Abstract
Abstract This paper presents new evidence of coarse-grained deposition from a turbulent suspension within a low-energy `slack-water' location during a recent well-documented, volcanically related, high-magnitude glacier outburst flood or jokulhlaup, Skeiðararjokull, Iceland. This study uses established spatial and temporal constraints on processes observed during the November 1996 jokulhlaup to interpret resultant flood sediments. Coarse-grained sediments were deposited within flood slack-water conditions from suspension load by repeated turbulent flow pulses with durations of seconds–minutes. Depositional processes are thought to be analogous to turbidity currents. A minimum thickness of 15 m of rhythmites record suspended sediment dynamics at a conduit mouth during the late rising and early falling stages of the jokulhlaup. The morphology and sedimentology of deposits in a large ice-walled chamber are consistent with previous models proposed for bar deposition during cataclysmic floods. Flood flows within subglacial conduits and ice-walled open channels were sufficiently powerful to carry material up to boulder size in suspension. Macro-turbulent flows carried huge quantities of suspended sediment to high levels within the main outlet channel. High-frequency, short-duration flow pulses entering a complex ice-walled channel geometry generated highly unsteady and non-uniform flows capable of both erosional and depositional work. This study lends support to the deposition of multiple rhythmites per flood under main flow slack-water conditions. Identification of high-magnitude jokulhlaups in the ice-marginal sedimentary record will depend on the identification and correct interpretation of feeder channel and slack-water turbidite sediments. The results described here may also have application to rhythmic deposits formed by large turbulent flows in other environmental settings.
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