Submarine geomorphology at the front of the retreating Hansbreen tidewater glacier, Hornsund fjord, southwest Spitsbergen

A 1:10,000 scale bathymetric map as well as 1:20,000 scale backscattering and geomorphological maps of two bays Isbjørnhamna and Hansbukta in the Hornsund fjord (Spitsbergen) present the submarine relief that was primarily formed during and after the retreat of the Hansbreen tidewater glacier. Geomo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Maps
Main Authors: Joanna Ćwiąkała, Mateusz Moskalik, Matthias Forwick, Kacper Wojtysiak, Jerzy Giżejewski, Witold Szczuciński
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2018.1441757
https://doaj.org/article/36f6b0cd06444e8fa2e08b37727edc45
Description
Summary:A 1:10,000 scale bathymetric map as well as 1:20,000 scale backscattering and geomorphological maps of two bays Isbjørnhamna and Hansbukta in the Hornsund fjord (Spitsbergen) present the submarine relief that was primarily formed during and after the retreat of the Hansbreen tidewater glacier. Geomorphological mapping was performed using multibeam bathymetric data and seismoacoustic profiling. The identified landforms include two types of transverse ridges interpreted as terminal and annual moraines, flat areas that are depressions filled with glaciomarine sediments, iceberg-generated pits and ploughmarks, pockmarks and fields of megaripples. Most of the identified landforms are genetically related to the retreat of Hansbreen since the termination of the Little Ice Age at the beginning of the twentieth century. Although Hansbreen has been speculated to be a surge-type glacier, no evidence of surging was identified in the submarine landform assemblage, which is in accordance with the absence of historically documented surges for that period.