Development of Collapsed Glacial Topography in the Adams Inlet Area, Alaska, U.S.A.

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: McKenzie, Garry. D, Goodwin, Robert G
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1987
• Subjects: Journal of Glaciology; Alaska
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000005347; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000005347

Abstract Modes of formation and rates of collapse have been determined for kame terraces and a fan delta in the Adams Inlet area, Alaska. The hummocky and trenched surface of the kame terrace develops by mass-wasting processes caused by differential melting of buried ice. The dry channels in the collapsed part of the terrace are formed by melt water during stagnant-ice bursts. Measurements over a period of 17 years indicate that terrace back-wasting averages 4.3 m a −1 . The fan delta is forming near sea-level by streams that derive part of their load from the kame terrace. The fan delta seaward of the retreating kame terrace is undergoing partial collapse to produce kettles ringed by concentric fractures. Vegetation, now as much as 5 m below high tide, suggests a fan-delta collapse rate of about 0.5 m a −1 .