Seafloor geomorphology and glacimarine sedimentation associated with fast-flowing ice sheet outlet glaciers in Disko Bay, West Greenland ...

• Main Authors: Streuff, K, Ó Cofaigh, C, Hogan, K, Jennings, A, Lloyd, JM, Noormets, R, Nielsen, T, Kuijpers, A, Dowdeswell, JA, Weinrebe, W
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2017
• Subjects: glacial geomorphology; sedimentology; holocene; Greenland; deglaciation; tidewater glaciers; Jakobshavn Isbræ; Vaigat; Disko Bay; glacier; Ice Sheet; Jakobshavn; Jakobshavn isbræ; Tidewater
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.12756; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/266679

Fast-flowing outlet glaciers currently drain the Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS), delivering ice, meltwater and debris to the fjords around Greenland. Although such glaciers strongly affect the ice sheet's mass balance, their glacimarine processes and associated products are still poorly understood. This study provides a detailed analysis of lithological and geophysical data from Disko Bay and the Vaigat Strait in central West Greenland. Disko Bay is strongly influenced by Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland's fastest-flowing glacier, which currently drains ∼7% of the ice sheet. Streamlined glacial landforms record the former flow of an expanded Jakobshavn Isbræ and adjacent GIS outlets through Disko Bay and the Vaigat Strait towards the continental shelf. Thirteen vibrocores contain a complex set of lithofacies including diamict, stratified mud, interbedded mud and sand, and bioturbated mud deposited by (1) suspension settling from meltwater plumes and the water column, (2) sediment gravity flows, and (3) iceberg rafting ...