A gravel outwash/deformation till continuum, skalafellsjokull, iceland

Abstract

A stratigraphic sequence exposed by river erosion in the foreland of Skalafellsjokull, southern Iceland, displays five lithofacies documenting glaciofluvial deposition followed by glaciotectonic disturbance and subglacial deformation. Lithofacies 1a and 1b are glaciotectonically thrust glaciofluvial outwash and subglacial deformation till respectively from an early advance of Skalafellsjokull. Lithofacies 2, massive gravels and clast–supported diamictons, documents the deposition of glaciofluvial outwash in the proto–River Skala prior to overriding by Skalafellsjokull during the Little Ice Age. During overriding, lithofacies 2 was glaciotectonically disturbed and now possesses the clast fabric and structural characteristics of G B (non–penetratively deformed) and G A (penetratively deformed) type glaciotectonites. A shear zone separates lithofacies 2 from overlying lithofacies 3, the latter possessing the clast fabric signature of a D A (dilatant) type deformation till although it was originally deposited as a discontinuous diamicton within a glaciofluvial sequence, probably as a hyperconcentrated flow, and appears to have been at least partially derived from underlying materials by glaciotectonic cannibalization. Lithofacies 4 is a glaciofluvial deposit comprising two coarseningupward sequences of gravel and diamicton. These facies have been overprinted with G B glaciotectonite and D A−B (dilatant to non–dilatant) deformation till structures and clast fabrics recording a vertical progression towards more pervasively deformed material. The sequence is capped by lithofacies 5, a two–tiered deformation till possessing the characteristics of D A and D B horizon subglacial tills previously reported from Icelandic glacier snouts. The whole sequence comprising lithofacies 2–5 represents a gravel outwash/deformation till continuum displaying variable strain signaturesproduced in response to stress induced by the overriding of Skalafellsjokull during the Little Ice Age. These signatures are dictated by the sediment rheology and a vertical strain profile for the sediment pile during glacier overriding is reconstructed.