| 1. |
- Alexanderson, Helena, et al.
(författare)
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MIS 3 age of the Veiki moraine in N Sweden – Dating the landform record of an intermediate-sized ice sheet in Scandinavia
- 2022
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Ingår i: Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine research. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1523-0430 .- 1938-4246. ; 54:1, s. 239-261
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Veiki moraine in northern Sweden, a geomorphologically distinct landscape of ice-walled lake plains, has been interpreted to represent the former margin of an intermediate-sized pre–Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) Fennoscandian ice sheet, but its age is debated as either marine isotope stage (MIS) 5c or MIS 3. We have applied optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radiocarbon dating to four sites within the northern part of the Veiki moraine to establish its chronology. The radiocarbon ages provide only minimum ages and most OSL ages have low precision due to poor luminescence characteristics and problems with incomplete bleaching, leading to two alternative ages. In either case, the OSL dating places the Veiki moraine formation in MIS 3 (best estimate 56–39 ka). Sedimentation continued in the low-lying centers of some plateaus (ice-walled lake plains) during MIS 3 and during the Holocene, with a break during the Last Glacial Maximum when the area was ice covered. We speculatively constrain the broad timing further by relating the sequence of events to other climate records. We suggest that ice margin retreat to the west of the Veiki area took place during Greenland Interstadial (GI) 16.1 (58.0–56.5 ka) and that limited ice advances, which led to debris-covered ice margins in the Veiki zone, occurred during the following stadials GS-16.1 to 15.1 (56.5–54.2 ka). The GI-14 interstadial, which began 54.2 ka and lasted ~5.9 ka, could then be the period when the ice within the dead-ice landscape melted, first leading to ice-walled lakes and later to the inversed topography characteristic of the Veiki landscape.
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| 2. |
- Sigfúsdóttir, Thorbjörg, et al.
(författare)
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Active retreat of a Late Weichselian marine-terminating glacier : An example from Melasveit, western Iceland
- 2018
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Ingår i: Boreas. - : Wiley. - 0300-9483. ; 47:3, s. 813-836
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Large and complete glaciotectonic sequences formed by marine-terminating glaciers are rarely observed on land, hampering our understanding of the behaviour of such glaciers and the processes operating at their margins. During the Late Weichselian in western Iceland, an actively retreating marine-terminating glacier resulted in the large-scale deformation of a sequence of glaciomarine sediments. Due to isostatic rebound since the deglaciation, these formations are now exposed in the coastal cliffs of Belgsholt and Melabakkar-Ásbakkar in the Melasveit district, and provide a detailed record of past glacier dynamics and the inter-relationships between glaciotectonic and sedimentary processes at the margin of this marine-terminating glacier. A comprehensive study of the sedimentology and glaciotectonic architecture of the coastal cliffs reveals a series of subaquatic moraines formed by a glacier advancing from Borgarfjörur to the north of the study area. Analyses of the style of deformation within each of the moraines demonstrate that they were primarily built up by ice-marginal/proglacial thrusting and folding of marine sediments, as well as deposition and subsequent deformation of ice-marginal subaquatic fans. The largest of the moraines exposed in the Melabakkar-Ásbakkar section is over 1.5 km wide and 30 m high and indicates the maximum extent of the Borgarfjörur glacier. Generally, the other moraines in the series become progressively younger towards the north, each designating an advance or stillstand position as the glacier oscillated during its overall northward retreat. During this active retreat, glaciomarine sediments rapidly accumulated in front of the glacier providing material for new moraines. As the glacier finally receded from the area, the depressions between the moraines were infilled by continued glaciomarine sedimentation. This study highlights the dynamics of marine-terminating glaciers and may have implications for the interpretation of their sedimentological and geomorphological records.
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| 3. |
- Sigfúsdóttir, Thorbjörg, et al.
(författare)
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Micromorphological evidence for the role of pressurised water in the formation of large-scale thrust-block moraines in Melasveit, western Iceland
- 2020
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Ingår i: Quaternary Research. - : Cambridge University Press (CUP). - 0033-5894 .- 1096-0287. ; 93:1, s. 88-109
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Pressurised meltwater has a major impact on ice dynamics, as well as on sedimentary and deformational processes occurring below/in front of glaciers and ice sheets, but its role in glaciotectonic processes is yet to be fully understood. This study explores micro- and macroscale structures developed within décollements in two thrust-block moraines of Late Weichselian age in Melasveit, western Iceland. The aim is to investigate how pressurised subglacial meltwater can aid the dislocation and transport of large, unfrozen and unlithified sediment blocks by glaciers. A detailed model is constructed for the development of the thrust-block moraines and the microscale processes occurring along their detachments during thrusting. The detachments are characterized by relatively thin zones of crosscutting hydrofractures, which reflect fluctuating water pressures during glaciotectonism. Little evidence of shearing is observed along the leading edges of the thrusts in both moraines. This is supported by high water pressures along the detachments and indicates that the thrust blocks were initially decoupled from the underlying deposits. As the thrust moraines evolved, an increased amount of shear occurred in between events of sediment liquefaction, hydrofracturing, and fluid escape. This was followed by progressive locking up of the detachments and eventual cessation in the accretion of the thrust blocks.
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| 4. |
- Sigfúsdóttir, Thorbjörg, et al.
(författare)
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Refining the history of Younger Dryas and Early Holocene glacier oscillations in the Borgarfjörður region, western Iceland
- 2020
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Ingår i: Boreas. - : Wiley. - 0300-9483 .- 1502-3885. ; 49:2, s. 296-314
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The lower Borgarfjörður region, western Iceland, has been central to the reconstructions of the dynamics and collapse of the Icelandic Ice Sheet during the deglaciation. Here, extensive stratigraphical sections and landforms provide a rare opportunity to study past glacier dynamics in this part of Iceland. Previous studies reveal that a large outlet glacier in Borgarfjörður advanced during the Late Weichselian resulting in large-scale deformation of glaciomarine sediments and the formation of a series of ice-marginal moraines. However, the events recorded by these sediments and landforms are poorly constrained in time. We present and discuss 22 new radiocarbon dates in the context of recent reconstructions of the regional glacier dynamics in order to constrain the timing of the glacier oscillations. The results show that a dynamic, marine-terminating glacier advanced out of Borgarfjörður sometime after c. 13.0 cal. ka BP, resulting in the formation of an extensive moraine complex. The timing indicates that the advance occurred during climate cooling and widespread glacier expansions within the Younger Dryas. Followed by the first initial advance, the glacier exhibited at least five re-advances punctuated by phases of retreat. Each re-advance terminated proximal (within 5 km) to the outermost moraine complex although the extent of periodic retreat and the exact timing of these oscillations are unknown. All these phases of re-advance occurred prior to the onset of the Holocene (around 11.7 cal. ka BP), during which marine fauna re-colonized the area and the Borgarfjörður glacier retreated from the moraines. During the Early Holocene (sometime after c. 11.3 cal. ka BP), the Borgarfjörður glacier re-advanced to a position within ~5 km of the YD ice limit. This is the first recorded Early Holocene large-scale glacier advance in western Iceland and suggests that glacier expansion in this region coincided with widespread advances elsewhere in Iceland.
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