stream shut down because over long time scales ice stream erosion might be expected to reduce their amplitude the influence of till free areas beneath an ice stream will depend critically on the amount of water that might be drawn out of the surrounding till to lubricate such areas they are likely to be most important in ice stream onset zones but their identification has proved difficult beneath active ice streams if an ice stream operates solely by till deformation it is conceivable that a progressive increase in the exposure of till free areas could lead to shut down through a process of sediment exhaustion areas of strong well drained till have been identified beneath both active and ancient ice streams and are most likely to result from the reorganisation of subglacial meltwater the collapse of an inefficient cannalised system to a more efficient channelised system can occur rapidly and this mechanism has been hypothesised as a candidate for ice stream shut down in both contemporary and palaeo settings basal freeze on has also been observed and inferred from beneath modern and palaeo ice streams and a reduction in basal meltwater supply coupled with ice stream drawdown and the advection of cold ice increases the likelihood of switching off an ice stream a paucity of data from ice stream sticky spots limits a better understanding of their nature distribution and evolution beneath ice streams future technological advances are likely to improve the resolution of the data collected from the beds of modern ice streams but well preserved palaeo ice stream beds also hold potential for investigating their influence on ice stream flow and we present simple landsystems models to aid their identification such data will considerably enhance the basal boundary condition in ice stream models which will ultimately refine our predictions of the response of contemporary ice sheets to future changes in climate

thermal conditions at the bed of the laurentide ice sheet in maine during deglaciation implications for esker formation the university of maine ice sheet model was used to study basal conditions during retreat of the laurentide ice sheet in maine within 150 km of the margin basal melt rates average 5m m a 1 during retreat they decline over the next 100 km so areas of frozen bed develop in northern maine during retreat by integrating the melt rate over the drainage area typically subtended by an esker we obtained a discharge at the margin of 1 2 m 3 s 1 while such a discharge could have moved the material in the katahdin esker it was likely too low to build the esker in the time available additional water from the glacier surface was required temperature gradients in the basal ice increase rapidly with distance from the margin by conducting upward into the ice all of the additional viscous heat produced by any perturbation that increases the depth of flow in a flat conduit in a distributed drainage system these gradients inhibit the formation of sharply arched conduits in which an esker can form this may explain why eskers commonly seem to form near the margin and are typically segmented with later segments overlapping onto earlier ones

a case for cold based continental ice sheets a transient thermal model a finite difference numerical model is used to simulate the temperature profile at the center of an ice sheet throughout the course of a glaciation the ice sheet is gradually built to a thickness of 3000 m over about 10 000 years starting on permafrost a geothermal heat flux is applied at large depth for an initial surface temperature of 12 5 c our model shows that basal melting occurs 72 000 years after the onset of the glaciation the important parameters determining the basal temperatures are the initial temperature of the ice and substrate the rate of downward advection of cold ice and to a lesser extent the thickness of the ice sheet the growth history of the ice sheet does not significantly influence the time at which basal melting occurs our results show the possibility that the central parts of the continental ice sheets were cold based for a significant part of their existence heating due to the geothermal heat flux cannot account for basal melting during most or all of a glacial cycle these results may help to explain the existence of preserved land forms under the ice sheets

subglacial preservation of valley morphology at amundsenisen western dronning maud land antarctica on the high altitude polar plateau of amundsenisen western dronning maud land east antarctica a subglacial valley with a broad horizontal valley floor interpreted as a sediment floodplain or valley delta was studied by radio echo sounding in addition a small probably glacial valley was mapped within the same subglacial massif basal ice temperatures were calculated using field data on precipitation air temperature and ice sheet thickness discoveries of old landforms which have been preserved more or less intact beneath the former fennoscandian and laurentide ice sheets have received increasing attention during the last decade the aim of this study is to investigate whether preservation of landforms occurs under the east antarctic ice sheet and to discuss under that climatological and glaciological circumstances preservation may take place the results show that the ice sheet covering the investigated localities is frozen to bed and therefore has an insignificant erosional capability the observations suggest that a large scale subglacial sediment deposit and a small valley formed by glacial erosion have survived beneath a cold based ice sheet marginal zone for a long time period the process of glacial preservation recognized for bedrock features and tentatively observed for sediment accumulations should act on similar large scale landforms under any cold based ice sheet present or past on the basis of existing studies of the age and stability of the east antarctic ice sheet a middle pliocene age is suggested for the preserved landforms the presence of the presumed sediment filled valley further indicates that no prolonged periods of basal melting have occurred at the amundsenisen study area during the ice sheet history which includes the quaternary glaciation periods finally calculations of basal temperature for localities at different altitudes within the same subglacial massif were used to demonstrate local altitudinal control of glacial preservation 1997 by john wiley sons ltd

modification of peripheral mountain ranges by former ice sheets the brecon beacons southern uk abstract the brecon beacons in southern wales is a large upland area 900 km 2 close to the periphery of the former british irish ice sheet the geomorphology of the brecon beacons highlands and surrounding areas was mapped using satellite imagery and a digital elevation model dem a fragmentary pattern of glacial lineations is inferred to represent ice build up in the mountains a more coherent set of glacial lineations formed by southward ice flow across the area from the welsh ice cap represents recession from the last glacial maximum lgm during this phase the brecon beacons acted as an obstacle deflecting the ice around higher terrain most of the higher terrain in the brecon beacons therefore appears to have escaped significant glacial erosion during both phases of ice flow due to cold based ice or low basal ice velocities beneath a local ice cap landforms previously interpreted as cirques in fact have v shaped profiles and lack evidence of major over deepening they are interpreted to have been formed primarily by processes other than glacial erosion the overall impact of glaciation in the brecon beacons appears to be limited primarily to the time when the area was over run by the welsh ice cap and the influence of local glaciation has been minimal this study has two main implications for landscape evolution in mountain ranges that lie at the periphery of former ice sheets first due to the presence of cold based ice or low basal ice velocities beneath a local ice cap it may be possible to find fragmentary traces of pre lgm ice flow second the pattern of glacial lineations in and around the brecon beacons indicates that peripheral mountain ranges may have deflected ice flow at the lgm resulting in low basal ice flow velocities and possible frozen bed conditions over higher terrain which consequently resulted in ineffective glacial erosion within the mountains themselves

motion in the north iceland volcanic rift zone accommodated by bookshelf faulting along mid ocean ridges the extending crust is segmented1 on length scales of 10 1 000 km where rift segments are offset from one another motion between segments is accommodated by transform faults that are oriented orthogonally to the main rift axis where segments overlap non transform offsets with a variety of geometries2 accommodate shear motions here we use micro seismic data to analyse the geometries of faults at two overlapping rift segments exposed on land in north iceland between the rift segments we identify a series of faults that are aligned sub parallel to the orientation of the main rift these faults slip through left lateral strike slip motion yet movement between the overlapping rift segments is through right lateral motion together these motions induce a clockwise rotation of the faults and intervening crustal blocks in a motion that is consistent with a bookshelf faulting mechanism named after its resemblance to a tilting row of books on a shelf3 the faults probably reactivated existing crustal weaknesses such as dyke intrusions that were originally oriented parallel to the main rift and have since rotated about 15 clockwise reactivation of pre existing rift parallel weaknesses contrasts with typical mid ocean ridge transform faults and is an important illustration of a non transform offset accommodating shear motion between overlapping rift segments

weathering characteristics of arctic islands in northern norway the arctic islands of the lofoten vesteralen archipelago in northern norway have a wide distribution of weathered land surfaces commonly located above 250 m with several apparent similarities in order to investigate the characteristics of deep weathering in this region northern langoya and hadseloya were chosen for in depth analyses eight weathering profiles were excavated from various surfaces and the stratigraphies were logged in detail material was collected throughout the weathering horizons and all samples were subsequently analysed for clay mineralogy 40 000 years of subaerial conditions considering the steady surface erosion this figure should be viewed as an absolute minimum age estimate mapping of the superficial sediments and geomorphological features of the study areas has revealed several common morphological features which indicate dominance of glacial and periglacial processes in the areas lying below the lower boundary of blockfields c 250 m the weathering mantles are not a periglacial end product but rather a relict tertiary landform that were modulated by permafrost processes as well as biological processes at later stages the regolith cover constrain the vertical extension of warmbased quaternary ice sheets challenging the notion of a parabolic ice mass consuming every mountain top of lofoten and vesteralen

glacial history and landscape evolution of southern cumberland peninsula baffin island canada constrained by cosmogenic 10be and 26al since the first application of cosmogenic nuclides to the study of glacial history and processes in 1990 increasing numbers of studies have used a variety of cosmogenic isotopes to quantify the exposure age and erosion rate of glaciated landscapes however obtaining chronological data from glaciated landscapes once covered by cold based nonerosive ice is challenging because these surfaces violate assumptions associated with simple cosmogenic exposure dating nonerosive glacial ice fails to completely remove nuclides produced during previous periods of exposure leaving behind rock surfaces with complex multigenetic nuclide inventories here we constrain the glacial history landscape evolution and efficiency of subglacial erosion in the pangnirtung fiord region of southern baffin island using over 300 paired analyses of in situ cosmogenic 10be and 26al simple exposure ages are 6 3 160 ka for 10be n 152 and 4 3 124 ka for 26al n 153 paired bedrock boulder samples have discordant ages simple exposure ages generally increase with elevation 10be and 26al ages for the same sample disagree and both boulders and bedrock yield multimodal age distributions all patterns suggestive of limited subglacial erosion measured 26al 10be ratios indicate that about one third of the samples in the data set experienced at least one period of pre holocene exposure followed by burial with limited erosion modeled two isotope minimum limiting exposure durations are as high as hundreds of thousands of years and minimum limiting burial durations range up to millions of years implying that parts of southern baffin island have been preserved beneath nonerosive glacial ice for much if not all of the quaternary a subset of the samples contains few nuclides inherited from prior periods of exposure and is thus useful for constraining the chronology of the most recent deglaciation using these samples we infer that deglaciation of most of the landscape occurred ca 11 7 ka and that the duval moraines a prominent feature of the last deglaciation formed ca 11 2 ka

deciphering a non glacial glacial landscape mosaic in the northern swedish mountains relict surfaces contain information on past surface processes and long term landscape evolution a detailed investigation of relict non glacial surfaces in a formerly glaciated mountain landscape of northern sweden was completed based on interpretation of colour infrared aerial photographs analysis in a gis and fieldwork working backwards from landscape to process surfaces were classified according to large and small scale morphologies that result from the operation of non glacial processes the degree of weathering regolith characteristics and the style of glacial modification surfaces were also compared in the gis according to elevation slope angle and bedrock lithology the study revealed five types of relict non glacial surfaces but also two types of extensively weathered glacial surfaces that were transitional to relict non glacial surfaces illustrating spatially variable processes and rates of non glacial and glacial landscape evolution rather than being static preglacial remnants relict non glacial surfaces are dynamic features that have continued to evolve during the quaternary the classification provides hypotheses for landscape evolution that can be field tested through for example terrestrial cosmogenic nuclide studies and geochemical analyses of fine matrix materials the classification may be applicable to relict non glacial surfaces in other formerly glaciated landscapes

periglacial trimlines in the scottish highlands abstract two periglacial weathering limits have been identified on mountains in the highlands of scotland the lower has been interpreted as a periglacial trimline marking the upper limits of loch lomond younger dryas stade glaciers and has been employed to reconstruct the dimensions of parts of the main west highland icefield and certain smaller glaciers and icefields interpretation of the upper weathering limit has been more contentious but recent research has demonstrated 1 significant contrasts in the degree of bedrock weathering above and below this limit 2 that gibbsite a pre devensian weathering product is abundant above the limit but rare in soils farther downslope 3 that the isotopic 26al age of bedrock exposures above the limit greatly exceeds that at lower altitudes and 4 that the altitude of the weathering limit descends regularly along former ice sheet flowlines collectively these attributes suggest that the upper weathering limit is a periglacial trimline defining the maximum altitude of the last ice sheet calculated basal shear stress values are consistent with this interpretation which implies that the mainland ice shed lay at ca 900 m in wester ross and descended gently northwards whilst harris and lewis in the outer hebrides supported an independent ice cap that achieved a maximum altitude of ca 700 m wider implications of this interpretation and the future potential for ice sheet reconstruction are explored

direct shear tests of materials from a cold glacier implications for landform development abstract the mechanical properties of materials at the ice bed interface exert a major control on glacier behaviour and define the nature and rate of subglacial erosion this paper presents new data on the strength and behaviour of basal ice and substrate of the suess glacier south victoria land antarctica which is a small alpine dry based glacier that has a basal temperature of 17 c a tunnel excavated in the glacier revealed a substrate composed of frozen sand and gravel and a basal zone that was 3 8 m thick from bottom to top the basal zone was composed of 1 8 m of stratified complexly deformed layers of ice and debris laden ice that was overlain by a 0 9 m thick layer of frozen sediment and a 0 8 m thick layer of discoloured ice that lies immediately beneath clean glacier ice direct shear tests were performed in the field on 36 samples using a strain rate of 0 85 mm h and on replicate samples in a laboratory at strain rates of 0 08 and 0 01 mm h the experiments performed in the field show that the average peak shear strength of substrate samples was 2 53 mpa which is almost twice as strong as the average value for basal ice 1 28 mpa and the glacier ice samples 1 39 mpa the laboratory experiments show that the behaviour and peak strength of samples sheared at the higher strain rates are considerably greater than the peak and residual strengths measured during the lower strain rate tests the direct shear tests suggest that the glacier substrate is unlikely to deform at the current temperature

the 2007 8 volcanic eruption on jebel at tair island red sea observed by satellite radar and optical images we use high resolution optical images and interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar data to study the september 2007 january 2008 jebel at tair eruption comparison of pre and post eruption optical images reveals several fresh ground fissures a new scoria cone near the summit and that 5 9 0 1 km2 of new lava covered about half of the island decorrelation in the insar images indicates that lava flowed both to the western and to the northeastern part of the island after the start of the eruption while later lavas were mainly deposited near the summit and onto the north flank of the volcano from the insar data we also estimate that the average thickness of the lava flows is 3 8 m resulting in a bulk volume of around 2 2 107 m3 we observe no volcano wide pre or post eruption uplift which suggests that the magma source may be deep the co eruption interferograms on the other hand reveal local and rather complex deformation we use these observations to constrain a tensile dislocation model that represents the dike intrusion that fed the eruption the model results show that the orientation of the dike is perpendicular to the red sea rift implying that the local stresses within the volcanic edifice are decoupled from the regional stress field

wet subglacial bedforms of the ne greenland ice stream shear margins we describe elongate wet subglacial bedforms in the shear margins of the ne greenland ice stream and place some constraints on their formation lateral shear margin moraines have been observed across the previously glaciated landscape but little is known about the ice flow conditions necessary to form these bedforms here we describe in situ sediment bedforms under the ne greenland ice stream shear margins that are observed in active source seismic and ground penetrating radar surveys we find bedforms in the shear margins that are 500 m wide 50 m tall and elongated nearly parallel to ice flow including what we believe to be the first subglacial observation of a shear margin moraine acoustic impedance analysis of the bedforms shows that they are composed of unconsolidated deformable water saturated till we use these geophysical observations to place constraints on the possible formation mechanism of these subglacial features

reconstruction of palaeo ice sheets the use of geomorphological data the article discusses the nature of the glacial inversion problem which is defined as the extraction of time slice ice sheet flow patterns from the patchy and partly overprinted landform record present in former ice sheet areas a coherent inversion model for derivation of flow patterns and interior ice sheet configuration from geomorphological data is presented glacial landscapes are classified according to the three criteria of internal age gradients presence or absence of meltwater traces aligned to flow traces and basal condition frozen bed thawed bed inferred from morphology the inversion model uses landscapes classified accordingly spatially delineated into fans as input data relative chronologies at fan intersections are used to sort fans in a relative age stack that can be linked to stratigraphic dating information

ribbed moraines in sweden distribution pattern and palaeoglaciological implications abstract a detailed map of ribbed moraines in central and northern sweden is presented they are frequent features over much of the mapped area and the distribution has well defined limits the most abundant ribbed moraines are situated in close connection to areas that are inferred to have been cold based during the retreat of the late weichselian ice sheet while outer fully warm based areas lack ribbed moraine observations have also been made on a more local scale where cold based patches grade into ribbed moraines via a zone of a broken up till cover a model of origin is presented which includes contracting of a frozen core area of a retreating ice sheet at the transition from non sliding to sliding conditions there will be high stresses resulting in local extensional flow at the base of the ice sheet a rising phase change surface frozen thawed material would cause detachment and boudinage like breaking up of a pre existing till cover thawed at the bedrock contact but still frozen to the ice sole the orientation of ice flow during the formation of the ribbed moraines closely matches the ice flow directions of the deglaciating late weichselian ice sheet thus ribbed moraines are considered to be deglaciation landforms typical of shrinking cold based zones of a retreating ice sheet

preglacial surface remnants and quaternary glacial regimes in northwestern sweden abstract we present a detailed map of the distribution of preglacial surface remnants in the kebnekaise region of northwestern sweden in this mountain area we discern four important large scale geomorphological units each representing a specific set of erosional agents and formative conditions these are i intact preglacial surface remnants characterized by gentle slopes round summits wide shallow valleys and an absence of rock basins ii preglacial surface remnants showing signs of minor glacial erosion and deposition iii glacially scoured surfaces including glacial troughs iv deep fluvial valleys cut into the preglacial surface the pattern of glacial erosion is explained as the result of three specific modes of glaciation known to have existed during the last 120 000 years and inferred to have repeatedly prevailed during the last 2 75 million years cirque glaciation mountain ice sheets and fennoscandian ice sheets a deep ocean oxygen isotope record of foraminifera from the north atlantic dsdp 607 was used to infer the temporal extent of these modes of glaciation during the last 2 75 million years we interpret the preglacial landscape preservation and the pattern of glacial erosion in terms of the configuration the basal thermal regime and the duration of such glaciation events the average subglacial thermal regime of both ice sheet types was frozen on the uplands and melting in the main valleys where outlet glaciers and ice streams formed the pre glacial landscape is best preserved at intermediate elevations low enough not to have been covered by cirque glaciers and apparently high enough not to have experienced melted bed conditions and subglacial erosion during ice sheet overriding events in a narrow high relief zone along the elevation axis interglacial fluvial erosion was morphologically important the absence of glacial erosion on uplands in this zone allowed fluvial erosion to commence on the same locations during each ice free interval in contrast no persistent fluvial valley pattern could develop in zones subjected to repeated glacial scouring and hence derangement of fluvial patterns

the glaciation of dartmoor the southernmost independent pleistocene ice cap in the british isles the granite uplands of dartmoor have traditionally been considered to be relict permafrost and periglacial landscapes that lay beyond the limits of quaternary glaciations but a variety of landform evidence indicates that a plateau icefield existed on the northern part of the moor constituting the southernmost independent ice cap in the british isles overdeepened or weakly u shaped valley segments fringing north dartmoor document an early extensive phase of glaciation but the most convincing landform evidence relates to more recent valley based glacier occupancy a moraine ridge on the slipper stones represents the most unequivocal palaeo glacier on north dartmoor with a palaeo ela of c 460 m above sea level asl although this relates to the youngest and most restricted phase of glaciation a longer term ela is likely to be represented by the corn ridge proto cirque at 370 410 m asl more extensive valley glaciers are recorded in each of the major drainage basins of north dartmoor by arcuate and linear bouldery ridges and hummocky valley floor drift which are interpreted as latero frontal moraines deposited by outlet lobes of a plateau icefield recession of these lobes is marked by inset sequences of such ridges and occasional meltwater channels plateau ice was predominantly thin and protective and snowblow and preferential accumulation in valley heads facilitated the modest glacial erosion and debris transport recorded in the landforms and sediments it is proposed that the highest plateaux have been occupied by ice for the longest cumulative period of time throughout the quaternary average glacial conditions explaining the distribution of different tor types on northern dartmoor this also explains the lack of tors on the most expansive of the highest plateau terrain ice dispersal centres as the product of a average glacial conditions preferentially removing tors or dampening their production rates b the survival of high relief type 1 tors during glaciation if they occupy summits too narrow to develop significant plateau icefields and or ridges that are bypassed by faster moving ice in adjacent deep valleys and c the survival of subdued type 2 tors in areas glaciated less regularly during the quaternary simple ice flow modelling indicates that a plateau icefield type glaciation is required for significant ice flow to occur and confirms thin ice cover in particular on narrow summits thereby supporting the explanation of tor class distribution the modelling allows us to spatially correlate the geomorphological evidence of margin positions into two major stages and further indicates a strong altitude mass balance feedback leading to an ice cap that is not in balance with its climate and with an extent that is limited by the length of the cold phases rather than their severity

morphology and stratigraphy from several deglaciations in the transtrand mountains western sweden the transtrand mountains western sweden are characterised by an abundance of glaciofluvial meltwater channels crossing lateral channels and channel systems overprinted by fluting occur at several localities drainage channel systems from three older deglaciations are interpreted to have been preserved despite overriding by later ice sheets deep sections machine excavated into the summit surface of the hundfjallet mountain revealed the presence of two lower diamictons into which two older generations of lateral channels were cut and subsequently buried by a late weichselian basal till buried frost sorted structures and frost fractured bedrock below the lowermost till indicate the repeated occurrence of periglacial condil conditions an organic layer between the two older units yielded an infinite radiocarbon age of 45000 yr bp the pollen content of this layer indicates a local mountain heath flora dominated by ericaceous dwarf shrubs and graminids the climate phase is interstadial or the beginning or end of an interglacial the different diamictons also display different pollen spectra during the last deglaciation the ice flow was from the north northeast the second youngest system of drainage channels corresponds to ice flow from approximately west northwest there are still older traces of separate deglaciation events from the east and north a frozen bed is interpreted to have been the standard basal regime for the last ice sheets to cover the transtrand mountains

fennoscandian palaeoglaciology reconstructed using a glacial geological inversion model the evolution of ice sheet configuration and flow pattern in fennoscandia through the last glacial cycle was reconstructed using a glacial geological inversion model i e a theoretical model that formalises the procedure of using the landform record to reconstruct ice sheets the model uses mapped flow traces and deglacial melt water landforms as well as relative chronologies derived from cross cutting striae and till lineations as input data flow trace systems were classified into four types i time transgressive wet bed deglacial fans ii time transgressive frozen bed deglacial fans iii surge fans and iv synchronous non deglacial event fans using relative chronologies and aggregation of fans into glaciologically plausible patterns a series of ice sheet configurations at different time slices was erected a chronology was constructed through correlation with dated stratigraphical records and proxy data reflecting global ice volume geological evidence exists for several discrete ice sheet configurations centred over the scandinavian mountain range during the early weichselian the build up of the main weichselian fennoscandian ice sheet started at approximately 70 ka and our results indicate that it was characterised by an ice sheet with a centre of mass located over southern norway this configuration had a flow pattern which is poorly reproduced by current numerical models of the fennoscandian ice sheet at the last glacial maximum the main ice divide was located overthe gulf of bothnia a major bend in the ice divide was caused by outflow of ice to the northwest over the lowest part of the scandinavian mountain chain widespread areas of preserved pre late weichselian landscapes indicate that the ice sheet had a frozen bed core area which was only partly diminished in size by inward transgressive wet bed zones during the decay phase

relationship between caldera collapse and magma chamber withdrawal an experimental approach collapse calderas have received considerable attention due to their link to earth s ore deposits and geothermal energy resources but also because of their tremendous destructive potential although calderas have been investigated through fieldwork numerical models and experimental studies some important aspects on their formation still remain poorly understood one key issue concerns the volume of magmas involved in caldera forming eruptions we perform analogue experiments to correlate the structural evolution of a collapse with the erupted magma chamber volume fraction the experimental device consists of a transparent box 60 60 40 cm filled with dry quartz sand and a water filled latex balloon as a magma chamber analogue evacuation of water through a pipe causes a progressive deflation of the balloon that leads to a collapse of the overlying structure the experimental design allows to record the temporal evolution of the collapse and to track the evolution of fractures and faults we study the appearance and development of specific brittle structures such as surface fractures or internal reverse faults and correlate each different structure with the corresponding removed magma chamber volume fraction we also determine the critical conditions for caldera onset experimental results show that at any stage of caldera developments the experimental relationship between volume fraction and chamber roof aspect ratio fits a logarithmic curve it implies that volume fractions required to trigger caldera collapse are lower for chambers with low aspect ratios shallow and wide than for chambers with high aspect ratios deep and small these results are in agreement with natural examples and previous theoretical studies

lateral shear moraines and lateral marginal moraines of palaeo ice streams abstract an understanding of the nature of sedimentation at ice stream lateral margins is important in reconstructing the dynamics of former ice sheets and modelling the mechanisms by which sediment is transported beneath contemporary ice streams theories of the formation of ice stream lateral moraines islms have hitherto been based on a relatively limited number of terrestrial and marine examples here an inventory of islms is compiled from available studies together with independent analysis of seismic reflection and bathymetric datasets the locations and dimensions of 70 islms alongside a synthesis of their key architectural and geomorphic characteristics are presented two different types of islms are identified type 1 islms are up to 3 5 km wide and 60 m thick they maintain a constant width thickness and cross sectional shape along their length type 1 islms are interpreted and referred to as ice stream lateral shear moraines that form subglacially in the shear zone between ice streams and slower flowing regions of an ice sheet in contrast type 2 islms are up to 50 km wide and 300 m thick they are only identified close to the shelf break in the marine environment type 2 islms exhibit an increase in width and thickness along their length and their distal slopes become steeper in a seaward direction they contain internal dipping reflections that indicate sediment progradation away from the former ice stream type 2 islms are interpreted and referred to as ice stream lateral marginal moraines that were formed at the lateral boundary between ice streams and seafloor terrain that was free of grounded ice we suggest that using bathymetric images and acoustic profiles it is possible to differentiate between ice stream lateral shear moraines and lateral marginal moraines in the geological record this distinction is important for understanding the mechanisms of sediment transfer beneath ice streams and for making inferences about the conditions that existed beyond the lateral ice stream margin at the time of lateral moraine formation slow moving ice beyond lateral shear moraines and ocean water rather than ice beyond lateral marginal moraines

analysis of multiple cosmogenic nuclides constrains laurentide ice sheet history and process on mt mansfield vermont s highest peak abstract constraining glacial history and process on mt mansfield the highest peak in vermont 1339 m a s l provides insight into how the laurentide ice sheet shaped the underlying landscape when latest pleistocene ice retreated and how upland and lowland glacial histories relate here we quantify in situ cosmogenic 10be in 20 bedrock and boulder surfaces as well as in situ cosmogenic 14c in three of those surfaces to assess subglacial erosion and exposure history isotopic concentrations indicate that mt mansfield s lower elevations 400 1200 m a s l were deeply eroded by at least several meters during the last glaciation and then deglaciated rapidly 10be ages across this elevation span are indistinguishable and average 13 9 0 6 ka n 15 suggesting that 800 m of ice thinning occurred within at most about a millennium conversely the higher elevations 1200 m a s l preserve a more complex geomorphic history mt mansfield s summit surfaces contain 10be from previous periods of exposure indicating that the mountaintop landscapes were likely preserved beneath cold based weakly erosive glacial ice exposure ages from the shorter lived isotope 14c are younger 9 7 and 11 7 ka suggesting that mt mansfield s summit was covered until the early holocene perhaps by snowfields ice carapaces and or till our findings in context of previous work suggest that thinning laurentide ice flowed through the valleys for at most hundreds of years following deglaciation of the uplands but that the summit remained shielded by ice or sediment for millennia after the valleys became ice free

cosmogenic nuclide evidence for minimal erosion across two subglacial sliding boundaries of the late glacial fennoscandian ice sheet abstract the existence of sliding and frozen bed areas under ice sheets is significant in understanding basal thermal regimes patterns of erosion and landform development and in constraining boundary conditions for the reconstructions of ice sheets recognition of subglacial boundaries between sliding and frozen bed areas for former ice sheets is typically based on distinct morphological contrasts between areas with glacial landform assemblages and relict areas showing little alteration of pre existing features some of these boundaries especially on continental shield areas however are clearly visible from air photos but have minimal topographic expression understanding the chronology and erosional development of such boundaries is important to provide insight into the pattern and persistence of basal conditions under ice sheets geomorphic evidence and cosmogenic radionuclide concentrations of bedrock outcrops on either side of two sliding boundaries on ultevis and arvestuottar low relief upland plateaus in northern sweden are consistent with negligible erosion in relict landscape frozen bed areas due to the last glaciation but also indicate insignificant erosion in the sliding areas such a pattern and magnitude of landscape modification indicates that sliding was short lived in these areas likely as a transient phase during deglaciation these sites demonstrate that short periods of sliding are in some cases sufficient to produce landscapes that are recognized as glacial from air photos thus regions of sliding identified on shield areas must be viewed as the cumulative total area that has experienced sliding at any time during a glaciation the actual extent of sliding areas during any single ice sheet phase is presumably considerably less than this cumulative total which has important implications for establishing appropriate basal boundary conditions for ice sheet reconstructions

are drumlins a product of a thermo mechanical instability abstract of numerous theories of drumlin genesis none has been widely accepted it seems evident however that some form of positive feedback process is involved under certain circumstances perturbations are amplified herein we suggest that patchy areas of frozen bed provide the initial perturbation such frozen patches may occur in local areas underlain by material of lower thermal conductivity or on slight topographic highs drag exerted by the frozen patch deflects ice flow into its lee dragging with it mobile till eroded from the thawed area the energy balance is such that this till likely refreezes either producing a topographic perturbation or amplifying an existing one the resulting topography then deflects more of the geothermal heat away from the developing hill and into the adjacent trough resulting in a positive feedback once the thermal perturbation exceeds a critical though as yet undefined level melting may decouple the ice from the bed preventing further entrainment of till from thawed areas and thus limiting the height and length of the drumlin

palaeo ice streams in the foxe baffin sector of the laurentide ice sheet in this paper we describe mapping of palaeo ice streams in the foxe baffin sector of the laurentide ice sheet by means of geomorphological interpretation of high resolution satellite images our interpretations were guided by a glaciological inversion scheme aided by digital elevation models publicly available sonar surveys and field studies as a result we produced a map depicting the location geometry and relative temporal changes of palaeo ice streams and analysed their palaeoglaciological implications for the foxe baffin sector we conclude that in the period between the last glacial maximum and approximately 7 0 kyr bp the foxe baffin sector was largely drained by topographically controlled outlet glaciers and ice streams which were organized in a relatively stable pattern during this time large areas of melville peninsula and central baffin island were subject to cold based conditions between 7 0 and 6 0 kyr bp the foxe baffin sector collapsed catastrophically in the foxe basin after which its remnant portion became confined to baffin island during this collapse rapid successions of small transient ice streams occurred along wide loosely defined topographical corridors in two sectors of baffin island the presently available landform archive on emerged land is not sufficient to conclusively support the existence of fully scaled ice streams along the whole length of hudson strait as an alternative solution we propose that topographically controlled ice streams might have occurred along the deepest parts of hudson strait with attendant cold based ice zones on marginal areas and islands at the head of the strait

dike emplacement at bardarbunga iceland induces unusual stress changes caldera deformation and earthquakes a 45 km long regional dike was emplaced over a period of 2 weeks in august 2014 at the boundary between the east and north volcanic zones in iceland this is the first regional dike emplacement in iceland monitored with modern geophysical networks the importance of which relates to regional dikes feeding most of the large fissure e g eldgja 934 and laki 1783 and lava shield e g early holocene skjaldbreidur and trolladyngja eruptions during this time the dike generated some 17 000 earthquakes more than produced in iceland as a whole over a normal year the dike initiated close to the bardarbunga volcano but gradually extended to the northeast until it crossed the boundary between the east volcanic zone evz and the north volcanic zone nvz we infer that the strike of the dike changes abruptly at a point from about n45 e coinciding with the trend of the evz to n15 e coinciding with the trend of the nvz this change in strike occurs at latitude 64 7 exactly the same latitude at which about 10 ma dikes in east iceland change strike in a similar way this suggests that the change in the regional stress field from the southern to the northern part of iceland has been maintained at this latitude for 10 million years analytical and numerical models indicate that the dike induced stress field results in stress concentration around faults and particularly shallow magma chambers and calderas in its vicinity such as tungnafellsjokull kverkfjoll and askja in particular the dike has induced high compressive shear and tensile stresses at the location of the bardarbunga shallow chamber and caldera ring fault where numerous earthquakes occurred during the dike emplacement many of which have exceeded m5 the largest m5 7 the first segment of the dike induced high tensile stresses in the nearby part of the bardarbunga magma chamber ring fault resulting in radially outward injection of a dike from the chamber at a high angle to the strike of the regional dike the location of maximum stress at bardarbunga fluctuates along the chamber ring fault boundary in harmony with dike size and or pressure changes and encourages ring dike formation and associated magma flow within the chamber caldera collapse and or eruption in some of these volcanoes is possible most likely in bardarbunga but depends largely on the future development of the regional dike

multiple ophiolite generation preserved in the northern philippines and the growth of an island arc complex abstract although all oceanic arcs grow through the addition of subduction generated magmas the geology of the northern philippines demonstrates that a major contribution to arc crustal growth can come from repeated episodic intra arc back arc and or fore arc oceanic crust generation with subsequent preservation of the basic ultrabasic units in the arc complex at least five episodes of oceanic crust generation are represented in the northern philippines by preserved ophiolitic sequences and recent intra arc seafloor spreading each episode is distinct in age as confirmed by modern dating techniques with the ages ranging from pre jurassic to quaternary although the philippines is widely regarded as an amalgamation of allochthonous terranes a review of the available data shows that there is currently no compelling evidence that these ophiolites are of exotic origin and that they have been tectonically accreted to the philippine arc complex rather the evidence suggests that most and possibly all of the ophiolites were generated as back arc fore arc or intra arc crust within the philippine arc complex hence there is a close spatial association of several ophiolitic terranes of diverse ages spanning 150 myr that formed as part of the arc complex such an association may have arisen from episodic generation of oceanic crust during periods of local extension in a suprasubduction zone setting which has experienced changing and possibly overlapping subduction from the east and west sides in the current reference frame disruption of the ophiolitic basement terranes has been and continues to be effected primarily by wrench faulting this style of arc growth has implications for the paleotectonic interpretation of ancient ophiolite arc terranes in continents and the petrologic evolution of island arcs

cosmogenic 10be and 26al exposure ages of tors and erratics cairngorm mountains scotland timescales for the development of a classic landscape of selective linear glacial erosion abstract the occurrence of tors within glaciated regions has been widely cited as evidence for the preservation of relic pre quaternary landscapes beneath protective covers of non erosive dry based ice here we test for the preservation of pre quaternary landscapes with cosmogenic surface exposure dating of tors numerous granite tors are present on summit plateaus in the cairngorm mountains of scotland where they were covered by local ice caps many times during the pleistocene cosmogenic 10be and 26al data together with geomorphic relationships reveal that these landforms are more dynamic and younger than previously suspected many cairngorm tors have been bulldozed and toppled along horizontal joints by ice motion leaving event surfaces on tor remnants and erratics that can be dated with cosmogenic nuclides as the surfaces have been subject to episodic burial by ice an exposure model based upon ice and marine sediment core proxies for local glacial cover is necessary to interpret the cosmogenic nuclide data exposure ages and weathering characteristics of tors are closely correlated glacially modified tors and boulder erratics with slightly weathered surfaces have 10be exposure ages of about 15 to 43 ka nuclide inheritance is present in many of these surfaces correction for inheritance indicates that the eastern cairngorms were deglaciated at 15 6 0 9 ka glacially modified tors with moderate to advanced weathering features have 10be exposure ages of 19 to 92 ka these surfaces were only slightly modified during the last glacial cycle and gained much of their exposure during the interstadial of marine oxygen isotope stage 5 or earlier tors lacking evidence of glacial modification and exhibiting advanced weathering have 10be exposure ages between 52 and 297 ka nuclide concentrations in these surfaces are probably controlled by bedrock erosion rates instead of discrete glacial events maximum erosion rates estimated from 10be range from 2 8 to 12 0 mm ka with an error weighted mean of 4 1 0 2 mm ka three of these surfaces yield model exposure plus burial ages of 295 71 84 520 141 178 and 626 85 102 ka a vertical cosmogenic nuclide profile across the oldest sampled tor indicates a long term emergence rate of 31 2 mm ka these findings show that dry based ice caps are capable of substantially eroding tors by entraining blocks previously detached by weathering processes bedrock surfaces and erratic boulders in such settings are likely to have nuclide inheritance and may yield erroneous too old exposure ages while many cairngorm tors have survived multiple glacial cycles rates of regolith stripping and bedrock erosion are too high to permit the widespread preservation of pre quaternary rock surfaces

landscape preservation under fennoscandian ice sheets determined from in situ produced 10be and 26al some areas within ice sheet boundaries retain pre existing landforms and thus either remained as ice free islands nunataks during glaciation or were preserved under ice differentiating between these alternatives has significant implications for paleoenvironment ice sheet surface elevation and ice volume reconstructions in the northern swedish mountains in situ cosmogenic 10be and 26al concentrations from glacial erratics on relict surfaces as well as glacially eroded bedrock adjacent to these surfaces provide consistent last deglaciation exposure ages 8 13 kyr confirming ice sheet overriding as opposed to ice free conditions however these ages contrast with exposure ages of 34 61 kyr on bedrock surfaces in these same relict areas demonstrating that relict areas were preserved with little erosion through multiple glacial cycles based on the difference in radioactive decay between 26al and 10be the measured nuclide concentration in one of these bedrock surfaces suggests that it remained largely unmodified for a minimum period of 845 418 461 kyr these results indicate that relict areas need to be accounted for as frozen bed patches in basal boundary conditions for ice sheet models and in landscape development models subglacial preservation also implies that source areas for glacial sediments in ocean cores are considerably smaller than the total area covered by ice sheets these relict areas also have significance as potential long term subglacial biologic refugia

the pattern and style of deglaciation at the late wisconsinan laurentide and cordilleran ice sheet limits in northeastern british columbia this paper reports on the landform assemblages at the northern confluence of the late wisconsinan laurentide and cordilleran ice sheets with montane and piedmont glaciers in the northern rockies and southern mackenzie mountains recent observations in northeastern british columbia refine our knowledge of the pattern and style of ice sheet retreat glacial lake formation and meltwater drainage at the onset of deglaciation confluent laurentide and cordilleran terminal ice margins lay between 59 n 124 30 w and 60 n 125 15 w from this terminal limit ice sheets retreated into north central british columbia and yukon territory with remnant cordilleran ice and montane glaciers confined to mountain valleys and the liard plateau distinctive end moraines are not associated with the retreat of cordilleran ice in these areas laurentide ice retreated northeastward from uplands and the plateaus then separated into lobes occupying the fort nelson and petitot river valleys ice retreat landforms include recessional end moraines sometimes overridden and drumlinized hill hole pairs crevasse fill deposits de geer like ribbed till ridges hummocky moraines kames meltwater features and glacial lake deposits that fall within the elevation range of glacial lake liard and glacial lake fort nelson ca 840 380 m meltwater and sediment transport into glacial lakes fort nelson liard nahanni and mackenzie was sustained by remnant ice in the liard river and fort nelson river drainage basins until the end of glaciation optical dating of sand from stabilized parabolic dunes on the liard plateau indicates that proglacial conditions lake formation and drainage began before 13 0 0 5 ka calendar years the petitot fort nelson and liard rivers all occupy spillways incised into glacial deposits and bedrock by meltwater overflow from glacial lakes peace and hay

abrupt climatic change related to unstable ice sheet dynamics toward a new paradigm ice streams are fast currents of ice that drain some 90 of present day ice sheets and probably drained a similar percent of ice from former ice sheets ice streams may have life cycles akin to but much longer than surge cycles of certain mountain glaciers the floating tongues of marine ice streams coalesce to form floating ice shelves that buttress marine ice sheets and the grounded lobes of terrestrial ice streams stabilize terrestrial ice sheets ice shelves and ice lobes form during the life cycles of ice streams and disintegrate rapidly to initiate new life cycles successive life cycles continue until the ice sheet collapses a new paradigm is postulated in which abrupt climatic change is driven by iceberg outbursts associated with life cycles of marine ice streams and dust storms associated with life cycles of terrestrial ice streams for pleistocene northern hemisphere ice sheets these mechanisms regulated north atlantic surface temperatures and salinity and perhaps planetary albedo and atmospheric co2 and thereby drove climatic change which tended to be abrupt because ice stream life cycles began and ended abruptly ice streams proliferated along the margins of northern hemisphere ice sheets after they advanced beyond the crystalline shields of north america and eurasia and spread over softer sedimentary rocks overlain by thick ice cemented sediments that progressively thawed especially along river valleys and marine troughs an increasing fraction of these ice sheets was then subjected to the unstable life cycles of ice streams as seen in the pronounced spikiness of the late glacial oxygen isotope stratigraphy in the greenland ice core at dye 3 life cycles of greenland ice streams during the holocene seem to be linked to episodes of regional climatic cooling most recently the little ice age when superimposed on the present milankovitch hemicycle of reduced insolation over the north atlantic this could abruptly initiate a new worldwide glaciation cycle in the aftermath of present day co2 greenhouse warming proliferation of antarctic ice stream life cycles during the period of greenhouse warming may also trigger global climatic change by forcing a reorganization of circumpolar thermohaline circulation in the southern ocean

the palaeoglaciology of the central sector of the british and irish ice sheet reconciling glacial geomorphology and preliminary ice sheet modelling digital elevation models of the area around the solway lowlands reveal complex subglacial bedform imprints relating the central sector of the lgm british and irish ice sheet drumlin and lineation mapping in four case studies show that glacier flow directions switched significantly through time these are summarised in four major flow phases in the region phase i flow was from a dominant scottish dispersal centre which transported criffel granite erratics to the eden valley and forced lake district ice eastwards over the pennines at stainmore phase ii involved easterly flow of lake district and scottish ice through the tyne gap and stainmore gap with an ice divide located over the solway firth phase iii was a dominant westerly flow from upland dispersal centres into the solway lowlands and along the solway firth due to draw down of ice into the irish sea basin phase iv was characterised by unconstrained advance of scottish ice across the solway firth forcing of a numerical model of ice sheet inception and decay by the greenland ice core record facilitates an assessment of the potential for rapid ice flow directional switching during one glacial cycle the model indicates that after fluctuations of smaller radially flowing ice caps prior to 30 ka bp the ice sheet grows to produce an elongate triangular shaped dome over nw england and sw scotland at the lgm at 19 5 ka bp recession after 18 5 ka bp displays a complex pattern of significant ice flow directional switches over relatively short timescales complementing the geomorphologically based assessments of palaeo ice dynamics the palaeoglaciological implications of this combined geomorphic and modelling approach are that a the central sector of the biis was as a major dispersal centre for only ca 2 5 ka after the lgm b the ice sheet had no real steady state and comprised constantly migrating dispersal centres and ice divides c subglacial streamlining of flow sets was completed over short phases of fast flow activity with some flow reversals taking place in less than 300 years

glacial geomorphology and geographic information systems recent developments in the field of glacial geomorphology have dramatically increased the need to acquire maintain manipulate and analyze large amounts of landform landscape and sediment data the use of geographic information systems gis has provided new platforms and tools for analysis and visualization of geomorphic data glacial geomorphologists have used gis to integrate multi source data manage multi scale studies identify previously unrecognized spatial and temporal relationships and patterns in geomorphic data and to link landform data with numerical models as part of model calibration and verification gis based analyses associated with numerical modeling are improving our understanding of glacial landscape evolution and are allowing new quantitative and systematic examinations of spatial and temporal patterns of glacial landforms and processes this has allowed for the development of insights and concepts that would be unlikely to arise using traditional methods alone key recommendations for future research and applications in glacial geomorphology include enhanced gis education and dissemination the development of standards and conventions for glacial geomorphic data community projects to collect data into readily accessible databases and enhanced use of linked gis model frameworks to address major issues in glacial geomorphology

sedimentology stratigraphy and glacier dynamics western scottish highlands glacial sediments of the western scottish highlands are comprehensively described and characterized here for the first time enabling the first glacial stratigraphy for the area to be proposed this classification is based on the results of extensive geological mapping and field investigation of sedimentary sequences and their structures x ray diffraction and particle size distribution analyses and comparison with deposits formed in contemporary glaciated environments these new data are subsequently appraised in terms of their implications for late pleistocene glacier evolution and dynamics together the data suggest that much of the landscape is palimpsest and can be attributed to the weichselian late devensian glaciation subsequent glacier advance during the younger dryas did little to modify the area suggesting that ice flow was dominated by sliding on a meltwater lubricated rigid bed with deformation of basal sediments playing a more limited role final deglaciation was marked by a significant increase in basal meltwater flux reflecting the warming climate and increasing precipitation these new palaeoglaciological and palaeoenvironmental insights advance our understanding of former glacier dynamics in the western scottish highlands improve our knowledge of pleistocene landscape evolution of this area and enable comparisons to be made with sedimentary sequences elsewhere