LINKS BETWEEN PROGLACIAL STREAM SUSPENDED SEDIMENT DYNAMICS, GLACIER HYDROLOGY AND GLACIER MOTION AT MIDTDALSBREEN, NORWAY

Abstract

Two-hourly suspended sediment concentration variations observed during the summer of 1987 in the proglacial stream draining Midtdalsbreen, Norway are modelled using multiple regression and time series techniques. Suspended sediment fluctuations are influenced by stream discharge variations, diurnal hysteresis effects, medium-term sediment supply and transport variations and the recent suspended sediment concentration history of the stream. They do not appear to be influenced by seasonal exhaustion or rainfall variations. Possible reasons for this are discussed. Large positive residuals from the fitted models are major pulses of suspended sediment unrelated to discharge variations; these sediment flushes correlate with periods of enhanced glacier motion. They cannot be explained by enhanced sediment production by subglacial erosion, but are probably due to the tapping of subglacially stored sediment during sudden changes in the hydraulics and/or configuration of the subglacial hydrological system. Seasonal changes in the lag between glacier motion peaks and suspended sediment flushes suggest that the subglacial hydrological system evolves over the summer from a distributed to a more channelized configuration.