Geophysical reconstruction of the late Holocene proximal proglacial landsystem at Skeiðarársandur, southeast Iceland
ABSTRACT Sandur plains are extensive sedimentary bodies formed in proglacial settings by glaciofluvial processes. Icelandic sandar have been hypothesised to be comprised of thick alluvial successions that provide critical insight into the processes that contributed to their formation and evolution....
Published in: | Journal of Quaternary Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , |
Other Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Wiley
2023
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3518 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.3518 |
id |
crwiley:10.1002/jqs.3518 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
crwiley:10.1002/jqs.3518 2024-09-15T18:07:49+00:00 Geophysical reconstruction of the late Holocene proximal proglacial landsystem at Skeiðarársandur, southeast Iceland Harrison, Devin Ross, Neil Russell, Andrew J. Jones, Stuart J. Newcastle University Natural Environment Research Council 2023 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3518 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.3518 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Journal of Quaternary Science volume 38, issue 6, page 947-969 ISSN 0267-8179 1099-1417 journal-article 2023 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3518 2024-07-23T04:09:24Z ABSTRACT Sandur plains are extensive sedimentary bodies formed in proglacial settings by glaciofluvial processes. Icelandic sandar have been hypothesised to be comprised of thick alluvial successions that provide critical insight into the processes that contributed to their formation and evolution. However, to‐date, most sandar research has focused on the analysis of sedimentary successions associated to topographically‐confined and small‐scale systems. These, however, do not capture the variety or scale of processes that influence sandar architecture. Therefore, detailed subsurface analysis of large‐scale and unconfined sandar is vital to understand how these systems respond to fundamental drivers, such as: (i) glacier oscillations, and (ii) episodic sediment flux from glacier outburst floods (aka. jökulhlaups). We report an extensive, low‐frequency (40 & 100 MHz) ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the ice‐proximal component of a large‐scale () active sandur in southeast Iceland. A bright and continuous reflection (PR1) is identified within all radargrams and provides a boundary between pre‐LIA and LIA to present‐day sedimentation. GPR data reveals a ~50 m thick ice‐proximal sediment wedge that is attributed to jökulhlaup and surge‐related glaciofluvial activity during the Little Ice Age (LIA). An approximate rate of deposition of 0.2–0.65 m has been calculated for the sediment wedge above PR1. Furthermore, we propose an extensive, sandur‐wide, pre‐LIA ice marginal limit of Skeiðarárökull, southeast Iceland, based on observations reported here and in previous work. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Iceland Wiley Online Library Journal of Quaternary Science 38 6 947 969 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Wiley Online Library |
op_collection_id |
crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT Sandur plains are extensive sedimentary bodies formed in proglacial settings by glaciofluvial processes. Icelandic sandar have been hypothesised to be comprised of thick alluvial successions that provide critical insight into the processes that contributed to their formation and evolution. However, to‐date, most sandar research has focused on the analysis of sedimentary successions associated to topographically‐confined and small‐scale systems. These, however, do not capture the variety or scale of processes that influence sandar architecture. Therefore, detailed subsurface analysis of large‐scale and unconfined sandar is vital to understand how these systems respond to fundamental drivers, such as: (i) glacier oscillations, and (ii) episodic sediment flux from glacier outburst floods (aka. jökulhlaups). We report an extensive, low‐frequency (40 & 100 MHz) ground‐penetrating radar (GPR) survey of the ice‐proximal component of a large‐scale () active sandur in southeast Iceland. A bright and continuous reflection (PR1) is identified within all radargrams and provides a boundary between pre‐LIA and LIA to present‐day sedimentation. GPR data reveals a ~50 m thick ice‐proximal sediment wedge that is attributed to jökulhlaup and surge‐related glaciofluvial activity during the Little Ice Age (LIA). An approximate rate of deposition of 0.2–0.65 m has been calculated for the sediment wedge above PR1. Furthermore, we propose an extensive, sandur‐wide, pre‐LIA ice marginal limit of Skeiðarárökull, southeast Iceland, based on observations reported here and in previous work. |
author2 |
Newcastle University Natural Environment Research Council |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Harrison, Devin Ross, Neil Russell, Andrew J. Jones, Stuart J. |
spellingShingle |
Harrison, Devin Ross, Neil Russell, Andrew J. Jones, Stuart J. Geophysical reconstruction of the late Holocene proximal proglacial landsystem at Skeiðarársandur, southeast Iceland |
author_facet |
Harrison, Devin Ross, Neil Russell, Andrew J. Jones, Stuart J. |
author_sort |
Harrison, Devin |
title |
Geophysical reconstruction of the late Holocene proximal proglacial landsystem at Skeiðarársandur, southeast Iceland |
title_short |
Geophysical reconstruction of the late Holocene proximal proglacial landsystem at Skeiðarársandur, southeast Iceland |
title_full |
Geophysical reconstruction of the late Holocene proximal proglacial landsystem at Skeiðarársandur, southeast Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Geophysical reconstruction of the late Holocene proximal proglacial landsystem at Skeiðarársandur, southeast Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Geophysical reconstruction of the late Holocene proximal proglacial landsystem at Skeiðarársandur, southeast Iceland |
title_sort |
geophysical reconstruction of the late holocene proximal proglacial landsystem at skeiðarársandur, southeast iceland |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3518 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/jqs.3518 |
genre |
glacier Iceland |
genre_facet |
glacier Iceland |
op_source |
Journal of Quaternary Science volume 38, issue 6, page 947-969 ISSN 0267-8179 1099-1417 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.3518 |
container_title |
Journal of Quaternary Science |
container_volume |
38 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
947 |
op_container_end_page |
969 |
_version_ |
1810445176779309056 |