Mark D. Johnson

Active drumlin field revealed at the margin of Múlajökull, Iceland: A surge-type glacier

ABSTRACT Recent marginal retreat of Mulajokull, a surge-type outlet glacier of Hofsjokull, Iceland, has revealed a drumlin fi eld consisting of more than 50 drumlins. The drumlins are 90–320 m long, 30–105 m wide, 5–10 m in relief, and composed of multiple beds of till deposited by lodgment and bed deformation. The youngest till layer truncates the older units with an erosion surface that parallels the drumlin form. Thus, the drumlins are built up and formed by a combination of subglacial depositional and erosional processes. Field evidence suggests each till bed to be associated with individual recent surges. We consider the fi eld to be active in the sense that the drumlins are shaped by the current glacial regime. The Mulajokull fi eld is the only known active drumlin fi eld, and is therefore a unique analogue to Pleistocene drumlin fi elds.

Architecture and structural evolution of an early Little Ice Age terminal moraine at the surge-type glacier Mulajokull, Iceland

The internal architecture and structural evolution of the Arnarfellsmular terminal moraine at Mulajokull, a surge-type glacier in central Iceland, is described in order to demonstrate submarginal and proglacial glaciotectonic processes during glacier surging, as well as constraining the age of the maximum extent of the glacier. The moraine is 4-7m high, 50-100m wide, and composed of a highly deformed sequence of loess, peat, and tephra that is draped by till up to the crest. The internal architecture is dominated by steep, high-amplitude overturned folds and thrusts in the crest zone but open, low-amplitude folds on the distal slope. Section balancing suggests a basal detachment (decollement) depth of 1.4m and a total horizontal shortening of around 59%. This implies that the glacier coupled to the foreland about 70m up glacier from its terminal position to initiate the formation of the moraine. The structural evolution is polyphase in that the formation commenced with low-amplitude open folding of the foreland, followed by overfolding and piggyback thrusting. Radiocarbon dating and analysis of tephra layers, along with historical references, indicate that the most likely time of moraine formation was between A.D. 1717 and 1760, which suggests that Mulajokull had its Little Ice Age maximum and most extensive surge earlier than many other surge-type glaciers in Iceland.

New exposures of Baltic Ice Lake drainage sediments, Götene, Sweden

New exposures created during the construction of highway E20 near Götene, Sweden, reveal poorly sorted gravelly sand overlain and underlain by varved clay. The stratigraphy at Pellagården consists of, from the bottom up, striated gneiss, till, varved marine clay, the gravelly sand unit, and varved marine clay. The varves represent deglacial marine sediment deposited in 40–50 m deep water. The gravelly sand unit contains graded bedding, indistinct horizontal bedding, mud clasts and interstitial mud. It is poorly sorted and poorly organised. The unit has a pebble fabric indicating flow to the northwest. These characteristics and the great water depth suggest that the gravelly sand was deposited from a hyperconcentrated traction current or from concentrated to hyperconcentrated density flows. We interpret the gravelly sand bed to be sediment deposited during the Baltic Ice Lake drainage at around 10,000 14C years BP. The unit likely represents rapidly deposited sediment at the very start of the drainage and does not indicate the duration of the drainage event. The bed was deposited during a single drainage event rather than as a series of events over a few weeks or months. Based on the number of varves and regional ice retreat rates, the ice-margin was 0.2 to 5 km north of Götene at the time of the drainage. These sites represent the first reported occurrences of the drainage sediment in a stratigraphic sequence since the work of Simon Johansson (1926, 1937, and 1941).

Distribution, genesis and annual-origin of De Geer moraines in Sweden: insights revealed by LiDAR

Abstract De Geer moraines (DGMs) were first identified in Sweden by Gerard De Geer in 1889 and have been mapped since then in many parts of Sweden. Using airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data, we have mapped DGMs over the entire country, and we show that they occur predominantly in two distinct areas: in south-central Sweden north of the Middle Swedish end-moraine zone and in northeast Sweden. DGM formation occurs predominantly where the local relief is low, the ice-margin retreat rate was high and the sedimentation rate low. Formation of DGMs occurred over short time spans of a few hundred years – between 11 500 and 11 000 cal years BP for the southern group and from 10 700 and 9900 cal years BP for the DGMs in the north. DGMs have been suggested to be made by a number of processes at subaquatic ice margins, including pushing during winter readvance, squeezing into subglacial crevasses, deformation during calving events and deposition as subaquatic fans. Therefore, we recognize DGMs to be equifinal landforms, made by several related mechanisms. However, we observe that the most common occurrence of DGMs in Sweden are as regularly spaced even ridges below the highest shoreline whose spacing closely corresponds to independently determined ice-margin retreat rates. We therefore suggest that where regular evenly spaced DGMs occur, their spacing likely represents the local ice-margin retreat rate, and that the majority of these ridges were made annually by winter advances.

Varved glaciomarine clay in central Sweden before and after the Baltic Ice Lake drainage: a further clue to the drainage events at Mt Billingen

Glaciomarine clay found west of Mt Billingen, central Sweden, contains two distinct varve units separated by a sand layer that we interpret to be sediment deposited in the North Sea during the catastrophic drainage of the Baltic Ice Lake (BIL). The lower varve series was deposited proximal to the retreating ice margin and consists of varves that grade upward from gray to red. The upper varve series was deposited after the drainage event when fresh water within the Baltic basin flowed westward north of Billingen; the upper varves grade from red to gray. Grain size, elemental composition (determined by X-ray fluorescence (XRF)), iron and organic-carbon content vary within each varve, with values that grade upward through each varve, but with a sharp contact with the overlying varve. The two varve units differ from each other, with the lower sequence being coarser and the upper containing a higher iron and organic-carbon content. We attribute the differences between pre- and post-drainage varves to reflect changes in distance to the ice margin and provenance. The stratigraphy at the site suggests that the BIL drainage lasted < 1 year. Lithostratigraphic correlations to the Lake Lången basin west of Mt Billingen support the idea of glacier ice in the Lången basin during the drainage and a retreat and advance of the ice sheet during Alleröd and Younger Dryas, including the possibility of an earlier, Alleröd drainage.

Unraveling Scandinavian geomorphology: the LiDAR revolution

In the observational sciences, technical advances are often followed by dramatic increases in scientific discoveries and improved theory. Leuwenhoek’s microscope and Galileo’s telescope gave us a “better look” at the microworld and the cosmos, which led to revolutions of past paradigms. In geomorphology and landscape analysis, similar advances have accompanied new maps and new mapping techniques. The first accurate globes, where the puzzle-piece fit of the southern continents was quickly noticed, were soon followed by the first mention of what would be continental drift. The first topographic maps were accompanied by similar shifts in thinking. For example, accurate topographic maps of the western US brought about the realization that even in arid regions, fluvial erosion can be the dominant landscaping force. Aerial photography provided a similar advance in observation, mapping and understanding. Satellite imagery of the Earth and other planets has dramatically revealed the geomorphic processes operating in inaccessible places, for example meteor impacts, volcanism and the importance of eolian and fluvial processes. Recent observations of Pluto and Mars attest to this fact. Satellite imagery also led to a revolution in glacial geomorphology by providing continent-wide images of features heretofore unnoticed, for example the palimpsest flow indicators of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (Boulton & Clark 1990). In the 90s, the production of digital elevation models (DEMs) and the development of geographic information system (GIS) tools allowed for new highly quantitative analysis of landscapes. The advent of LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology is poised to provide a similar rapid advance in observations and the potential for significant advances in geomorphic theory. We see that the ever increasing use of LiDAR technology is creating a similar leap forward in geomorphology, and this issue is dedicated to illustrating this fact for Scandinavia (Fig. 1).

A Theoretical Model of Drumlin Formation Based on Observations at Múlajökull, Iceland

U.S. National Science Foundation The Icelandic Research Fund The University of Iceland Research Fund The Energy Research Fund of Landsvirkjun The Carlsberg Foundation The Royal Physiographic Society in Lund, Sweden The Fulbright Foundation

The rise of varves

Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique, Centre Eau, Terre, Environnement, Québec, QC, Canada G1K 9A9; pierre.francus@ete.inrs.ca Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, Tufts University, Medford, MA 02155, USA; jack.ridge@tufts.edu Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 460, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden; mark@gvc.gu.se Manuscript received 8 July 2013. Revised manuscript accepted 3 August 2013.

Glacial geomorphology of the south Swedish uplands – focus on the spatial distribution of hummock tracts

ABSTRACT We present the first comprehensive glacial-landform map of the south Swedish uplands (SSU), deglaciated 15–13 ka ago, using one consistent method and dataset; a Light Detection and Ranging-derived digital elevation model. In particular, this map focuses on the spatial distribution of hummock tracts. The distribution of hummock tracts reinforces previous thinking of a broad lobate east–west zone of hummocks across the southern part of the SSU. But this map also reveals a pattern of hummock tracts confined in what we call hummock corridors that have a radial pattern sub-parallel to the overall ice-flow direction. Hummocks occur in a wide variety of morphologies, but we also show the distribution of two distinct forms: V-shaped hummocks and ‘ribbed moraine’. Cross-cutting relationships between hummocks and glacial lineations indicate a more complex chronology than previously suggested. In places, lineations are overlain by hummocks and in other places hummocks are overlain by lineations. Additionally, directional variation of glacial lineations together with a complex end-moraine pattern suggests a dynamic ice sheet with multiple small lobes. Finally, mapped end moraines help to better correlate the deglacial timescales of western and eastern Sweden.

Genesis of hummocks found in tunnel valleys : an example from Hörda, southern Sweden

Abstract In the south-central sector of the former Fennoscandian Ice Sheet, imprints of the sub-glacial hydrological system are present as “glaciofluvial corridors,” formed by glacial meltwater at the ice–bed interface during the Bølling–Allerød warm period. Many of these are interpreted as tunnel valleys and are commonly characterized by hummocks on their valley floors. Contemporary ice sheets produce increased amounts of meltwater as a consequence of global warming, and occasionally it is observed that meltwater is suddenly released from supra- and subglacial lakes, suggesting a highly dynamic subglacial hydraulic system. Studies of the imprints and deposits from such systems on formerly glaciated terrain can expand our knowledge of ice-sheet response to increased meltwater production. Here, we study sediments exposed in two hummocks within the tunnel valley at Hörda, south Sweden. One of the investigated hummocks is superposed by a small esker. This hummock consists of a diamict interpreted as a subglacial traction till, observed to be overlain by esker sediment. A second hummock displays deformed sediment at its base, which is glaciotectonically intercalated with above-lying diamict, a sub-glacial traction till. The sub-till sediments, interpreted as proglacial outwash, were deformed by overriding ice. The sediment was dated using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), inferring a late MIS 4 or early MIS 3 age, congruent with other observations of sub-till sediments in south Sweden. The investigated hummocks on the floor of the Hörda tunnel valley are interpreted to have been formed by sub-glacial fluvial erosion simultaneous with tunnel valley formation, most probably during the latest deglaciation of the area.