Progressive ductile shearing during till accretion within the deforming bed of a palaeo-ice stream

Phillips, Emrys, Spagnolo, Matteo, Pilmer, Alasdair C.J., Rea, Brice R., Piotrowski, Jan A., Ely, Jeremy C. and Carr, Simon ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4487-3551 (2018) Progressive ductile shearing during till accretion within the deforming bed of a palaeo-ice stream. Quaternary Science Reviews, 193 . 1 - 23.

Preview

PDF - Accepted Version Available under License CC BY-NC-ND Download (12MB) | Preview

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a detailed microstructural study of a thick till formed beneath the Weichselian (Devensian) Odra palaeo-ice stream, west of Środa Wielkopolska, Poland. This SE-flowing ice stream was one of a number of corridors of faster flowing ice which drained the Scandinavian Ice Sheet in the Baltic region. Macroscopically, the massive, laterally extensive till which formed the bed of this ice stream lacks any obvious evidence of glaciotectonism (thrusting, folding). However, microscale analysis reveals that bed deformation was dominated by foliation development, recording progressive ductile shearing within a subhorizontal subglacial shear zone. Five successive generations of clast microfabric (S1 to S5) have been identified defining a set of up-ice and down-ice dipping Riedel shears, as well as a subhorizontal shear foliation coplanar to the ice-bed interface. Cross-cutting relationships between the shear fabrics record temporal changes in the style of deformation during this progressive shear event. Kinematic indicators (S-C and ECC-type fabrics) within the till indicate a consistent SE-directed shear sense, in agreement with the regional ice flow pattern. A model of bed deformation involving incremental progressive simple shear during till accretion is proposed. The relative age of this deformation was diachronous becoming progressively younger upwards, compatible with subglacial shearing having accompanied till accretion at the top of the deforming bed. Variation in the relative intensity of the microfabrics records changes in the magnitude of the cumulative strain imposed on the till and the degree of coupling between the ice and underlying bed during fast ice flow.

Item Type:	Article
Journal / Publication Title:	Quaternary Science Reviews
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	1873-457X
Departments:	Academic Departments > Science, Natural Resources & Outdoor Studies (SNROS) > STEM
Additional Information:	This article is open access under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license.
Depositing User:	Anna Lupton
Date Deposited:	15 Mar 2019 16:38
Last Modified:	12 Jan 2024 20:17
URI:	https://insight.cumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/4559

Downloads