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

• Main Authors: David J. A. Evans, Marek Ewertowski, Chris Orton
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Skaftafellsjökull; glacier; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/17445647.2017.1310676

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.