Glacial curvilineations found along the southern sector of the Laurentide Ice sheet and a hypothesis of formation involving subglacial slope failure in tunnel valleys and subglacial lakes
Abstract First discovered in Poland, glacial curvilineations (GCLs) are enigmatic landforms comprising parallel sets of sinuous ridges and troughs of metres amplitude and around 150 m wavelength, found within kilometres‐wide valleys interpreted as being produced by meltwater flowing subglacially. Th...
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crwiley:10.1002/esp.4324 2024-03-17T08:58:22+00:00 Glacial curvilineations found along the southern sector of the Laurentide Ice sheet and a hypothesis of formation involving subglacial slope failure in tunnel valleys and subglacial lakes Clark, Chris D. Livingstone, Stephen J. 2018 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.4324 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fesp.4324 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.4324 en eng Wiley http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor Earth Surface Processes and Landforms volume 43, issue 7, page 1518-1528 ISSN 0197-9337 1096-9837 Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Earth-Surface Processes Geography, Planning and Development journal-article 2018 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4324 2024-02-22T00:22:48Z Abstract First discovered in Poland, glacial curvilineations (GCLs) are enigmatic landforms comprising parallel sets of sinuous ridges and troughs of metres amplitude and around 150 m wavelength, found within kilometres‐wide valleys interpreted as being produced by meltwater flowing subglacially. Their morphological and sedimentary characteristics and association with tunnel valleys has been described for some prominent Polish examples. From these observations the existing hypothesis is that they form as a consequence of erosion by longitudinal vortices that develop in subglacial floods. Here we report, for the first time, GCLs found along the southern sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in three northern states of the USA. Using mapping and topographic analysis from high resolution digital elevation models we report observations on their morphological properties and landform associations. We find aspects of their context and morphology difficult to explain using the existing hypothesis. We instead suggest that these glacial curvilineations are produced by subglacial bank and slope failures that locally widen tunnel valleys, or that occur near subglacial lake shorelines. Further investigation is required to test this hypothesis and to ascertain the mechanisms of proposed mass movements, which may have occurred by rotational or translational slope failure or by creep deformation. Our preferred mechanism is that such movements occurred where subglacial water was emplaced over previously perma‐frozen ground. Under such circumstances, sediment blocks thawed by the water may then easily glide over a frozen décollement at low slope angles; analogous to subaerial active‐layer glides in permafrost environments. Permafrost spring sapping may have provided lines of weakness for slope failure. If the requirement for permafrost is found to hold, then GCLs may become an important indicator of the palaeo‐distribution of permafrost. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Ice Sheet permafrost Wiley Online Library Earth Surface Processes and Landforms 43 7 1518 1528 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Earth-Surface Processes Geography, Planning and Development |
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Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Earth-Surface Processes Geography, Planning and Development Clark, Chris D. Livingstone, Stephen J. Glacial curvilineations found along the southern sector of the Laurentide Ice sheet and a hypothesis of formation involving subglacial slope failure in tunnel valleys and subglacial lakes |
topic_facet |
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous) Earth-Surface Processes Geography, Planning and Development |
description |
Abstract First discovered in Poland, glacial curvilineations (GCLs) are enigmatic landforms comprising parallel sets of sinuous ridges and troughs of metres amplitude and around 150 m wavelength, found within kilometres‐wide valleys interpreted as being produced by meltwater flowing subglacially. Their morphological and sedimentary characteristics and association with tunnel valleys has been described for some prominent Polish examples. From these observations the existing hypothesis is that they form as a consequence of erosion by longitudinal vortices that develop in subglacial floods. Here we report, for the first time, GCLs found along the southern sector of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in three northern states of the USA. Using mapping and topographic analysis from high resolution digital elevation models we report observations on their morphological properties and landform associations. We find aspects of their context and morphology difficult to explain using the existing hypothesis. We instead suggest that these glacial curvilineations are produced by subglacial bank and slope failures that locally widen tunnel valleys, or that occur near subglacial lake shorelines. Further investigation is required to test this hypothesis and to ascertain the mechanisms of proposed mass movements, which may have occurred by rotational or translational slope failure or by creep deformation. Our preferred mechanism is that such movements occurred where subglacial water was emplaced over previously perma‐frozen ground. Under such circumstances, sediment blocks thawed by the water may then easily glide over a frozen décollement at low slope angles; analogous to subaerial active‐layer glides in permafrost environments. Permafrost spring sapping may have provided lines of weakness for slope failure. If the requirement for permafrost is found to hold, then GCLs may become an important indicator of the palaeo‐distribution of permafrost. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Clark, Chris D. Livingstone, Stephen J. |
author_facet |
Clark, Chris D. Livingstone, Stephen J. |
author_sort |
Clark, Chris D. |
title |
Glacial curvilineations found along the southern sector of the Laurentide Ice sheet and a hypothesis of formation involving subglacial slope failure in tunnel valleys and subglacial lakes |
title_short |
Glacial curvilineations found along the southern sector of the Laurentide Ice sheet and a hypothesis of formation involving subglacial slope failure in tunnel valleys and subglacial lakes |
title_full |
Glacial curvilineations found along the southern sector of the Laurentide Ice sheet and a hypothesis of formation involving subglacial slope failure in tunnel valleys and subglacial lakes |
title_fullStr |
Glacial curvilineations found along the southern sector of the Laurentide Ice sheet and a hypothesis of formation involving subglacial slope failure in tunnel valleys and subglacial lakes |
title_full_unstemmed |
Glacial curvilineations found along the southern sector of the Laurentide Ice sheet and a hypothesis of formation involving subglacial slope failure in tunnel valleys and subglacial lakes |
title_sort |
glacial curvilineations found along the southern sector of the laurentide ice sheet and a hypothesis of formation involving subglacial slope failure in tunnel valleys and subglacial lakes |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.4324 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fesp.4324 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.4324 |
genre |
Ice Ice Sheet permafrost |
genre_facet |
Ice Ice Sheet permafrost |
op_source |
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms volume 43, issue 7, page 1518-1528 ISSN 0197-9337 1096-9837 |
op_rights |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/esp.4324 |
container_title |
Earth Surface Processes and Landforms |
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43 |
container_issue |
7 |
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1518 |
op_container_end_page |
1528 |
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1793767921983422464 |