Deglacial meltwater drainage and glaciodynamics: inferences from Laurentide eskers, Canada

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This paper evaluates current knowledge of Laurentide eskers in Canada in the light of developments in glacier hydrology and glacial sedimentology. Questions regarding the morpho-sedimentary relations of eskers, the synchroneity and operation of R-channel systems, the role of supraglacial meltwater input and proglacial water bodies, the controls on esker pattern, and the glaciodynamic condition of the ice sheet at the time of esker formation are discussed. A morphologic classification of eskers is proposed. Five types of eskers are identified and investigated. Type I eskers likely formed in extensive, synchronous, dendritic R-channel networks under regionally stagnant ice that terminated in standing water. Type II eskers likely formed in short, subaqueously terminating R-channels or reentrants close to an ice front or grounding line that may have actively retreated during esker sedimentation. Type III eskers plausibly formed in short R-channels that drained either to interior lakes in, or tunnel channels under, regionally stagnant ice. Type IV eskers may have formed as time-transgressive segments in short, subaerially terminating R-channels (or reentrants) that developed close to the ice margin as the ice front underwent stagnation-zone retreat or downwasted and backwasted regionally (stagnant ice); however, formation in synchronous R-channels cannot be discounted on the basis of reported observations. Type V eskers may have formed in H-channels that terminated subaerially. The spatial distribution of these esker types is discussed. The factors that determined Laurentide R-channel pattern and operation were likely a complex combination of (i) supraglacial meltwater discharge, (ii) the number and location of sink holes, (iii) the ice surface slope, thickness and velocity, and (iv) the permeability, topography and rigidity of the bed. These factors cause and respond to changes in ice dynamics and thermal regime over the glacial cycle.