Changing Depositional Environments in the Marginal Zone of a High Latitude Ice Sheet

Abstract

Glacial and glacially-influenced deposits examined at two sites in west-central Ellesmere Island provide insights into the nature of glaciation during the late-Wisconsinan and Holocene advances, and the modes of deposition from arid, high latitude ice bodies. Glacial lithofacies identified indicate that englacial debris content varied spatially and it is inferred that basal thermal conditions also exhibited a complex pattern. Direct glacial deposits usually consist of unsorted diamicts with a complete size range of matrix components, indicating an absence of meltwater-sorting or winnowing during deposition. Glacially-influenced fluvial, lacustrine, and nearshore marine deposits show that most of the Quaternary sediments were deposited by low-frequency, high magnitude events during deglaciation. A tentative reconstruction of late-glacial history in the Strathcona Fiord area proposes that an ice tongue surged down Strathcona Fiord from a previous maximum position coincident with the present day head of the fiord. This surge destabilised the margin locally, causing rapid collapse in the valleys and melting into ice-cored basins on the higher plateau areas. Periodically these ice-cored basins would drain, providing large water and sediment discharges and reworking in some sites whilst leaving other deposits unaffected. Subsequent reworking has been minimal in the cold, arid environment where continued uplift favours fluvial incision rather than extensive sandur development. Examination of the modern ice margin shows that the ice here is frozen to the substrate but basal debris bands indicate that at some localities basal temperatures must be above pressure melting point. Patterns of debris entrainment and deposition and debris lithologies suggest that much of the transported debris is incorporated where lobes of ice begin to flow out from the main ice cap.