Till fabric associated with deformable beds

Abstract

AbstractThis paper investigates the development of till fabric associated with glaciers overlying deformable beds. First, the till fabrics from both modern and ancient, soft bed and hard bed subglacial environments are investigated, and then soft bedded sites with specific strain histories are examined. The results indicate that lodgement tills had a strong fabric, whilst there is a wide range of much weaker fabric strengths associated with soft bed tills. It is suggested from a theoretical study of soft bed till deposition that longitudinal and vertical processes in the subglacial deforming layer are important in fabric development. Field sites were chosen to isolate these two factors, and fabrics investigated in areas of known relative shear strain, and known relative thickness of the deforming layer. The results indicate that: (1) for a fixed deforming layer, fabric strength does increase with increasing deformation (except at very high strains where the development of a transverse fabric can lead to a reduction in the overall fabric strain); and (2) lodgement tills and soft bed tills associated with a thin deforming layer have a high fabric strength, whilst soft bed tills associated with a thick deforming layer have a low fabric strength. Where the deforming layer is thin, clasts are oriented parallel with the glacier direction either by lodging against a hard bed or ploughing against a soft bed. However, where the deforming layer is thicker and shear strains are high, melt‐out processes encourage a parallel fabric, but the increased shear strain and changes in the deforming layer thickness cause the clasts to develop both a parallel and transverse fabric. These processes combine to reduce the overall fabric strength. Till fabric studies are a further sedimentological technique to separate the depositional processes associated with a homogeneous till.