| 1. |
- Fabel, D., et al.
(author)
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Retreat rate of the northern Fennoscandian Ice Sheet margin
- 2007
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In: Geophysical Research Abstracts.
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Conference paper (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The deglaciation chronologies of the northern and north-eastern margins of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet are relatively poorly constrained. This is because the principal methodological tool to trace and date the deglaciation pattern, the occurrence of deglaciation varves, does not apply in the northernmost regions of Fennoscandia. Moreover, a paucity of radiocarbon dates allows for only a most generalised pattern for the post-Younger Dryas shrinkage of the ice sheet to its final deglaciation configuration in the northern Swedish mountains. We are tracing the deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet from its Younger Dryas terminal moraines in northern Norway and eastern Finland towards the northern Swedish mountains, using cosmogenic nuclide apparent exposure ages of depositional and erosional features related to the former ice sheet margin. Because the ice sheet had initially warm-based conditions close to its margin, the dominant morphology is one of eskers and aligned lineation systems such as crag-and-tails. Abundant meltwater has locally eroded bedrock to considerable depth and deposited fans or deltas perched above current local base levels. Subglacial conditions during final deglaciation close to the mountain range were cold-based, thus inhibiting the formation of eskers and lineation systems. However, there is a ubiquity of meltwater erosional imprints and occasional plucking scars where, locally, pressure-melting conditions were reached. Surface exposure ages from these different geomorphological settings should yield true deglaciation ages provided the following conditions are met, (i) erosion on crags of crag-and-tails, across transverse erosional scarps, and in meltwater channels has exposed bedrock surfaces without a prior exposure history, and (ii) depositional features contain exposed boulders without a prior exposure history. Results show that transverse erosional scarps and erratics yield reliable deglaciation ages, but that bedrock samples from meltwater channels and crag-and-tails and sediment samples from eskers occasionally yield unreliable deglaciation ages due to cosmogenic nuclide inheritance and potential shielding by snow. Apparent deglaciation ages range from _14 ka at the Younger Dryas moraine to _8 ka approximately 500 km to the south in the northern Swedish Mountains. The spread of ages do not deviate from what would be expected for a regular uninterrupted retreat by the ice margin
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| 2. |
- Kleman, Johan, et al.
(author)
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Durations and propagation patterns of ice sheet instability events
- 2014
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In: Quaternary Science Reviews. - : Elsevier BV. - 0277-3791 .- 1873-457X. ; 92, s. 32-39
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Continued atmospheric and ocean warming places parts of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet at risk for collapse through accelerated ice flow and grounding line retreat over reversed bed slopes. However, understanding of the speed and duration of ice sheet instability events remains incomplete, limiting our ability to include these events in sea level rise projections. Here, we use a first-order, empirical approach, exploring past instability events in the Fennoscandian (FIS) and Laurentide (LIS) ice sheets to establish a relationship between catchment size and the duration of instability events. We also examine how instabilities propagate through ice sheet catchments, and how this propagation is controlled by topography and existing flow organisation at the onset of an event. We find that the fastest documented paleo-collapses involved streaming or surging in corridors that are wide compared to their length, and in which fast flow did not resume after the event. Distributed ice stream networks, in which narrow ice streams were intertwined with slow-flow interstream ridges, are not represented among the fastest documented events. For the FIS and LIS, there is geological evidence for instability events covering areas of similar to 100,000 km(2), with durations between 100 and 300 yr. Comparison of the spatial patterns and topographic contexts of Lateglacial collapse events in former Northern Hemisphere ice sheets and the current WAIS suggest that only a minor part of the WAIS area may be at risk for unimpeded collapse, and that negative feedbacks will likely slow or halt ice drawdown in remaining areas. The Pine Island Glacier (PIG) and Thwaites Glacier (TG) catchments in West Antarctica are likely to respond in very different ways to possible further grounding line retreat. The PIG may experience a minor collapse over its main trunk, but the bed topography favours a less dramatic retreat thereafter. The TG is probably not as close to a threshold as PIG, but once efficient drainage has progressed inwards to reach the Bentley Subglacial Basin (BSB) and Bentley Subglacial Trench (BST), a full collapse of the area may occur. The likely time perspective for a BSB BST collapse is the time required for 100-200 km of grounding line retreat in the TG system plus 100-300 years for an actual collapse event.
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| 5. |
- Margold, Martin, et al.
(author)
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Retreat pattern of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet in central British Columbia at the end of the last glaciation reconstructed from glacial meltwater landforms
- 2013
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In: Boreas. - : Wiley. - 0300-9483 .- 1502-3885. ; 42:4, s. 830-847
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS) covered much of the mountainous northwestern part of North America at least several times during the Pleistocene. The pattern and timing of its growth and decay are, however, poorly understood. Here, we present a reconstruction of the pattern of ice-sheet retreat in central British Columbia at the end of the last glaciation based on a palaeoglaciological interpretation of ice-marginal meltwater channels, eskers and deltas mapped from satellite imagery and digital elevation models. A consistent spatial pattern of high-elevation (1600-2400m a.s.l.), ice-marginal meltwater channels is evident across central British Columbia. These landforms indicate the presence of ice domes over the Skeena Mountains and the central Coast Mountains early during deglaciation. Ice sourced in the Coast Mountains remained dominant over the southern and east-central parts of the Interior Plateau during deglaciation. Our reconstruction shows a successive westward retreat of the ice margin from the western foot of the Rocky Mountains, accompanied by the formation and rapid evolution of a glacial lake in the upper Fraser River basin. The final stage of deglaciation is characterized by the frontal retreat of ice lobes through the valleys of the Skeena and Omineca Mountains and by the formation of large esker systems in the most prominent topographic lows of the Interior Plateau. We conclude that the CIS underwent a large-scale reconfiguration early during deglaciation and was subsequently diminished by thinning and complex frontal retreat towards the Coast Mountains.
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| 6. |
- Patton, H., et al.
(author)
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The extreme yet transient nature of glacial erosion
- 2022
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In: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 13:1
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Ice can sculpt extraordinary landscapes, yet the efficacy of, and controls governing, glacial erosion on geological timescales remain poorly understood and contended, particularly across Polar continental shields. Here, we assimilate geophysical data with modelling of the Eurasian Ice Sheet—the third largest Quaternary ice mass that spanned 49°Nto82°N—to decipher its erosional footprint during the entire last ~100 ka glacial cycle. Our results demonstrate extreme spatialandtemporal heterogeneity in subglacial erosion, with rates ranging from 0 to 5 mm a−1 and anetvolume equating to ~130,000 km3 of bedrock excavated to depths of ~190 m. A hierarchy of environmental controls ostensibly underpins this complex signature: lithology, topography and climate, though it is basal thermodynamics that ultimately regulates erosion, which can be variously protective, pervasive, or, highly selective. Our analysis highlights the remarkable yet fickle nature of glacial erosion—critically modulated by transient ice-sheet dynamics—with its capacity to impart a profound but piecemeal geological legacy across mid- and highlatitudes.
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