Athabasca Glacier, Canada – a field example of subglacial ice and till erosion?

• Published in: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
• Main Author: Hart, Jane K.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2005
• Subjects: Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous); Earth-Surface Processes; Geography, Planning and Development; Canada; glacier*
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.1233; http://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fesp.1233; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.1233

Abstract The Athabasca Glacier, resting on a rigid bed, provides an excellent example of subglacial ice and till erosion. The presence of a thin mobile till layer is shown by the presence of flutes, saturated till layer, push moraines and ploughed boulders. Cross‐cutting striations, v‐shaped striations and reversed stoss‐and‐lee clasts are indicative of clasts rotating within this layer. As the till moves it erodes the bedrock and clasts within it. A combination of erosion by ice and till produces stoss‐and‐lee‐clasts and generates striations on flutes and embedded clasts, as well as eroding the bedrock into a continuum of smoothed, rounded and streamlined forms. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.