Abstract
ABSTRACT Here we present a glacial and periglacial geomorphological map of a ∼6800 km2 region of central Troms and Finnmark county, Arctic Norway. The map is presented at a 1:115,000 scale with the aim of characterising the spatial distribution of glacial and periglacial landforms and facilitating the reconstruction of the glacial history of the region during the latter stages of deglaciation from the Last Glacial Maximum and into the Holocene. Mapping was conducted predominantly by manual digitisation of landforms using a combination of Sentinel-2A/2B satellite imagery (10 m pixel resolution), vertical aerial photographs (<1 m pixel resolution), and Digital Elevation Models (10 and 2 m pixel resolution). Over 20,000 individual features have been mapped and include moraines (subdivided into major and minor moraines), ridges within areas of discrete debris accumulations (DDAs), flutings, eskers, irregular mounded terrain, lineations, glacially streamlined bedrock, possible glacially streamlined terrain, pronival ramparts, rock glaciers (subdivided into valley wall and valley floor, and rock glacierised moraines), lithalsas, contemporary glaciers and lakes. The map records several noteworthy large moraine assemblages within individual valleys, forming inset sequences from pre-Younger Dryas limits up to the 2018/19 ice margins and represents a valuable dataset for reconstructing Holocene glacial and periglacial activity.
Highlights
Since the retreat of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (Hughes et al, 2016; Mangerud, 2004) over continental Norway, the Norwegian Arctic has been subject to a complex pattern of glacial advance and retreat cycles
In addition to its employment in landsystem developments and applications, this map will underpin reconstructions of glacial chronologies for the central Troms and Finnmark region, an Arctic area with a cryospheric system susceptible to rapid climate change (IPCC, 2019). This extends the findings of Evans et al (2002) and Rea and Evans (2007), whose work across the Bergsfjord Peninsula (∼12 km north-east of this study area) illustrated the value of comprehensive landsystem mapping across a whole glacierised region with a topographic complexity that dictates the variable nature of post Younger Dryas glacier-climate responses and hypsometric change in mountain glacier systems, in plateau icefield and fjord head settings
Additional work in Strupskardet by Bakke et al (2005) identified moraines fronting the glaciers of Eastern and Western Lenangsbreen. Their geomorphological map depicts a series of 13 moraines, which are used to reconstruct the glacial history of the Lenangsbreen glacier/s and are associated with other geomorphological features, including meltwater channels, fossil protalus rock glaciers, former shorelines, till, glaciofluvial deposits, blockfields, avalanche deposits, talus, and peat accumulations (Bakke et al, 2005)
Summary
Since the retreat of the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (Hughes et al, 2016; Mangerud, 2004) over continental Norway, the Norwegian Arctic has been subject to a complex pattern of glacial advance and retreat cycles (see Nesje, 2009; Solomina et al, 2015 and references therein). In addition to its employment in landsystem developments and applications, this map will underpin reconstructions of glacial chronologies for the central Troms and Finnmark region, an Arctic area with a cryospheric system susceptible to rapid climate change (IPCC, 2019) This extends the findings of Evans et al (2002) and Rea and Evans (2007), whose work across the Bergsfjord Peninsula (∼12 km north-east of this study area) illustrated the value of comprehensive landsystem mapping across a whole glacierised region with a topographic complexity that dictates the variable nature of post Younger Dryas glacier-climate responses and hypsometric change in mountain glacier systems, in plateau icefield and fjord head settings
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