Skaftafellsjökull, Iceland: glacial geomorphology recording glacier recession since the Little Ice Age

• Main Authors: Evans, David J. A., Ewertowski, Marek, Orton, Chris
• Format: Text
• Language: unknown
• Published: Taylor & Francis 2017
• Subjects: Medicine; Genetics; FOS Biological sciences; Neuroscience; 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified; FOS Earth and related environmental sciences; Ecology; 20199 Astronomical and Space Sciences not elsewhere classified; FOS Physical sciences; Sociology; FOS Sociology; 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified; Developmental Biology; Cancer; Skaftafellsjökull; glacier; Iceland
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.4924388.v1; https://figshare.com/articles/Skaftafellsj_kull_Iceland_glacial_geomorphology_recording_glacier_recession_since_the_Little_Ice_Age/4924388/1

A 1:5700 scale map of the recently deglaciated foreland of Skaftafellsjökull, Iceland as it appeared in 2007, depicts a typical active temperate glacial landsystem with a clear pattern of sequentially changing push moraine morphologies, including remarkable hairpin-shaped moraines, indicative of spatial and temporal variability in process-form regimes in glacier sub-marginal settings. Similar to other Icelandic glacier forelands, this demonstrates that the piedmont glacier lobes of the region have developed strong longitudinal crevassing and well-developed ice-marginal pecten during their historical recession from the Little Ice Age maximum moraines, likely driven by extending ice flow and poorly drained sub-marginal conditions typical of the uncovering of overdeepenings. Additionally, the localized development of a linear tract of kame and kettle topography is interpreted as the geomorphic and sedimentary signature of thrust stacked and gradually melting debris-rich glacier ice, a feature hitherto unrecognized in the Icelandic active temperate lobe landsystem signature.