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Tonkin et al Boreas 2016.pdf (8.37 MB)

Internal structure and significance of ice-marginal moraine in the Kebnekaise Mountains, northern Sweden

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posted on 2016-12-01, 12:23 authored by Toby N. Tonkin, Nicholas G. Midgley, David GrahamDavid Graham, J.C. Labadz
Despite a long history of glaciological research, the mode of formation and palaeoenvironmental significance of moraine systems in the Kebnekaise Mountains, Sweden has remained uncertain. These landforms offer the potential to elucidate glacier response prior to the period of direct monitoring and provide an insight into the ice-marginal processes operating at polythermal valley glaciers. This study sets out to test existing interpretations of Scandinavian ice-marginal moraines which invoke ice stagnation, pushing, stacking/dumping, and push-deformation as important moraine forming processes. Moraines at Isfallsglaciären were investigated using ground-penetrating radar to document the internal structural characteristics of the landform assemblage. Radar surveys revealed a range of substrate composition and reflectors, indicating a debris-ice interface and bounding surfaces within the moraine. The moraine is demonstrated to contain both ice-rich and debris-rich zones, reflecting a complex depositional history and a polygenetic origin. As a consequence of glacier overriding, the morphology of these landforms provides a misleading indicator of glacial history. Traditional geochronological methods are unlikely to be effective on this type of landform as the fresh surface may post-date the formation of the landform following reoccupation of the moraine rampart by the glacier. This research highlights that the interpretation of geochronological datasets from similar moraine systems should be undertaken with caution.

Funding

TNT undertook this research whilst funded by a Nottingham Trent University VC bursary. This research received funding from the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n° 534 262693 (INTERACT).

History

School

  • Social Sciences

Department

  • Geography and Environment

Published in

Boreas

Citation

TONKIN, T.N. ... et al, 2017. Internal structure and significance of ice-marginal moraine in the Kebnekaise Mountains, northern Sweden. Boreas, 46(2), pp.199-211.

Publisher

© Collegium Boreas. Published by Wiley

Version

  • AM (Accepted Manuscript)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Acceptance date

2016-11-03

Publication date

2017

Notes

This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article: TONKIN, T.N. ... et al, 2017. Internal structure and significance of ice-marginal moraine in the Kebnekaise Mountains, northern Sweden. Boreas, 46(2), pp.199-211, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bor.12220. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving

ISSN

0300-9483

eISSN

1502-3885

Language

  • en