Glacial history of interior Jameson Land, East Greenland |
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| Authors: | PER MöLLER CHRISTIAN HJORT LENA ADRIELSSON OTTO SALVIGSEN |
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| Institution: | Dept. of Quaternary Geology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 13, S-223 62 Lund. Sweden;Norwegian Polar Research Institute, P.O. Box 5072 Majorstua. N-0301, Oslo. Norway |
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| Abstract: | The plateaus between 400 and 800 m a.s.l. around the water-divides on central and eastern Janieson Land are covered by the 'Jameson Land Drift' up to 50 m thick glacial. placiotluvial and glaciolacustrine deposits. A high content of far-travelled wcsterii rocks indicates the overriding by extensive glaciers channelled from the west through the Scoresby Sund basin. The Jameson Land Drift deposits have bccn lithostratigraphically divided into two groups. each representing the sedimentary successions from one glaciation in the wider sense of the word. sediments from the lower Lollandselv glaciation are upwards delimited by a distinct periglacial surface. TL-dates suggest a prc-Saalian (approximately isotope stages 11–9) age. The following Scoreshby Sund glaciation . when most of the studied Jameson Land Drift sediments were laid down. is of Saalian age (e. isotope stages 8 6). The deposits from the Scoresby Sund glaciation are interpreted as representing a complete glaciation deglaciation succession, including proglacial sandur and glaciolacustrine sediments. followed by till deposition, with an overlying succession of glaciolacustrinc and glaciofluvial sediments. From 200–250 m to c . 400 m a.s.l. there is a driftless area, exposing Jurassic sandstones, probably a result of intensive and long-lasting periglacial erosion. Extensive occurrences of tors and of glaciofluvially (subglacially as well as subaerially) eroded canyons and channels characterize the landscape. A similar. although less well defined. upper driftless zone is found above c 500 m a.s.l. on northern Jameson Land, north of the drift-covered plateaus. During the Wcichsclian (isotope stages 5d 2). thick glacial. fluvial and marine deposits were laid down in a coastal zone below c . 200 m a.s.l., and only cold-based local ice caps seem to have existed on the interior plateaus of Jameson Land. The now driftless areas were characterized by periglacial erosion during this period. |
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