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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Matthew Burke, Professor Andrew RussellORCiD
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During glacial outburst floods (jokulhlaups) large ice-blocks are often released from the glacier margin. Ice-blocks ground at points of flow deceleration, generating distinctive patterns of scour and deposition scaled to the obstacle size. The large-scale ice-block obstacle marks produced within the proglacial zone are diagnostic of jokulhlaups. We use ground-penetrating radar (CPR) to investigate the sedimentary architecture of ice-block obstacle marks generated by the November 1996 jokulhlaup at Skeidararjokull, Iceland. The CPR data reveal a varied sedimentary architecture, interpreted to suggest that ice-block obstacle mark sedimentology is controlled by flow conditions, sediment supply, and whether ice blocks are deposited in isolation or as a cluster. Following ice-block grounding, deflection of flow down and away from the obstacle develops horseshoe vortices that maintain a non-depositional hollow around the obstacle, whilst continued outwash deposition away from the obstacle raises the level of the surrounding sandur. Where ice-blocks ground early during the jokulhlaup, hollows are infilled with foreset beds at the up-flow end and backset beds (antidune) distally. However, where ice-blocks ground on the waning stage when sediment flux is reduced, antidunes are not preserved and the hollow is infilled with low-angle foreset beds. In both cases the lee-side shadow ridge is composed of pseudo-anticlinal beds proximal to the obstacle (where shed vortices are strong) and plane beds distally (where flows converge and the shed vortices weaken). Where flow parallel ice-block clusters develop, the grounding of smaller ice-blocks in the lee of the initial obstacle results in only limited shadow ridge aggradation. These data provide improved insight into the controls on ice-block obstacle mark sedimentary architecture and allow identification of high-magnitude jokulhlaups in the sedimentary record. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Author(s): Burke MJ, Woodward J, Russell AJ
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Sedimentary Geology
Year: 2010
Volume: 227
Issue: 1-4
Pages: 1-10
Print publication date: 18/03/2010
ISSN (print): 0037-0738
ISSN (electronic):
Publisher: Elsevier
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2010.03.001
DOI: 10.1016/j.sedgeo.2010.03.001
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