Ice-pushed ridges, permafrost and drainage

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Regionally developed ridges characterized by an imbricate structure are described from central Holland and western Germany, whose formation is ascribed to drainage characteristics during the Riss glaciation. The northward drainage produced a waterlogged area in front of the glacier where a permafrost layer formed. The hard, brittle, permafrost layer was broken into blocks and pushed by the advancing ice over underlying so-called normal water- saturated sediments. Similar ice-pushed ridges are found in northwest Canada but not in glaciated areas of the United States, where drainage was to the south, away from the ice sheet.