Time‐transgressive cryoplanation terrace development through nivation‐driven scarp retreat

• Published in: Earth Surface Processes and Landforms
• Main Authors: Nyland, Kelsey E., Nelson, Frederick E.
• Other Authors: Michigan State University
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2020
• Subjects: Alaska; Beringia
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/esp.4751; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Fesp.4751; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/esp.4751; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1002/esp.4751

Abstract Cryoplanation terraces are elevated bedrock features resembling giant staircases, with alternating steep scarps and shallow sloping treads. These landscape‐scale features have long been associated with periglacial environments, but the processes involved in their formation remain vaguely specified and contentious. The two leading hypotheses for the formation of cryoplanation terraces are centered on: (1) geologic structure; and (2) nivation‐driven scarp retreat. The nivation‐formation hypothesis invokes scarp retreat under erosion processes associated with late‐lying snowbanks. To test whether cryoplanation terraces develop through scarp retreat, six relative weathering indices (fracture counts, Cailleux roundness, Cailleux flatness, Krumbein sphericity, rebound, and weathering rind thickness) were measured across well‐developed terraces in unglaciated eastern Beringia (central and western Alaska) at Mt Fairplay, Eagle Summit, and Skookum Pass. Statistically significant differences in relative weathering indices detected through chi‐square and multiple‐comparison procedures indicate that material is less weathered closer to scarps, i.e. that these areas were more recently exposed than those distant from the scarp. Based on these findings, a refined model of time‐transgressive cryoplanation terrace development through nivation‐driven scarp retreat is proposed. This new qualitative model addresses the removal of weathered material from terrace treads down side slopes through piping and gravity‐driven mass‐wasting processes. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.