Geomorphology of the onset area of a paleo‐ice stream, Marguerite Bay, Antarctic Peninsula

Abstract

AbstractGeomorphic features indicate that both glacial and melt‐water erosion characterize the onset area of the ancestral Marguerite Ice Stream. The large size of these features indicates that they formed over repeated glacial cycles, most recently during the Last Glacial Maximum. Ice drainage within the bay and on the inner continental shelf was strongly influenced by tectonic fabric.Deep, isolated basins surrounded by rugged bedrock bathymetry characterize the innermost part of the bay. Drumlins and other streamlined features occur in the floors of these basins at depths of up to 900 m. The outer bay has three large interconnected basins. Drumlins and megaflutings within these basins indicate ice was grounded at water depths up to 1000 m. The orientations of these features show convergence of drainage from the northeast, east and south into the Marguerite paleo‐ice stream. On the inner continental shelf, the ice converged into a single, wide trough dominated by mega‐scale glacial lineations. This transition in geomorphic features from drumlins and megaflutings to mega‐scale glacial lineations occurs at the location on the continental shelf where sedimentary strata blanket bedrock, and marks a zone of acceleration of the ice stream.The glacially sculptured geomorphic features within Marguerite Bay co‐exist with anastomosing, radial and relatively straight channels, which become increasingly focused in a seaward direction. This implies that a well organized subglacial drainage system existed within the bay at some point in the past. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.