Glacier movement, ice structures, and medial moraine form at a glacier confluence, Berendon Glacier, British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

On Berendon Glacier, Canada, at the asymmetric Y junction of two large valley glaciers, observations of ice velocity, strain rate, and ice structures indicate that the form of a medial moraine is determined by severe lateral compression between the two ice streams. Debris of the moraine is recycled along complex transport paths determined by ice structures. For example, supraglacial debris is precipitated into the confluence zone between the two glaciers forming a subglacial debris reservoir. Debris is evacuated from the reservoir by shearing between the two glaciers and is revealed on the glacier surface as debris dykes and melt-out tills along the contact plane. Important implications regarding the sedimentology of the moraine can be stated. Elsewhere debris is precipitated into transverse crevasses subsequently resulting in transverse till ridges at the glacier surface.Annually-formed wave ogives, bulges in surface ice, and overriding along the glacier contacts result from severe lateral compresssion, and add further diversity to the moraine.Downglacier, confluence ice structures are destroyed by ablation, the pattern of ice flow becomes less complex, unified flow between the two glaciers is established, and a distinct structurally-determined moraine morphology is replaced by one dependent upon the differential ablation of debris covered and clean ice.