Morphological interpretation of regional and detailed bathymetric data sets on the 2500-km-long Norwegian shelf from the North Sea (57°N) to Svalbard (80°N) has revealed a dynamic ice-fl ow pattern along the western margin of the Scandinavian and Barents/Svalbard ice sheets. About 20 crossshelf troughs with megascale glacial lineations (MSGL; elongate ridges and grooves oriented parallel to trough long axes) are interpreted as former pathways for fastfl owing ice streams. Studies of large-scale margin morphology and seismic profi les have identifi ed large submarine fans at the mouths of several major cross-shelf troughs. Less dynamic ice probably existed on shallower banks. The two largest paleo-ice streams were the Norwegian Channel Ice Stream and Bear Island Trough Ice Stream, each 150-200 km wide at the mouth. The lengths of individual MSGL vary from hundreds of meters to several tens of kilometers, and the distance between ridges varies from 0.1 to 3 km. MSGL amplitudes reach 15 m, but are commonly <10 m. The onset of MSGL and, hence, fast ice fl ow is generally close to the outer coast, at the border zone between crystalline rocks and softer sedimentary rocks. Transverse submarine ridges on various scales, commonly parallel to the shelf edge, refl ect either the maximum ice-sheet position or the recessional pattern of the ice sheet. Lateral ice-stream moraines several tens of kilometers long have also been mapped along the sides of several cross-shelf troughs, identifying the border zone between fast ice fl ow and stagnant or slow-fl owing ice on intervening banks.

[1] High-resolution swath bathymetry from the marine margins of several Svalbard tidewater glaciers shows an assemblage of submarine landforms that is probably linked to glacier surging. These landforms are essentially unmodified since their initial deposition over the past hundred years or so because they have not been subjected to subaerial erosion or periglacial activity. Swath images comprise an assemblage of superimposed landforms, allowing reconstruction of relative age of deposition: (1) large transverse ridges, interpreted as recessional moraines overridden by a subsequent ice advance; (2) a series of curvilinear streamlined bedforms orientated parallel to former ice flow, interpreted as lineations formed subglacially during rapid advance; (3) large terminal ridges, marking the farthest extent of ice at the last advance, with flow lobes immediately beyond interpreted as submarine debris flows; (4) a series of interconnected rhombohedral ridges, interpreted as a product of soft sediment squeezing into crevasses formed at the glacier bed, probably formed during immediate post-surge stagnation; and (5) a series of fairly evenly spaced small transverse ridges, interpreted as push moraines produced annually at tidewater glacier termini during retreat. A simple descriptive landsystem model for tidewater glaciers of probable surge type is derived from these observations. We also show that megascale glacial lineations can form not only beneath large ice streams, but are also produced beneath surging tidewater glaciers lying on deforming sedimentary beds.

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