Glacial lake deposits in Kerlingarfjöll, Central Iceland

• Main Author: Möne, Cecilia
• Format: Bachelor Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskap 1997
• Subjects: Geology; Geologi; Dammed Lake; Glacial Lake; Hvítárvatn; Langjökull; Västra; glacier; Iceland
• Online Access: http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-393047

The extent of glacial lake sediments found north of the Kerlingarfjöll mountains in central Iceland has been determined and their formation in an ice dammed lake is suggested. The damming ice moved from an ice divide in the south-east highlands and was divided into two ice lobes by the Kerlingarfjöll mountains. In an early stage the lake was dammed between the two ice lobes but as they retreated the glacial lake was enlarged in the eastern part where it in the later stage was dammed by topography. The ice dammed lake was almost filled with sediments before it drained to the west when the western ice lobe retreated. The ice dammed lake was contemporaneous with the Hvítárvatn ice dammed lake which was dammed between the western ice lobe and the hills below the Langjökull glacier. Utbredningen hos glaciolakustrina sediment som påträffas norr om fjällklasen Kerlingarfjöll på centrala Island har fastställts och det föreslås att de avsatts i en isdämd sjö. Inlandsisen rörde sig från en isdelare i sydost och flödet delades i två lober vid Kerlingarfjöll. I ett tidigt stadium dämdes sjön upp mellan dessa lober, men när isranden drog sig tillbaka utvidgades sjön i den östra delen och dämdes där av ett topografiskt hinder. Issjön var praktiskt taget fylld med sediment innan den dränerades när den västra isloben drog sig tillbaka. Issjön i Kerlingarfjöll var samtida med Hvítárvatn-issjön som dämdes upp mellan den västra isloben och sluttningarna upp mot glaciären Langjökull.