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1.
Widespread till and moraines record excursions of middle-Pleistocene ice that flowed up-slope into several watersheds of the Valley and Ridge Province along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. A unique landform assemblage was created by ice-damming and jökulhlaups emanating from high gradient mountain watersheds. This combination of topography formed by multiple eastward-plunging anticlinal ridges, and the upvalley advance of glaciers resulted in an ideal geomorphic condition for the formation of temporary ice-dammed lakes. Extensive low gradient (1°–2° slope) gravel surfaces dominate the mountain front geomorphology in this region and defy simple explanation. The geomorphic circumstances that occurred in tributaries to the West Branch Susquehanna River during middle Pleistocene glaciation are extremely rare and may be unique in the world. Failure of ice dams released sediment-rich water from lakes, entraining cobbles and boulders, and depositing them in elongated debris fans extending up to 9 km downstream from their mountain-front breakout points. Poorly developed imbrication is rare, but occasionally present in matrix-supported sediments resembling debris flow deposits. Clast weathering and soils are consistent with a middle Pleistocene age for the most recent flows, circa the 880-ka paleomagnetic date for glacial lake sediments north of the region on the West Branch Susquehanna River. Post-glacial stream incision has focused along the margins of fan surfaces, resulting in topographic inversion, leaving bouldery jökulhlaup surfaces up to 15 m above Holocene channels. Because of their coarse nature and high water tables, jökulhlaup surfaces are generally forested in contrast to agricultural land use in the valleys and, thus, are readily apparent from orbital imagery.  相似文献   

2.
Moraine ridges are commonly used to identify past glacier ice margins and so infer glacier mass balance changes in response to climatic variability. However, differences in the form of past ice margins and post-depositional modification of moraine surfaces can complicate these geomorphic records. As a result, simple relationships, such as distance from current ice margin, or linear alignments, may not necessarily indicate moraines deposited contemporaneously. These disturbances can also modify the size distribution of lichen populations, providing a distinctive signature for surfaces with similar histories and a means of identifying contemporaneous moraine surfaces. In this paper, statistical analysis of lichen size distributions is used to identify moraine surfaces with similar histories from complex suites of Little Ice Age moraine fragments in the proglacial areas of Skálafellsjökull (including Sultartungnajökull) and Heinabergsjökull, southeast Iceland. The analysis is based on a novel use of the goodness-of-fit statistic, Watson's U2 which provides a measure of 'closeness' between two sample distributions. Moraine fragments with similar histories are identified using cluster analysis of the U2 closeness values. The spatial pattern of the clustered moraines suggests three distinct phases of moraine deposition at Skálafellsjökull and Heinabergsjökull, four phases at Sultartungnajökull and a digitate planform margin at Heinabergsjökull. These spatial patterns are corroborated with tephrochronology. The success of the U2 statistical analysis in identifying surfaces with similar histories using lichen size distributions suggests that the technique may be useful in augmenting lichenometric surface dating as well as differentiating between other surfaces that support lichen populations, such as rock avalanche deposits.  相似文献   

3.
Little Ice Age (LIA) moraines along the margins of Skálafellsjökull and Heinabergsjökull, two neighbouring outlet glaciers flowing from the Vatnajökull ice‐cap, have been re‐dated to test the reliability of different lichenometric approaches. During 2003, 12 000 lichens were measured on 40 moraine fragments at Skálafellsjökull and Heinabergsjökull to provide surface age proxies. The results are revealing. Depending on the chosen method of analysis, Skálafellsjökull either reached its LIA maximum in the early 19th century (population gradient) or the late 19th century (average of five largest lichens), whereas the LIA maximum of Heinabergsjökull occurred by the mid‐19th century (population gradient) or late‐19th century (average of 5 largest lichens). Discrepancies (c. 80 years for Skálafellsjökull and c. 40 years for Heinabergsjökull) suggest that the previously cited AD 1887 LIA maxima for both glaciers should be reassessed. Dates predicted by the lichen population gradient method appear to be the most appropriate, as mounting evidence from other geochronological reconstructions and sea‐ice records throughout Iceland tends to support an earlier LIA glacier maximum (late 18th to mid‐19th century) and probably reflects changes in the North Atlantic Oscillation. These revised chronologies shed further light on the precise timing of the Icelandic LIA glacier maximum, whilst improving our understanding of glacier‐climate interactions in the North Atlantic.  相似文献   

4.
Elizabeth B. Oswald  Ellen Wohl   《Geomorphology》2008,100(3-4):549-562
A jökulhlaup burst from the head of Grasshopper Glacier in Wyoming's Wind River Mountains during early September 2003. Five reaches with distinct sedimentation patterns were delineated along the Dinwoody Creek drainage. This paper focuses on a portion of the jökulhlaup route where erosion of the forested banks created 16 large logjams spaced at longitudinal intervals of tens to hundreds of meters. Aggradation within the main channel upstream from each logjam created local sediment wedges, and the jams facilitated overbank deposition during the jökulhlaup. Field surveys during 2004 and 2006 documented logjam characteristics and associated erosional and depositional features, as well as initial modification of the logjams and flood deposits within the normal seasonal high-flow channel. Overbank deposits have not been altered by flows occurring since 2003. Field measurements supported three hypotheses that (i) logjams present along the forested portions of the jökulhlaup route are larger and more closely spaced than those along adjacent, otherwise comparable stream channels that have not recently experienced a jökulhlaup; (ii) logjams are not randomly located along the jökulhlaup route, but instead reflect specific conditions of channel and valley geometry and flood hydraulics; and (iii) the presence of logjams facilitated significant erosional and depositional effects. This paper documents a sequence of events in which outburst floodwaters enhance bank erosion and recruitment of wood into the channel, and thus the formation of large logjams. These logjams sufficiently deflect flow to create substantial overbank deposition in areas of the valley bottom not commonly accessed by normal snowmelt peak discharges, and through this process promote valley-bottom aggradation and sediment storage. Changes in the occurrence of glacier outburst floods thus have the potential to alter the rate and magnitude of valley-bottom dynamics in these environments, which is particularly relevant given predictions of worldwide global warming and glacial retreat. Processes observed at this field site likely occur in other forested catchments with headwater glaciers.  相似文献   

5.
The Basin of Ubaté–Chichinquirá (5°28′N, 73°45′ W, c. 2580 m altitude) includes the Fúquene Valley and is located in the central part of the Eastern Cordillera of Colombia. Rocks and sediments were folded and faulted during the Miocene, uplifted during the (late) Pliocene, and affected by glaciers during the Pleistocene. Successive glacial and interglacial periods left significant marks in the landscape which were used to reconstruct six stages in the development of the landscape along a relative chronology. During early Pleistocene episode 1 glaciers formed U-shape valleys. Evidence of the impact of ice sheets has been found as far downslope as ca. 2900 m elevation. During episode 2 moraines developed which were cut by the present San José River. During episode 3 abundant sediment was produced by glacial erosion. It accentuated the sculpturing of hard rock and deepening of the drainage basin. The ancestral Ubaté–Suarez River constituted a dynamic erosive system that gave rise to deep V-shaped valleys and progressively formed a set of intricate valleys with a high sediment production. Finally, intense glacial and fluvio-glacial erosion led to a geomorphological system with high energy levels and intensive sediment transport leading to wide valleys. During episode 4 the Ubaté–Suarez River eroded and deepened its valley until it captured the old El Hato–San José Valley. It caused intense erosion of the moraine and the fluvio-glacial gravels. Deep V-shaped valleys stabilized in the high areas of the main drainage system and these valleys form the present-day fluvial sub-basins. During episode 5 the deep valley in the northern part of the Basin of Ubaté–Chichinquirá developed. During middle Pleistocene episode 6 colluvial sediments formed the Saboya dam and a lake was formed in the river valley of which the present Lake Fúquene is only a small remnant. Lithological changes indicate fluctuating water levels and Lake Fúquene must have expanded periodically up to an area 5 to 10 times the present-day surface.  相似文献   

6.
Storglaciären is a 3.2 km long polythermal valley glacier in northern Sweden. Since 1994 a number of small (1–2 m high) transverse debris‐charged ridges have emerged at the ice surface in the terminal zone of the glacier. This paper presents the results of a combined structural glaciological, isotopic, sedimentological and ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) study of the terminal area of the glacier with the aim of understanding the evolution of these debris‐charged ridges, features which are typical of many polythermal glaciers. The ridges originate from steeply dipping (50–70°) curvilinear fractures on the glacier surface. Here, the fractures contain bands of sediment‐rich ice between 0.2 and 0.4 m thick composed of sandy gravel and diamicton, interpreted as glaciofluvial and basal glacial material, respectively. Structural mapping of the glacier from aerial photography demonstrates that the curvilinear fractures cannot be traced up‐glacier into pre‐existing structures visible at the glacier surface such as crevasses or crevasse traces. These curvilinear fractures are therefore interpreted as new features formed near the glacier snout. Ice adjacent to these fractures shows complex folding, partly defined by variations in ice facies, and partly by disseminated sediment. The isotopic composition (δ18O) of both coarse‐clear and coarse‐bubbly glacier ice facies is similar to the isotopic composition of the interstitial ice in debris layers that forms the debris‐charged ridges, implying that none of these facies have undergone any significant isotopic fractionation by the incomplete freezing of available water. The GPR survey shows strong internal reflections within the ice beneath the debris‐charged ridges, interpreted as debris layers within the glacier. Overall, the morphology and distribution of the fractures indicate an origin by compressional glaciotectonics near the snout, either at the thermal boundary, where active temperate glacier ice is being thrust over cold stagnant ice near the snout, or as a result of large‐scale recumbent folding in the glacier. Further work is required to elucidate the precise role of each of these mechanisms in elevating the basal glacial and glaciofluvial material to the ice surface.  相似文献   

7.
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8.
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9.
Rock glaciers occur as lobate or tongue-shaped landforms composed of mixtures of poorly sorted, angular to blocky rock debris and ice. These landforms serve as primary sinks for ice and water storage in mountainous areas and represent transitional forms in the debris transport system, accounting for ~ 60% of all mass transport in some alpine regions. Observations of active (flowing) alpine rock glaciers indicate a common association between the debris that originates from cirque headwalls and the depositional lobes that comprise them. The delivery of this debris to the rock glacier is regulated primarily by the rate of headwall erosion and the point of origin of debris along the headwall. These factors control the relative movement of individual depositional lobes as well as the overall rate of propagation of a rock glacier. In recent geophysical studies, a number of alpine rock glaciers on Prins Karls Forland and Nordenskiöldland, Svalbard, Norway, and the San Juan Mountains of southwest Colorado, USA, have been imaged using ground penetrating radar (GPR) to determine if a relationship exists between the internal structure and surface morphology. Results indicate that the overall morphologic expression of alpine rock glaciers is related to lobate deposition during catastrophic episodes of rockfall that originated from associated cirque headwalls. Longitudinal GPR profiles from alpine rock glaciers examined in this study suggests that the difference in gross morphology between the lobate and tongue-shaped rock glaciers can be attributed primarily (but not exclusively) to cirque geometry, frequency and locations of debris discharge within the cirque, and the trend and magnitude of valley gradient in relation to cirque orientation. Collectively, these factors determine the manner in which high magnitude debris discharges, which seem to be the primary mechanism of formation, accumulate to form these rock glaciers.  相似文献   

10.
The basaltic Azas Plateau volcanic field is located in the Tuva Republic of the Russian Federation. The area was glaciated multiple times, and the field is characterized by the formation of subglacial volcanoes called tuyas, but subaerial volcanoes and lava fields also exist. A combined study of remote sensing and field observations in the vicinity of the tuyas in the southeastern Azas Plateau volcanic field identified landforms that are best explained by the jökulhlaup hypothesis. The landforms include elongated hills, paleochannels, and butte and basin topography. These landforms are hypothesized to have formed by both erosion and deposition caused by high-energy water streams. The triggering for the hypothesized jökulhlaups was either melting of ice by subglacial volcanism and/or destabilization of ice-dammed/subglacial reservoirs. The age estimation of the flood events is difficult, but they probably occurred during the ice ages of the Quaternary, as late as in the Middle-Late Pleistocene.  相似文献   

11.
The origin and mobilization of the extensive debris cover associated with the glaciers of the Nanga Parbat Himalaya is complex. In this paper we propose a mechanism by which glaciers can form rock glaciers through inefficiency of sediment transfer from glacier ice to meltwater. Inefficient transfer is caused by various processes that promote plentiful sediment supply and decrease sediment transfer potential. Most debris‐covered glaciers on Nanga Parbat with higher velocities of movement and/ or efficient debris transfer mechanisms do not form rock glaciers, perhaps because debris is mobilized quickly and removed from such glacier systems. Those whose ice movement activity is lower and those where inefficient sediment transfer mechanisms allow plentiful debris to accumulate, can form classic rock glaciers. We document here with maps, satellite images, and field observations the probable evolution of part of a slow and inefficient ice glacier into a rock glacier at the margins of Sachen Glacier in c. 50 years, as well as several other examples that formed in a longer period of time. Sachen Glacier receives all of its nourishment from ice and snow avalanches from surrounding areas of high relief, but has low ice velocities and no efficient system of debris removal. Consequently it has a pronounced digitate terminus with four lobes that have moved outward from the lateral moraines as rock glaciers with prounced transverse ridges and furrows and steep fronts at the angle of repose. Raikot Glacier has a velocity five times higher than Sachen Glacier and a thick cover of rock debris at its terminus that is efficienctly removed. During the advance stage of the glacier since 1994, ice cliffs were exposed at the terminus, and an outbreak flood swept away much debris from its margins and terminus. Like the Sachen Glacier that it resembles, Shaigiri Glacier receives all its nourishment from ice and snow avalanches and has an extensive debris cover with steep margins close to the angle of repose. It has a high velocity similar to Raikot Glacier and catastrophic breakout floods have removed debris from its terminus twice in the recent past. In addition, the Shaigiri terminus blocked the Rupal River during the Little Ice Age and is presently being undercut and steepened by the river. With higher velocities and more efficient sediment transfer systems, neither the Raikot nor the Shaigiri form classic rock‐glacier morphologies.  相似文献   

12.
This paper outlines the results of stable isotope (δD-δ18O) analysis of snow and glacier ice undertaken as part of a larger study concerning structural glaciology, debris entrainment and debris transport patterns at Midtre Lovénbreen, Svalbard. Samples of fresh snow were collected from the glacier surface in spring 1999 and samples of surface glacier ice and basal ice samples were collected in summer 1999. When plotted on bivariate co-isotopic diagrams (δD-δ18O), the slopes obtained for snow and unmodified glacier ice (6.4 and 6.9, respectively) are less steep than those for the basal ice layer and transverse ice layers on the ice surface (7.6 and 7.7, respectively). The difference in the slope of these lines is not statistically significant at the sample size (50) used in this study. The results indicate that although stable isotope analysis clearly has potential for studies of debris entrainment, transport and structural glaciology, difficulties remain with applying this technique. It is therefore not possible to apply these isotopic techniques to ice facies of unknown origins. In particular, large sample numbers are required to establish statistical differences and high-resolution sampling of specific ice facies may be necessary to establish isotopic differences.  相似文献   

13.
The vegetation on debris flow deposits is examined at seven sites in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Plant cover, colonizing tree ages, species' presence and abundance, and new stem ages on buried willows are vegetation parameters evaluated for the purpose of dating debris flows. The results indicate that general trends of vegetation development on debris flow deposits can be used to date recent events, at least relatively. The use of several methods to corroborate estimations of deposit age is usually necessary. An optimal approach is to combine absolute and relative dating techniques in evaluating debris flow occurrence, extent, and potential hazard.  相似文献   

14.
A tongue‐like, boulder‐dominated deposit in Tverrbytnede, upper Visdalen, Jotunheimen, southern Norway, is interpreted as the product of a rock avalanche (landslide) due to its angular to subangular boulders, surface morphology with longitudinal ridges, down‐feature coarsening, and cross‐cutting relationship to ‘Little Ice Age’ moraines. The rock avalanche fell onto glacier ice, probably channelled along a furrow between two glaciers, and stopped on the glacier foreland, resulting in its elongated shape and long runout distance. Its distal margin may have become remobilized as a rock glacier, but a rock glacier origin for the entire landform is discounted due to lack of source debris, presence of matrix, lack of transverse ridges, and sparcity of melt‐out collapse pits. Lichenometric dating of the deposit indicates an approximate emplacement age of ad 1900. Analysis highlights the interaction of rock‐slope failures and glaciers during deglacierization in a neoparaglacial setting, with reduced slope stability due to debuttressing and permafrost degradation, and enhanced landslide mobility due to flow over a glacier and topographic channelling. Implications for the differentiation of relict landslides, moraines and rock glaciers are discussed and interrelationships between these landforms are considered in terms of an ice‐debris process continuum.  相似文献   

15.
Enhanced delivery of water‐saturated, ice‐marginal sediments to the glacier surface is a response to glacier thinning that has the potential to increase both levels of sediment transfer through the glacier hydrological system and total basin sediment yields. Preliminary observations made during summer 2007 at Austre Brøggerbreen, Svalbard, confirm that ice‐marginal debris flows in the upper reaches of the glacier are actively delivering sediments to the glacier surface, which may then be flushed into the glacier's hydrological system. During a four‐day observation period, several stochastic pulses in water turbidity were observed at a single portal where solely supra‐ and englacial drainage emerge at the glacier margin. The erratic suspended sediment fluxes were hypothesized to originate from ice‐marginal sources. Quantitative analysis of continuous turbidity and discharge data confirm that discharge is not driving these turbidity pulses and, combined with observational data, that the most likely origin is the delivery of water‐saturated sediments to the glacier surface from ice‐marginal, debris flows with subsequent transfer to the portal via the glacial drainage system. These observations illustrate the potential importance of the paraglacial component to the overall sediment cascade of deglaciating basins and highlight the need for careful interpretation of turbidity records, where stochastic pulses in turbidity may be attributed to sources and processes other than ice‐marginal sediment inputs.  相似文献   

16.
The ablation rate under a debris layer is very difficult to measure directly at debris-covered glaciers, because the surface is highly heterogeneous, and the ablation rate varies tremendously from place to place. Heat budget considerations with a debris layer on top of glacier ice suggested that 'thermal resistance' of the debris layer could be estimated from surface temperature and the heat fluxes at the debris surface, and the ablation rate of the underlying glacier ice from the thermal resistance and meteorological data. The method was tested at the Lirung Glacier in Langtang Valley, Nepal Himalayas, using the thermal band of LANDSAT satellite for estimating surface temperature distribution of the debris top surface. The amount of melt water thus estimated was compatible with the observed discharge data from the glacier basin for periods of the monsoon season in 1985 and the pre-monsoon to the monsoon season in 1996. The investigation also revealed that the amount of discharge was much larger than the amount of precipitation over the basin, and it was suggested that the melt water from the debris-covered glacier contributes significantly to the river flow as a result of the shrinkage of the glacier.  相似文献   

17.
Advance of part of the margin of the Greenland ice sheet across a proglacial moraine ridge between 1968 and 2002 caused progressive changes in moraine morphology, basal ice formation, debris release, ice‐marginal sediment storage, and sediment transfer to the distal proglacial zone. When the ice margin is behind the moraine, most of the sediment released from the glacier is stored close to the ice margin. As the margin advances across the moraine the potential for ice‐proximal sediment storage decreases and distal sediment flux is augmented by reactivation of moraine sediment. For six stages of advance associated with distinctive glacial and sedimentary processes we describe the ice margin, the debris‐rich basal ice, debris release from the glacier, sediment routing into the proglacial zone, and geomorphic processes on the moraine. The overtopping of a moraine ridge is a significant glaciological, geomorphological and sedimentological threshold in glacier advance, likely to cause a distinctive pulse in distal sediment accumulation rates that should be taken into account when glacial sediments are interpreted to reconstruct glacier fluctuations.  相似文献   

18.
During the initial stages of the November 1996 jökulhlaup at Skeiðarárjökull, Iceland, floodwaters burst onto the glacier surface via a series of fractures. This supraglacial drainage led to the formation of a number of distinct ice surface depressions, one of which is investigated in detail. The morphology and structural characteristics of this feature are described, as well as the sedimentology of an associated assemblage of debris-filled fractures. This work suggests that debris-charged subglacial floodwaters travelled up to the glacier surface, where supraglacial flow occurred initially via an extensive network of fractures, orientated parallel to the glacier margin. Supraglacial discharge became progressively more focused into a series of discrete outlets, leading to the mechanical erosion of a number of depressions on the glacier surface. The associated transfer of subglacially derived floodwaters to high levels within the glacier resulted in the rapid entrainment of large volumes of sediment which may influence the patterns, processes and products of ice-marginal sedimentation in the future.  相似文献   

19.
Smaller glaciers (<0.5 km2) react quickly to environmental changes and typically show a large scatter in their individual response. Accounting for these ice bodies is essential for assessing regional glacier change, given their high number and contribution to the total loss of glacier area in mountain regions. However, studying small glaciers using traditional techniques may be difficult or not feasible, and assessing their current activity and dynamics may be problematic. In this paper, we present an integrated approach for characterizing the current behaviour of a small, avalanche‐fed glacier at low altitude in the Italian Alps, combining geomorphological, geophysical and high‐resolution geodetic surveying with a terrestrial laser scanner. The glacier is still active and shows a detectable mass transfer from the accumulation area to the lower ablation area, which is covered by a thick debris mantle. The glacier owes its existence to the local topo‐climatic conditions, ensured by high rock walls which enhance accumulation by delivering avalanche snow and reduce ablation by providing topographic shading and regulating the debris budget of the glacier catchment. In the last several years the glacier has displayed peculiar behaviour compared with most glaciers of the European Alps, being close to equilibrium conditions in spite of warm ablation seasons. Proportionally small relative changes have also occurred since the Little Ice Age maximum. Compared with the majority of other Alpine glaciers, we infer for this glacier a lower sensitivity to air temperature and a higher sensitivity to precipitation, associated with important feedback from increasing debris cover during unfavourable periods.  相似文献   

20.
Long‐term observations of partly debris‐covered glaciers have allowed us to assess the impact of supra‐glacial debris on volumetric changes. In this paper, the behaviour of the partially debris‐covered, 3.6 km2 tongue of Pasterze Glacier (47°05′N, 12°44′E) was studied in the context of ongoing climate changes. The right part of the glacier tongue is covered by a continuous supra‐glacial debris mantle with variable thicknesses (a few centimetres to about 1 m). For the period 1964–2000 three digital elevation models (1964, 1981, 2000) and related debris‐cover distributions were analysed. These datasets were compared with long‐term series of glaciological field data (displacement, elevation change, glacier terminus behaviour) from the 1960s to 2006. Differences between the debriscovered and the clean ice parts were emphasised. Results show that volumetric losses increased by 2.3 times between the periods 1964–1981 and 1981–2000 with significant regional variations at the glacier tongue. Such variations are controlled by the glacier emergence velocity pattern, existence and thickness of supra‐glacial debris, direct solar radiation, counter‐radiation from the valley sides and their changes over time. The downward‐increasing debris thickness is counteracting to a compensational stage against the common decrease of ablation with elevation. A continuous debris cover not less than 15 cm in thickness reduces ablation rates by 30–35%. No relationship exists between glacier retreat rates and summer air temperatures. Substantial and varying differences of the two different terminus parts occurred. Our findings clearly underline the importance of supra‐glacial debris on mass balance and glacier tongue morphology.  相似文献   

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