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INTRODUCTION
The cryosphere is the name given to the approximately one fifth of the
Earths surface affected by the freezing of water. The cryosphere includes
snowfields, valley glaciers, ice caps, ice sheets, floating ice such as icebergs,
ice that forms on the surfaces of lakes, rivers and seas, and ground ice that
forms beneath landscapes frozen year-round (permafrost). The cryosphere has
repeatedly expanded to cover one third of the global land area during the
Pleistocene ice ages of the last two million years. During major glaciations,
floating ice shelves and icebergs reached far onto continental shelves, where
they influenced deep-marine environments, and changed ocean circulation by
the release of huge volumes of meltwater (Benn and Evans, 1998; Dowdeswell
and OCofaigh, 2002). Global sea level rose and fell as ice sheets waxed and
waned, and influenced coastal evolution worldwide. In the more remote past,
the Earth experienced six major intervals of glaciation when ice was present for
tens of millions of years (glacio-epochs; Eyles, 2008). The earliest known
glaciers formed about 2.8 billion years ago and some glaciations (those
between roughly 750 and 600 million years ago) might have been so severe
that they affected the entire planet (Fairchild and Kennedy, 2007; Hoffman,
2008)!
Understanding the formation and characteristics of glacial sediments has
important and practical applications in northern regions such as Canada. These
sediments underlie many large urban centers and contain aquifers that supply
drinking water to millions of people. Groundwater exploration and management
programs, investigations for waste-disposal sites, aggregate-resource mapping,
and the cleanup of contaminated sites all require knowledge of the subsurface
geology of glaciated terrains (Meriano and Eyles, 2009). The mineral-rich
Precambrian shields of the northern landmasses are covered by extensive
sheets of glacial sediment, and knowledge of ice dynamics and sedimentology
is needed to locate economically valuable mineral resources, such as gold and
diamonds, which lie, buried, beneath the cover of glacial deposits. The search
for shallow gas, trapped in Pleistocene glacial sediments in Alberta, and for oil,
coal and gas in older Paleozoic glacial strata in Brazil, Australia and India, has
emphasized the importance of glacial sedimentology to energy exploration.
Glacial sedimentology plays an important role in many other applications of
environmental geology, such as in urban areas, in seismic-risk assessment and
geological engineering, and is increasingly integrated with other disciplines
such as geophysics.
Recent Developments
A major shift in focus has occurred since Facies Models was last
published in 1992. Then, glacial facies modeling and knowledge of glacial
processes was dominated by studies at modern glaciers flowing on hard rock
(Fig. 1). In contrast, large Pleistocene ice sheets (and parts of todays Antarctic
Ice Sheet) flowed across soft beds of wet sediment. Deformation and mixing of
this sediment is now known to be an important process resulting in the
formation of poorly sorted till (Boulton et al., 2001; Evans et al., 2006).
Also, there have been major advances in quantifying rates of glacial
erosion (and thus landscape modification) as a consequence of analyses of
cosmogenic isotopes and thermochronometry. The flux of glacial sediment from
glaciated basins is understood better, and it is now known that significant
chemical weathering can also take place in cold environments. Offshore, much
has been learned about how ice sheets deposit sediment underwater on
continental shelves and slopes (Boulton et al., 1996; Domack et al., 1999; Eyles
et al., 2001; Dowdeswell and OCofaigh, 2002; Heroy and Anderson, 2005). This
knowledge has arisen as a consequence of oil and gas exploration, ocean
drilling of deep-sea sediments to obtain climate records, and geophysical
mapping of northern seafloors.
Melt-out Processes
Till may be produced by the passive melt-out of basal and englacial
debris under stagnant ice that is downwasting in situ (melt-out till; Fig. 5A).
Meltout till forms as debris is released from the ice either subglacially or
supraglacially, and the characteristics of the till will be mostly inherited from
the ice from which the debris is released. Melt-out tills may show foliation, or
banding, that reflects textural and compositional variability of debris contained
within the ice. The properties of the till can be substantially modified during or
immediately after deposition, however, especially when till is released from ice
with low debris content, and downslope remobilization of the sediment occurs.
There are few descriptions of modern meltout tills (Paul and Eyles, 1990) and
few unambiguous distinguishing characteristics of this till type (Benn and
Evans, 1998).
Lodgement Processes
Till can also form by the melt-out of debris from the base of moving ice
and smearing of this debris onto the substrate (lodgement till; Fig. 5B).
Lodgement of debris onto a rigid substrate (bedrock) produces lenticular beds
of dense, over-consolidated diamict that may contain sub-horizontal shear
planes and slickensided surfaces, in places where shear stresses within the
accumulating till exceed the strength of the material and failure (slippage)
occurs (Boulton, 1996). High shear stresses in the accumulating till also cause
the preferential alignment of clast long axes parallel to ice flow. Bullet-shaped
boulders are common in lodgement tills and are oriented with the streamlined,
pointed end up-glacier (Fig. 7B). Measurement of the long-axis orientation of
clasts embedded in subglacial tills can provide valuable data regarding former
ice-flow directions. Lodgement tills lie on marked local and regional
unconformities that may be ornamented with streamlined and striated
erosional landforms (Fig. 6). Both melt-out and lodgement processes operate
beneath warmbased glaciers and can produce thin (< 20 m), but regionally
extensive, sheets of subglacial deposits. The volume of englacial debris is
strictly limited by continual melting at the base of warm-based glaciers and
neither of these two processes are very effective in building up thick till sheets.
Deformation Processes
A much more effective till-forming process is the subglacial mixing of
pre-existing sediment that is moved within a subglacial traction layer
comprising water-saturated debris with similar characteristics to wet concrete
(Fig. 5C). This produces thick accumulations of deformation till created by
large lakes, formed beneath, within or on top of, the Laurentide Ice Sheet,
drained in a single event creating extensive subglacial sheet floods. These
flood events are considered to be responsible for erosion of bedrock and
sediment to form scoured bedrock surfaces and tunnel valleys, as well as for
deposition of sediment in subglacial cavities to form drumlins. However, recent
work argues strongly that the required floods are too large and extensive to be
plausible and unlikely to have created these landforms (Clark et al., 2005).
Glaciofluvial Deposits Energetic braided rivers leaving the ice margin produce
thick deposits of crudely bedded and very poorly sorted proximal gravels on
broad outwash fans (Miall, 1996). An absence of large-scale cross-stratified
facies in such deposits (Fig. 15A) reflects a lack of deep channels and an
oversupply of coarse debris (see Chapter 6). Portions of the ice margin are
commonly buried under gravel where powerful meltstreams emerge and flow
over low-standing portions of the glacier (Fig. 15B). The later melt of dead ice
and the collapse of overlying gravels leave prominent craters (kettle holes) and
create pitted outwash plains (Fig. 15C; Benn and Evans, 1998). In areas beyond
the immediate ice terminus, multiple-channel (braided) rivers sweep across
broad outwash plains or sandar (sing. sandur in Icelandic) depositing gravel
and sand that become finer grained and increasingly organized with distance
from the ice margin. Discharge characteristics of glaciofluvial streams are
highly variable with diurnal, seasonal and annual fluctuations. Deposition on
outwash plains is commonly dominated by large flood events (jkulhlaups) that
may accomplish most of the annual sediment transport in a single period or
event. The absence of vegetation along channel banks allows rapid rates of
channel migration and exposed sediment is readily transported by eolian
processes (see Chapter 7) resulting in deposition of wind-blown sand and silt
(loess). Glaciofluvial processes are important as they may completely rework
sediment deposited by the glacier (Fig.10A), destroying any evidence that
indicated the former presence of ice. This potential for reworking is a problem
in the interpretation of ancient deposits as braided-river deposits occur in a
wide range of depositional settings and a glacial connection may be difficult, if
not impossible, to identify. Evidence must be sought from glacial clast shapes
or striations, or from the presence or absence of features indicating cold
climate or periglacial conditions (see below). Supraglacial Settings In glaciated
mountains, glaciers act as conveyor belts moving large amounts of rock-fall
debris in supraglacial positions (on the surface of the ice) and dumping it down
valley. Valley glacial deposits are dominated by freshly broken, supraglacial
debris (Figs. 16 and 17). The underlying subglacial till plain is buried under a
cap of coarse bouldery debris dominated by local bedrock. A thick supraglacial
debris cover can also develop in regions where compression of the ice margin,
due to flow of ice into bedrock obstructions or ice-margin stagnation, results in
complex folding and thickening of the basal debris layer. This thickened debris
layer can be exposed at the ice surface during melting and downwasting to
form a cover of supraglacial sediment with textural characteristics similar to
those found in subglacial settings. In areas dominated by deposition of
sediment from supraglacial sources, a distinct hummocky topography evolves
where ice melts slowly under an insulating cover of debris of variable thickness
(Benn and Evans, 1998). Kettle holes form as ice down-wastes rapidly in poorly
insulated areas and overlying sediment collapses. Mass flow of sediment into
depressions on the ice surface creates localized thick debris piles, which are
subsequently deposited as hummocks containing re-sedimented debris-flow
diamicts (debrites), and slumped and deformed glaciofluvial and
glaciolacustrine strata. Diamict facies may be structureless, graded and/or
stratified, and commonly occur as stacked units that have channelized or
lenticular, downslopethickening geometry. These supraglacially deposited
diamict facies commonly overlie subglacial tills and may be interbedded with
glaciofluvial and glaciolacustrine facies (Fig. 16). In glaciated valley settings,
large volumes of sediment also accumulate between the glacier and the valley
sidewalls as lateral-moraine ridges (Fig. 18). With ice retreat, these are
destroyed quickly by mass wasting and accumulate as poorly sorted debrites
along the valley floor, or are reworked by rivers. The term paraglacial has been
used to refer to a short-lived phase occurring immediately after deglaciation
when fluvial and mass wasting processes rework glacial sediment downslope.
Glaciolacustrine Settings Lakes (see Chapter 21) are a common feature of
terrestrial glacial settings because glaciers release large quantities of
meltwater, create deep basins through erosion and isostatic depression, and
block pre-existing drainage routes (Bennett et al., 2002). Glacial lakes vary in
form from narrow alpine types in areas of high relief, to those infilling large
continental- scale basins. These large lakes are ponded in isostatically
depressed continental interiors evacuated by ice sheets. Lake Agassiz is the
most famous example, and extended over an area of about 1 000 000 km2 of
North America. Although there is a broad range of glacial lake types, a simple
distinction can be made between ice-contact and non ice-contact lakes (Fig.
19). A characteristic facies of non ice-contact lakes (Figs. 19B and 20; lakes fed
by glacial meltwaters but lacking contact with an ice margin) in which seasonal
variation in meltwater and sediment input occurs, consists of varves. Varves
are annually produced couplets of relatively coarse- and fine-grained sediment
(Fig. 21A). The coarse sediment layer (consisting of gravel, sand or silt) is
deposited during spring and summer when significant supraglacial melting
occurs and sediment-laden density underflows transport sediment across fandelta lobes (Fig. 21B). A distinct succession of relatively coarse-grained
sediment is deposited each summer and records the start, increase and
ultimate decline of density-underflow activity (Ashley, 1975). Summer
sediment layers thin and become finer grained distally into the basin. During
winter, melting is suppressed and flow into the lake ceases, allowing finegrained sediment suspended in the water column to settle to the lake floor as a
layer of clay. This winter clay layer may show normal grading indicating
deposition of suspended sediment beneath the ice cover of a closed lake. Claylayer thickness is usually uniform across the lake basin. Winter clay layers may
also contain units of coarser grained sediment transported into the basin by
sediment gravity flows generated on unstable slopes along the basin margin
(Fig. 20). Successions of laminated silts and clays found in association with
other glacial facies are commonly described as varves, regardless of
demonstrated seasonal control on their formation. Rhythmically laminated
(Fig. 23). Where mean annual temperatures are less than 4C the ground is
permanently frozen producing permafrost. Permafrost is ground that stays
frozen year round except for a shallow (< 2 m) surface thaw zone called the
active layer. These conditions occur over 25% of the northern hemisphere
(some 26 million km2). Permafrost also occurs offshore (submarine permafrost)
in areas flooded by the postglacial rise in sea level or where land is actively
subsiding (e.g., Mackenzie River delta area). In northern regions of Canada
permafrost reaches a maximum reported depth of approximately 700 m.
Underground ice grows slowly and in forms that range from thin ice coatings on
individual sediment grains to lenses, layers and masses of various shapes
many meters to tens of meters in size. Considerable mechanical disturbance of
surrounding sediment occurs as the larger ice masses grow. One of the most
distinctive forms of ground ice are the large carrot-shaped ice wedges that
grow in meters-deep cracks produced by ground contraction in severely cold
climates that are too dry to have an insulating snow cover. Intersecting wedges
create polygonal patterns on the ground surface (Fig. 23). The growth of larger
ground-ice masses often leaves pockets of unfrozen groundwater (taliks). In
valleys where there are thick alluvial fills (and thus major aquifers that stay
unfrozen) over-pressured groundwater is forcefully injected under artesian
pressure toward the ground surface. Overlying sediment is bulged upward into
small hills called pingos (Fig. 23). During the summer the active layer is
characterized by high water content as the upper part of the permafrost thaws
but cannot drain due to the presence of impermeable frozen ground beneath.
Seasonal refreezing of the thawed surface layer from the top down raises
porewater pressures and creates widespread soft-sediment deformation
structures and flame-like injections in the active layer. These are collectively
referred to as cryoturbation structures (Fig. 24C). This process of sediment
deformation is also expressed as honeycombed patterned ground (Fig. 24D).
Upon climatic warming, the thaw of buried ground ice results in subsidence of
the land surface (thermokarst) and the creation of surface ponds (thaw ponds;
Fig. 24B). The thaw of ice within pingos leaves crater-like depressions with a
similar form to donuts, and the melt of ice wedges leaves open fissures that fill
with windblown sand and silt, or slumped sediment thereby creating wedge
shaped ice-wedge casts or sand wedges. The subsiding landscape may slowly
become buried by thick peat, which eventually strangles rivers into
anastomosed types (see Chapter 6). In periglacial regions, river-channel cross
sections take on a distinct Ushape in response to the pushing of thick winter ice
jams along the riverbed during spring break-up (Fig. 24A). Striated surfaces and
boulder pavements can develop on the riverbed at the base of the jams.
Similarly, tidal flats become ornamented with scrapes and scours made by
winter ice floes that drift and shove large boulders around. Eolian activity
removes (deflates) loose silty sediment left by meltwaters or exposed by the
drainage of glacial lakes. Modern eolian dune fields occur in interior Alaska and
parts of the Yukon where Pleistocene glaciations are recorded by thick deposits
of wind-blown silt (loess; Fig. 23). In the Yukon and in China, loess deposits
have yielded exceptional records of glacial and interglacial climates. The most
extensive Pleistocene eoliansand deposit in North America is the Nebraska
Sand Hills and its coeval loess deposits of the Mississippi and Missouri river
valleys. The modern-day geographic extent of the periglacial environment is
not matched by many examples from the ancient record, pointing to poor
preservation of these deposits and/or lack of recognition of diagnostic features
in lithified successions. Ancient sandstone wedges and coldclimate dune fields
are known from the Neoproterozoic, and periglacial eolianites occur in late
Paleozoic successions (e.g., Cooper Basin) of Southern Australia where they
host natural gas. The peat-covered Hudson Bay Lowlands is an excellent
modern analog for the Carboniferous Permian cold-climate coals found in the
Karoo Basin of South Africa and Perth Basin of Western Australia.
GLACIOMARINE DEPOSITIONAL SYSTEMS Glaciomarine environments are
marine environments influenced by glacial processes. Regional climate is an
important control on sedimentation style as it dictates the volume of meltwater
reaching the marine environment. Temperate glaciomarine environments, for
example, receive large volumes of meltwater and finegrained sediment that
are supplied directly to the shelf and result in high sedimentation rates. In
contrast, glaciomarine environments fringing deeply frozen polar areas such as
Antarctica are sediment starved as meltwater input is severely restricted
(Anderson, 2002). In these settings chemical and biogenic sedimentation is
relatively important. Thick successions of glaciomarine deposits preserved in
the ancient record are most likely to have formed in temperate settings.
Proximity to an ice margin is another important control on glaciomarine
sedimentation because it determines whether the environment is dominated by
glacial processes, as occurs in high-energy ice proximal, ice-contact
glaciomarine, or proglacial marine settings, or by marine processes in ice-distal
continental-shelf and slope settings. Ice-proximal Glaciomarine Settings In
temperate regions, the ice-contact glaciomarine setting is a very dynamic
environment dominated by powerful jets of meltwater exiting onto the seafloor
from the mouths of subglacial tunnels (Lonne et al., 2001). Deposition by
underflows and sediment- gravity flows results in a wide variety of massive and
graded gravel and sand facies found in multi-storey, crosscutting channels on
large subaqueous fans (Fig. 25). Lower density meltwater containing
finegrained suspended sediment rises to the surface, or to intermediate
depths, in the water column forming plumes of suspended sediment. These
plumes can extend many tens of kilometers from the ice front and deposit
blankets of mud where the sediment settles out in quiet-water areas (see
Chapters 8 and 10). Tides interact with plumes to produce laminated mud
facies (tidal rhythmites, see Chapter 9) that may be difficult to distinguish from
varves formed in glaciolacustrine settings. In ancient successions glaciomarine
facies may be differentiated from glacioterrestrial facies by the presence of
macroand microfauna, although biological activity may be inhibited in the
brackish water that characterizes ice-proximal glaciomarine settings (cf.
Chapter 3). Ice-proximal glaciomarine environments are very dynamic, and
sedimentary successions formed in these settings consist of assemblages of
heterogeneous facies types with rapid lateral and vertical facies variability, and
irregular bed geometries (Fig. 25, Boulton et al., 1996). In areas where icerafted debris is dropped to the seafloor from icebergs, rain-out diamict facies
depths and high-energy associated with glacial advance across the shelf. If
water depth decreases sufficiently, ice margins fringing the marine
environment may advance across the shelf causing erosion of the substrate or
the deposition of till. In this simple situation of minimal isostatic depression,
water depths increase and energy levels decrease across the shelf during
periods of ice retreat (or tectonic subsidence), allowing extensive horizons of
bioturbated mud to accumulate. These deposits represent periods of enhanced
clastic sediment supply to the marine environment and are commonly
associated with highstand interglacial conditions (Fig. 27). However, this simple
model of ice advance and retreat on glaciated continental shelves is
complicated, in many instances, by the very complex interactions between
glacio-eustatic, glacio-isostatic and tectonic influences on relative water depths
(see section below Sequence Stratigraphy in Glaciated Basins). This makes
paleoclimatic interpretation of disconformities, erosion surfaces and mud
blankets in glacially influenced shelf successions extremely difficult. Some
glacially influenced continental margins (e.g., Antarctica) are subsiding slowly
and are characterized almost exclusively by deepwater environments. Such
shelves can accommodate thick glacial and glaciomarine sediments, although
sedimentation rates in cold glacial regimes are extremely slow. Antarctic shelf
successions show a welldefined subsurface structure (evident on seismic
records) of horizontal topsets recording the buildup (aggradation) of the shelf
through time. Till is an important component of these successions and records
repeated deposition by shelf-crossing ice sheets (Fig. 3). The Role of Floating
Ice There is now a new appreciation of the influence of floating ice masses on
glaciomarine environments. These masses range from icebergs made of old
glacier ice to younger seasonal and perennial ice masses (pack ice). Linear or
curved furrows, produced by the grounding of iceberg and seasonal ice keels,
are abundant on modern high-latitude shelves (Fig. 28A). Iceberg scours can be
as wide as 50 m and several meters deep and may extend for several
kilometers. In shallow water, continued disturbance (turbation) by ice keels resuspends fine sediment producing coarse-grained lag turbates on the seafloor.
The process of scouring may also trigger the sudden release of subsurface gas
and water leaving pits in the seafloor called pock marks. Both iceberg scours
and pock marks are easily destroyed by wave or re-sedimentation processes in
shallow water and are rarely reported in the ancient glacial record (Fig. 28B).
Layers of Pleistocene ice-rafted debris have been discovered across large areas
of the North Atlantic (e.g., Heinrich layers; Andrews, 1998). Several times
during the last 100 000 years, huge armadas of icebergs were released from
rapidly calving margins of northern-hemisphere ice sheets leaving distinct icerafted horizons in deep-sea mud. These layers of ice-rafted debris form a rich
repository of past environmental change related to relatively short-term
climatic, glaciologic and/or paleo-oceanographic perturbations. Ice-distal
Glaciomarine Settings: Continental Slopes Deep-water slopes are the largest
global repositories of glacial sediments and the final resting place for much
material transported by ice sheets from continental surfaces (Hjelsuen et al.,
2005). Sediments pushed across the shelf under ice sheets are moved into
deeper water beyond the shelf edge by slumping and sediment-gravity flows.
continental shelves. Most of the total flux ends up along the continental slope
and in deep-water trough-mouth fans. Not surprisingly, Earths pre-Pleistocene
glacial record is overwhelmingly preserved in marine rocks. Six lengthy
episodes of cold climate occurred in Earth history when extensive ice cover
existed for many millions of years (called glacioepochs; Fig. 30; Eyles, 2008).
Each epoch offers its own challenges to glacial sedimentologists and
characteristic suites of facies are found in different tectonic settings and
basins. The oldest epoch occured during the Archean around 2.8 billion (Ga)
years ago (Young et al., 1998), followed at 2.4 Ga in the Paleoproterozoic
(Young et al., 2001), a lengthy phase in the Neoproterozoic between 750 to
about 600 million years ago (Ma) (Fairchild and Kennedy 2007), and briefly in
the early Paleozoic around 440 Ma (Brenchly et al., 2003). A long episode of
glaciation occurred in the late Paleozoic (350 to 250 Ma; Eyles et al., 1998) and
the most recent, Cenozoic glaciation began some 40 million years ago
culminating in the development of extensive continental ice sheets in the
northern hemisphere after 2.5 Ma, but especially after 0.9 Ma during the
Pleistocene. The timing of pre-Pleistocene glaciations may be related to the
breakup of successive supercontinents (Eyles and Januszczak, 2004). The bulk
of ancient glacial deposits occurs in rift basins or in young passive margins
formed by continental breakup (Fig. 31). This depositional setting is well
illustrated by the Paleoproterozoic Gowganda Formation of Ontario, Canada (~
2.4 Ga), that records glaciation of a marine basin in a large rift basin along the
ancient margin of the early North American continent. Most of the glacial facies
preserved within these ancient glaciated basins are the product of sediment
gravity-flow processes and include thick successions of diamictite deposited by
subaqueous debris flows (debrites) and turbidity currents (turbidites; Fig. 32).
Terrestrial tillite is virtually non-existent. Basin tectonics controlled the longterm stratigraphic development of these basins, and facies can be grouped into
distinct tectonostratigraphic successions (Fig. 31: Eyles, 2008). These record
the tectonic history of the basin commencing with initial crustal stretching and
the influx of coarse debris as debris flows from ice on uplifted rift shoulders,
followed by rapid basin subsidence and the deposition of thick successions of
deep-water turbidites, and an upper capping of shallow-water, sometimes
fluvial, sandstone and conglomerate facies. These tectonostratigraphic
successions identify the intimate relationship between climate and tectonics, a
recurring theme in the study of ancient glaciations. The Snowball Earth Debate
Some workers have argued for one or more snowball Earth events to have
affected the Earth, particularly during the Neoproterozoic (between ~750 and
~600 Ma), when ice is hypothesized to have covered both polar and tropical
regions, a kilometer- thick ice cover developed on oceans, and all hydrological
and biological activity ceased for periods of up to 10 million years at a time
(Hoffman, 2008). However, the argument for globally synchronous
Neoproterozoic glaciation is not supported by detailed facies studies. Many of
the so-called glacial till(ite)s are now recognized as sediment gravity-flow
deposits formed in marine rift basins and associated facies indicate a fully
functioning hydrologic system. Paleobiological records show that simple
bacterial life prospered. Existing dating suggests a series of regionalscale