Scratching the surface: Footprint of a late Carboniferous ice sheet

• Published in: Geology
• Main Authors: Le Heron, D, P, Dietrich, Pierre, Busfield, M, E, Kettler, C, Bermanschläger, S., Grasemann, B.
• Other Authors: Universität Wien, University of Johannesburg South Africa (UJ), Géosciences Rennes (GR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire des Sciences de l'Univers de Rennes (OSUR), Université de Rennes (UR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement (INRAE)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Aberystwyth University
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2019
• Subjects: [SDU.STU.GM]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geomorphology; [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; [SDU.STU.ST]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Stratigraphy; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02363937; https://hal.science/hal-02363937/document; https://hal.science/hal-02363937/file/Le%20Heron%20et%20al.,%202019%20Glacial%20Pavement%20LPIA%20Northern%20Cape%20GeologyG46590.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1130/G46590.1

International audience Field observations in conjunction with aerial images from an unmanned aerial vehicle were used to create the first map of a glacial unconformity underlying the late Carboniferous Dwyka Group of South Africa. Crosscutting relationships reveal that the glacial unconformity at Oorlogskloof, in which flutes, grooves, and striae were ploughed into unconsolidated sand, formed in a three-phased process charting a periodic shift in the locus of subglacial erosion. The unconformity formed by a periodically decoupled ice sheet in a probable tidewater setting. This model contrasts with earlier views that the structures simply record progressive ice-margin liftoff during transgression, and they provide unique insight into the complex temporal development of a 300 Ma subglacial environment.