Glacifluvial Sediments Research Articles

Evidence for an active ice margin during the last deglaciation: the Vimmerby Moraine, South Swedish Uplands

The Vimmerby Moraine is the only significant ice‐marginal moraine on the eastern side of southern Sweden, but no detailed studies exist on its formation during the final deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. Through ground‐penetrating radar surveys and detailed sediment logging, we provide evidence for an active, oscillating ice margin during the formation of the Vimmerby Moraine, suggesting that the deglaciation of the South Swedish Uplands was, at least in some regions, dynamic. Ground‐penetrating radar surveys enabled imaging of internal sediment and delineation of the bedrock surface. These were complemented by common mid‐point surveys and sediment logging, as well as lithofacies analysis at three exposures in agravel pit. This approach revealed multiple subglacial till units partially separated by intercalated glacifluvial deposits. The glacifluvial sediments exhibit evidence of glaciotectonism, suggesting active overriding by the last ice sheet. Further evidence of an active ice margin is provided by the ground‐penetrating radar profiles collected perpendicular to the moraine crest. These contain a series of northerly dipping reflectors, which we interpret as evidence of repeated basal freeze‐on and melt‐out of sediment slabs during ice margin oscillations, as has been observed at contemporary glacier margins in Iceland, Norway, and the Alps. The data presented here demonstrate that the last Fennoscandian Ice Sheet remained active around the time of the Vimmerby Moraine formation. This work highlights the benefits of including detailed sediment logging and near‐surface geophysical surveys in the interpretation of deglaciation dynamics.

Natural and anthropogenic compaction in North Germany (Schleswig‐Holstein): Verification of harmful subsoil compactions

AbstractMany soil types in the federal state of Schleswig‐Holstein (North Germany) are naturally compacted in the subsoil due to pedo‐ or geogenic processes (42% of the area) but, due to anthropogenic impacts, the percentage of subsoil compaction has increased further. To determine the overall subsoil compaction status of seven representative soil types in Schleswig‐Holstein (≤ 60 cm depth), air capacity (AC), saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks) and effective bulk density (ρBeff) of 342 soil profiles from the database of the State Agency for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Areas of Schleswig‐Holstein (LLUR) were evaluated with respect to critical threshold values (AC < 5 Vol.‐%, Ks < 10 cm day−1, ρBeff > 1.7 g cm−3). The compaction status was classified into Classes I–IV, where a harmful subsoil compaction was assumed if both values of AC and Ks simultaneously exceeded (are smaller than) their threshold value (Class IV). Subsoils of (Stagnic) Luvisols and Stagnosols derived from glacial till, as well as those of Fluvic Gleyic Stagnosols of the marshlands, showed a high degree of natural compaction (46%–65% in Class IV). In contrast, sandy subsoil horizons of Podzols and Brunic Arenosols derived from glacifluvial sediments were rarely compacted (< 13% in Class IV), and possessed the lowest ρBeff, which were similar to Anthrosols. Only 5%–18% of their subsoil horizons exceeded the critical value of 1.7 g cm−3. Additionally, anthropogenic subsoil compaction of at least 6%–10% was verified for (Stagnic) Luvisols and Stagnosols.

Synsedimentary glacitectonic deformation within a glacilacustrine-esker sequence, Teesdale, Northern England

In glacial sedimentology there has been a recent improvement in the understanding of both progressive and polyphase deformation of glacigenic sequences, and the role played by water during these complex deformation histories. However, the processes occurring during the detachment and transport of sediment blocks during ice-marginal glaciotectonic thrusting remain poorly understood. This lack of understanding is addressed in detail through a macro- and microscale study of the deformation structures in the glacigenic sequence exposed at Hayberries, Teesdale, County Durham (UK), where esker sands and gravels and associated tills truncate and overlie a sequence of rhythmically bedded glacilacustrine sands, silts and clays. Thrusts within the glacilacustrine and glacifluvial sediments appear to be relatively sharp, planar structures. However, orientated thin sections reveal that these bedding-parallel detachments are marked by a thin layer of massive to foliated sand. The geometry of both meso and small-scale folds and sense of displacement on the thrusts is consistent with both brittle and ductile structures having formed in response to ice-push from the N/NW. Detailed analysis of the thin sections reveals that initial folding and thrusting was followed by the liquefaction and injection of a massive, matrix poor sand along the propagating thrust. Evidence for liquefaction and injection (sand-filled veins) increases towards the NW consistent with fluid flow and sediment injection accompanying SE-directed ice-push. These results suggest that the introduction of pressurised meltwater and sediment along the thrusts during deformation may facilitate decoupling and displacement along these detachments by thrust gliding.

Vztah mezi výskytem balvanů v ledovcových sedimentech a charakterem preglaciálního podloží v předpolí Rychlebských hor a ve Zlatohorské vrchovině

In Rychleby Mountains foreland and Zlaté Hory Highlands exists relationship between frequency of boulders in glacigenic sediments and character of preglacial bedrock. On the soft bedrock (Neogene sediments, kaolinic granitoid) occurs lodgement of boulders. Glacial sediments on the soft bedrock are therefore characterized by high concentration of boulders. On the hard bedrock (non-kaolinic fresh granitoid, metamorphites) there is no lodgement or the lodgement is sporadic. Glacial sediments on the hard bedrock have therefore lower concentration of boulders. On suitable places the glacier detached from the hard bedrock angular boulders which the glacier deposited in the subglacial mobile deformable bed. Loose local boulders from cracked bedrock or eroded glactectonites and tills into glacifluvial sediments also occurred. In the sediments are occurring small boulders (the size is just above the most coarse gravel) of rocks from Rychleby Mts. and Zlaté Hory Highland which the glacier took over from the preglacial colluvial, alluvial and fluvial sediments.

Seafloor kettle holes in Orleans Trough, Bransfield Basin, Antarctic Peninsula

Melting out of ice blocks or larger ice masses that have been buried or partially buried by glacifluvial sediments can leave a characteristic subaerial landscape of meso-scale depressions or kettle holes, known as kettle topography (Benn & Evans 2010). Kettle topography on proglacial outwash plains, or sandurs, results from the release of glacial outburst floodwaters that transport icebergs onto sandurs where they are buried and later melt out to form hollows. Such features are especially well known from Iceland (e.g. Fay 2002; Russell & Knudsen 2002). In plan view, kettle-hole depressions tend to be roughly circular where individual icebergs have melted out, or irregular in shape where multiple ice blocks have been deposited together. Depth of burial and the amount of sediment in the block also determine the final shape of depressions, which usually occur with raised rims (Burr et al. 2009; Benn & Evans 2010). Although kettle holes have been described extensively in terrestrial glacial landscapes, few have been identified in submarine environments (e.g. Bennett et al. 2009). Here we present a high-resolution bathymetric dataset from central Bransfield Basin, northern …

Multiple re‐advances of a Lake Vättern outlet glacier during Fennoscandian Ice Sheet retreat, south‐central Sweden

Lake Vättern represents a critical region geographically and dynamically in the deglaciation of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet. The outlet glacier that occupied the basin and its behaviour during ice‐sheet retreat were key to the development and drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake, dammed just west of the basin, yet its geometry, extent, thickness, margin dynamics, timing and sensitivity to regional retreat forcing are rather poorly known. The submerged sediment archives of Lake Vättern represent a missing component of the regional Swedish deglaciation history. Newly collected geophysical data, including high‐resolution multibeam bathymetry of the lake floor and seismic reflection profiles of southern Lake Vättern, are used here together with a unique 74‐m sediment record recently acquired by drill coring, and with onshore LiDAR‐based geomorphological analysis, to investigate the deglacial environments and dynamics in the basin and its terrestrial environs. Five stratigraphical units comprise a thick subglacial package attributed to the last glacial period (and probably earlier), and an overlying >120‐m deglacial sequence. Three distinct retreat–re‐advance episodes occurred in southern Lake Vättern between the initial deglaciation and the Younger Dryas. In the most recent of these, ice overrode proglacial lake sediments and re‐advanced from north of Visingsö to the southern reaches of the lake, where ice up to 400 m thick encroached on land in a lobate fashion, moulding crag‐and‐tail lineations and depositing till above earlier glacifluvial sediments. This event precedes the Younger Dryas, which our data reveal was probably restricted to north‐central sectors of the basin. These dynamics, and their position within the regional retreat chronology, indicate a highly active ice margin during deglaciation, with retreat rates on average 175 m a−1. The pronounced topography of the Vättern basin and its deep proglacial‐dammed lake are likely to have encouraged the dynamic behaviour of this major Fennoscandian outlet glacier.

A short-lived aeolian event during the Early Holocene in southeastern Norway

The Starmoen dune field is part of a larger aeolian system in the Jømna and Glomma river valleys in southeastern Norway. It is believed to have formed just after the last deglaciation in the area, but no absolute ages have been available to support this. Here, we present a set of quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages from the aeolian sediments and the underlying glacifluvial deposits. The results show that the main dune-building phase was a short-lived event ∼10ka ago, likely with a duration less than a few hundred years. This suggests a rapid stabilisation of an initially unstable environment in newly deglaciated terrain. A much younger event with limited and surficial reworking of sand is dated to 770±110 years ago, and the modern age of an active dune provide additional OSL quality control. Age overestimation is found for glacifluvial sediments, probably due to incomplete bleaching as indicated by e.g. scattered dose distributions from small aliquots. OSL measurements were conducted using coarse quartz grains (180–250m), which show a dominance of a fast signal component.

Heinabergsjökull and Skalafellsjökull, Iceland: active temperate piedmont lobe and outwash head glacial landsystem

A 1:15,000 scale map of the glacial geomorphology and surficial geology of the Heinabergsjökull and Skalafellsjökull glacier forelands in southeast Iceland depicts a landsystem imprint of actively receding temperate glaciers in a mountain terrain with a high glacifluvial sediment yield. The landsystem is characterised by the three diagnostic depositional domains for active temperate glacier systems (marginal morainic; subglacial; glacifluvial/glacilacustrine) together with site-specific landform-sediment assemblages indicative of jökulhlaup drainage from ice-dammed lakes. Other features are overridden moraines and fluted kame terraces, indicative of ice-marginal and glacifluvial palimpsests preserved beneath temperate glacier ice. A significant outwash head in front of Heinabergsjökull records the long-term accumulation of proglacial outwash and was responsible for a radical change in proglacial drainage patterns (topographically unrestricted to restricted) once the glacier snout had receded from the ice-contact face of the landform. The Heinabergsjökull/ Skalafellsjökull foreland constitutes a modern analogue for active temperate piedmont lobes associated with the construction of large outwash heads fed by high glacifluvial sediment yields. This is one of the most common glacial depositional scenarios associated with the more restricted, mountain-based, average glaciation style during a typical cold stage.

Formation of mega-scale glacial lineations on the Dubawnt Lake Ice Stream bed: 2. Sedimentology and stratigraphy

Mega-scale glacial lineations (MSGLs) are highly elongate, subglacial landforms produced beneath zones of fast-flowing ice. While qualitative data on their morphology have existed for several decades, studies of their composition and sedimentology are comparatively rare. Sediment exposures along the course of the Finnie River in Nunavut, northern Canada, provide a window into the internal stratigraphy and sedimentology of MSGLs formed by the Dubawnt Lake Palaeo-Ice Stream during regional deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Stratigraphic sections record evidence for an initial advance of ice into the study area followed by ice sheet recession and deposition of glacifluvial and glacilacustrine outwash. Subsequently, the Dubawnt Lake Palaeo-Ice Stream overrode and reworked this outwash subglacially forming an ‘MSGL till’. This till comprises a sandy, red diamicton facies, forming the core of the MSGL ridges and containing variably deformed lenses, stringers and rafts of outwash. The sedimentology of this diamicton is consistent with an origin as a glacitectonite and hybrid till formed by a combination of non-pervasive subglacial sediment deformation and lodgement. Facies variations from stratified to massive diamicton reflect, in turn, variations in strain and subglacial transport distance. The occurrence of stratified glacifluvial sediments within these ridges and the well-preserved nature of many of the sandy inclusions within the diamicton imply relatively short transport distances and incomplete mixing. MSGLs under the Dubawnt Lake Palaeo-Ice Stream formed through a combination of subglacial erosion and deposition. This included non-pervasive, subglacial sediment deformation and the reworking of pre-existing sediment depocentres during streaming flow. These results highlight the importance of sediment supply to MSGL formation with the presence of abundant pre-existing sediments which were subsequently overridden being critical to lineation formation.

Lithostratigraphy and Optically Stimulated Luminescence age determinations of pre-Late Weichselian deposits in the Suupohja area, western Finland

The lithostratigraphy of pre‐Late Weichselian sediments and OSL‐dating results from four localities in the Suupohja area of western Finland, adjacent to the centre of the former Scandinavian glaciations, are presented. The studied sections expose glacifluvial, quiet‐water, littoral and aeolian deposits overlain by Middle and/or Late Weichselian tills. Litho‐ and biostratigraphical results together with seven OSL age determinations on buried glacifluvial sediment at Rävåsen (94±15 ka) and on till‐covered littoral and aeolian sediments at Risåsen, Rävåsen, Jätinmäki and Kiviharju (79±10 to 54±8 ka), accompanied by previous datings and interpretations, suggest that the glacifluvial sediments at Risåsen were deposited at the end of the Saalian Stage (MIS 6) and those at Risåsen were deposited possibly in the Early Weichselian Substage (MIS 5d?). Palaeosol horizons and ice‐wedge casts together with the dated littoral and aeolian sediments between the Harrinkangas Formation (Saalian) and the overlying till(s) indicate that western Finland was ice‐free during most of the Weichselian time. Littoral deposits, dated to the Middle Weichselian (MIS 4–3), occur at altitudes of 50–90 m a.s.l., which indicates significant glacio‐isostatic depression. The depression resulted from expansion of the ice sheet in the west of Finland at that time.

Thermo-mechanical facies representative of fast and slow flowing ice sheets: the Weichselian ice sheet, a central west Poland case study

Abstract This study deals with an issue of thermo-mechanical facies, reflecting specific thermal and mechanical properties of the subglacial environment. The main objective of this study was to develop a model of glacitectionic deformation and its sedimentary record beneath fast and slow flowing ice sheets, based on investigations conducted in Wielkopolska (west central Poland). Sedimentary structures, mainly at the contact between subglacial tills and glacifluvial sediments, were recognized to delineate typical facies associations in a Weichselian glacigenic succession. Each association was interpreted as a record of the different depositional environments related to different subglacial conditions. Those investigations suggest the substratum was composed of frozen and dry, and wet and mobile spots, and four thermo-mechanical facies were distinguished: A – is representative of slower ice flow, dry and cold subglacial conditions, where driving stresses and normal effective pressure were high; B – is also related to slow ice flow and occurrence of cold subglacial permafrost, but with little amount of unfrozen water (however, higher than in facies A), with similar physical characteristics of the ice sheet as facies A; thermo-mechanical facies C and D represent wet and warm ice sole, with low normal effective pressure and driving stresses, thus lowering sediments’ shear strength and enabling high ice-flow velocities. We suggest that these facies have specific and non-random location, thereby revealing the relationship between subglacial thermo-mechanical conditions and ice sheet dynamics. Slow moving, cold-based ice occurred along ice sheet margins and inter-stream areas, whereas fast-moving, warm-based, well-lubricated ice, was typical of the axial parts of ice streams.

Glacier retreat and landform production on an overdeepened glacier foreland: the debris‐charged glacial landsystem at Kvíárjökull, Iceland

ABSTRACTGlacier recession and landform development in a debris‐charged glacial landsystem characterized by an overdeepening is quantified using digital photogrammetry, digital elevation model (DEM) construction and mapping of the Icelandic glacier Kvíárjökull for the period 1945–2003. Melting of ice‐cores is recorded by surface lowering rates of 0·8 m yr–1 (1945–1964), 0·3 m yr–1 (1964–1980), 0·015 m yr–1 (1980–1998) and 0·044 m yr–1 (1998–2003). The distribution/preservation of pushed and stacked ice‐cored moraine complexes are determined by the location of the long‐term glacial drainage network in combination with retreat from the overdeepening, into which glacifluvial sediment is being directed and where debris‐rich ice masses are being reworked and replaced by esker networks produced in englacial meltwater pathways that bypassed the overdeepening and connected to outwash fans prograding over the snout. Recent accelerated retreat of Kvíárjökull, potentially due to increased mass balance sensitivity, has made the snout highly unstable, especially now that the overdeepening is being uncovered and the snout flooded by an expanding pro‐glacial, and partially supraglacial, lake. This case study indicates that thick sequences of debris‐charged basal ice/controlled moraine have a very low preservation potential but ice‐cored moraine complexes can develop into hummocky moraine belts in de‐glaciated terrains because they are related to the process of incremental stagnation, which at Kvíárjökull has involved periodic switches from transport‐dominant to ablation‐dominant conditions. Glacier recession is therefore recorded temporally and spatially by two suites of landforms relating to two phases of landform production which are likely typical for glaciers occupying overdeepenings: an early phase of active, temperate recession recorded by push moraines and lateral moraines and unconfined pro‐glacial meltwater drainage; and a later phase of incremental stagnation and pitted outwash head development initiated by the increasing topographic constraints of the latero‐frontal moraine arc and the increasing importance of the overdeepening as a depo‐centre. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Luminescence signals from modern sediments in a glaciated bay, NW Svalbard

Landforming processes are highly active in the Arctic, and luminescence dating can be used to establish a chronological framework for these processes. For example, luminescence ages of raised littoral and marine deposits provide the age control for many reconstructions of Pleistocene events in the Arctic. Due to the nature of the depositional environment (e.g. short transport distance, turbid water, long polar night) these types of sediment may not be completely zeroed at the time of deposition. To test the significance of incomplete bleaching in this type of environment, surface sediments were sampled along a transect from the margin of a glacier out into a nearby bay on NW Svalbard. The water in the bay is very turbid (secchi depth 0.1 m), but there is significant reworking by waves along the shores.Quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and feldspar infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) were measured using sand-sized grains. For quartz OSL and feldspar IRSL (50 °C) the ice-proximal sample showed relatively high doses (∼12 Gy) while nearby beach sand and shallow-marine deposits, as well as ice-distal sandur sediments, had much lower doses: most OSL doses were consistent with zero, while IRSL (50 °C) ranged from 0.5 to 6.5 Gy. Post-IR IRSL (290 °C) doses were overall much higher (∼20–55 Gy), which partly is due to a significant (∼12 Gy) unbleachable residual, and partly due to slower bleaching rates than for the IRSL (50 °C) signal.In this Arctic environment it appears that bleaching is limited in the first ∼100 m of meltwater transport from the glacier margin, but for material transported at least 3 km bleaching of OSL and IRSL (50 °C) signals is more or less complete. Given the very limited light penetration through the seawater in the bay, any bleaching must have occurred during fluvial/subaerial transport to the bay or by wave-reworking on the beach. Apart from the ice-proximal glacifluvial sediments, residual apparent doses recorded by quartz OSL and feldspar IRSL (50 °C) are negligible for the luminescence dating of Pleistocene-aged deposits of ice-distal, littoral and shallow-marine origin.

Surging glacier landsystem of Tungnaárjökull, Iceland

Please click here to download the map associated with this article. A1:30,000 scale map of the snout and proglacial landscape of the surging Icelandic glacier Tungnaárjökull, based upon aerial photography from 1995, immediately after a surge, allows an assessment of the spatial variability in landform-sediment imprints of catastrophic glacier advance across upland bedrock ridges. The ice-margin parallel alignment of the bedrock ridges locally strongly directs proglacial meltwater drainage and initiates strong compression in the ice during surging, resulting in the development of prominent ice-cored hummocky moraine composed of glacifluvial sediment. Diagnostic surge landforms elsewhere on the foreland include thrust block and push moraines, overridden ice-cored thrust block moraines, crevasse squeeze ridges, long flutings, hummocky moraine and ice-cored, pitted outwash.

Evolution of Brestovská Cave Based on U-Series Dating of Speleothems

Evolution of Brestovská Cave Based on U-Series Dating of Speleothems The U-series dating indicates five episodes of flowstone growth in Brestovská Cave, namely: ca. 200 ka, ca. 128-88 ka, ca. 82-65 ka, ca. 64-50 ka, and during the Holocene. The age of flowstones and their spatial distribution within the cave prove that the upper storey of the cave was dewatered before 200 ka. At that time the lower storey also existed and was able to carry the whole water flowing through the cave. It suggests that 200 ka ago the water-table was at similar level as it is at present. Hence, one should accept that the valley bottom was then also at the present level. During at least a part of the MIS 6 the growth of speleothems was possible in the cave. It suggests that the cave was located outside the permafrost zone then. Between 50 ka and Holocene, Brestovská Cave was flooded by invasion waters originating from the melting of the Würm glacier; the water-table was additionally raised due to the blockage of a resurgence by glacifluvial sediments. The flooding event caused the destruction of older deposits, including speleothems, and deposition of fine-grained clastics on the cave walls.

Was southern Sweden ice free at 19–25 ka, or were the post LGM glacifluvial sediments incompletely bleached?

Glacifluvial deposits along an ice-marginal zone in Småland, southern Sweden, have been dated using post-IR blue OSL. To test for incomplete bleaching, we adopted two strategies: analysis of modern analogues and small-aliquot dose distributions. Samples of modern fluvial sediments show no significant incomplete bleaching; they yield equivalent doses of only 0.5–2 Gy (∼0.25–4% of our glacifluvial sediment doses). Small-aliquot dose distributions do not provide any evidence for incomplete bleaching. The sediments are believed to have been deposited during deglaciation and appear to fall into two age groups: 19–25 ka (mainly sandur sediments) and 33–73 ka (mainly deltaic sediments). Compared to the expected ages (13–15 ka), even the younger glacifluvial OSL ages appear up to 10 000 years (∼25 Gy) too old. The ages are nevertheless stratigraphically consistent and correspond between sites; we deduce that the 19–25 ka ages are true deposition ages. For glacifluvial sedimentation to take place on the South Swedish Upland at this time either a very early deglaciation is required, or alternatively ice-free conditions just prior to the LGM. The deltaic sediments (33–73 ka) were most likely not significantly bleached during deposition and thus they date events prior to the latest ice advance.

Pleistocene lake outburst floods and fan formation along the eastern Sierra Nevada, California: implications for the interpretation of intermontane lacustrine records

Variations in the rock flour fraction in intermontane lacustrine sediments have the potential to provide more complete records of glacier fluctuations than moraine sequences, which are subject to erosional censoring. Construction of glacial chronologies from such records relies on the assumption that rock flour concentration is a simple function of glacier extent. However, other factors may influence the delivery of glacigenic sediments to intermontane lakes, including paraglacial adjustment of slope and fluvial systems to deglaciation, variations in precipitation and snowmelt, and lake outburst floods. We have investigated the processes and chronology of sediment transport on the Tuttle and Lone Pine alluvial fans in the eastern Sierra Nevada, California, USA, to elucidate the links between former glacier systems located upstream and the long sedimentary record from Owens Lake located downstream. Aggradation of both fans reflects sedimentation by three contrasting process regimes: (1) high magnitude, catastrophic floods, (2) fluvial or glacifluvial river systems, and (3) debris flows and other slope processes. Flood deposits are represented by multiple boulder beds exposed in section, and extensive networks of large palaeochannels and boulder deposits on both fan surfaces. Palaeohydrological analysis implies peak discharges in the order of 10 3–10 4 m 3 s −1, most probably as the result of catastrophic drainage of ice-, moraine-, and landslide-dammed lakes. Cosmogenic radionuclide surface exposure dating shows that at least three flood events are represented on each fan, at 9–13, 16–18 and 32–44 ka (Tuttle Fan); and at ∼23–32, ∼80–86 ka, and a poorly constrained older event (Lone Pine Fan). Gravels and sands exposed in both fans represent fluvial and/or glacifluvial sediment transport from the Sierra Nevada into Owens Valley, and show that river systems incised and reworked older sediment stored in the fans. We argue that millennial-scale peaks in rock flour abundance in the Owens Lake core reflect (1) fluctuations in primary subglacial erosion in the catchments in response to glacier advance–retreat cycles; (2) short-lived pulses of sediment delivered directly by catastrophic flood events; and (3) sediment released from storage in alluvial fans by fluvial and glacifluvial incision and reworking. As a result of this complexity the coarse sediment peaks in lake deposits may not simply reflect periods of increased glaciation, but likely also reflect changes in sediment storage and flux controlled by paraglacial processes. Current dating evidence is inadequate to allow precise correlation of individual flood or incision events with the Owens Lake rock flour record, although given the widespread occurrence of flood deposits in fans along the eastern margins of the Sierra Nevada, it is clear that fan deposition and incision played a very important role in modulating the delivery of glacigenic sediment to Owens Lake.

Scottish landform example 37: ‘The Kaims’ of Bedshiel

The term ‘kame’ is used by glacial geomorphologists to refer to discontinuous or terrace-like features composed of glacifluvial sediments (Gray, 1995; Benn & Evans, 1998). It has a Scottish origin ...

Identification and origins of iron sulfides in Czech Loess

Multiple rock‐magnetic and non‐magnetic techniques were employed to identify iron sulfides in late Pleistocene Czech loess deposits. The results indicate that iron sulfides in the loess at Znojmo section are mainly pyrrhotite and pyrite, with stoichiometry ranging from Fe10S11 to FeS2. Although early pedogenic origin of fine sulfide fraction can not be ruled out, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of individual grains and microscopic observations of magnetic extracts show that iron sulfide grains are probably of detrital origin. Potential sources of these sulfides may have been eluvium loams above hypothetical ore deposits in the vicinity of the section or glacifluvial sediments from nearby glacial margins. Framboidal pyrite forms, now completely replaced by iron oxides, suggest that some particles of biogenic sulfides may have also been transported into loess from presumably fluvial sediments.

IRSL from fine-grained glacifluvial sediment

Samples of suspended sediment were obtained from the Dora di Ferret, a glacifluvial stream in the Italian Alps, over a period of 24 h. IRSL analysis of the sediment indicates that the residual ( I NAT) signal is almost completely zeroed within 3 km of fluvial transport during daylight hours. In contrast, samples collected at night possess environmental doses ( D E) in excess of 100 Gy, probably the luminescence signal of the parent till from which the fine-grained suspended load has been derived. Quaternary deposits of glacifluvial sediment will contain a mixture of daylight and night transported mineral grains, the resulting complex behaviour accounting for difficulties in luminescence dating such materials. Adaptations of single-aliquot protocols and single-grain protocols appear to offer the best chance of dating glacifluvial deposits accurately.