Origin and characteristics of massive ground ice on Herschel Island (western Canadian Arctic) as revealed by stable water isotope and Hydrochemical signatures

Abstract

AbstractHerschel Island in the southern Beaufort Sea is a push moraine at the northwestern‐most limit of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Stable water isotope (δ18O, δD) and hydrochemical studies were applied to two tabular massive ground ice bodies to unravel their genetic origin. Buried glacier ice or basal regelation ice was encountered beneath an ice‐rich diamicton with strong glaciotectonic deformation structures. The massive ice isotopic composition was highly depleted in heavy isotopes (mean δ18O: −33‰; mean δD: −258‰), suggesting full‐glacial conditions during ice formation. Other massive ice of unknown origin with a very large δ18O range (from −39 to −21‰) was found adjacent to large, striated boulders. A clear freezing slope was present with progressive depletion in heavy isotopes towards the centre of the ice body. Fractionation must have taken place during closed‐system freezing, possibly of a glacial meltwater pond. Both massive ground ice bodies exhibited a mixed ion composition suggestive of terrestrial waters with a marine influence. Hydrochemical signatures resemble the Herschel Island sediments that are derived from near‐shore marine deposits upthrust by the Laurentide ice. A prolonged contact between water feeding the ice bodies and the surrounding sediment is therefore inferred. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.