Glacial survival of blockfields on the Varanger Peninsula, northern Norway

Fjellanger, J.P.; Sørbel, Leif; Linge, Henriette; Brook, Edward J.; Raisbeck, G. M.; Yiou, F.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2006.05.007

Cited by 57 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…This was in part due to uncertainty as to what the lower boundaries of the blockfields and solifluction lobes on the plateau summits represent. Blockfields are relict features that are proposed to have formed as far back as the Neogene (Nesje, 1989;Rea et al, 1996;Whalley et al, 1997Whalley et al, , 2004Sumner and Meiklejohn, 2004;Fjellanger et al, 2006;Paasche et al, 2006), although recent work indicates they may have predominantly formed through physical weathering, such as frost wedging, under periglacial conditions during the Quaternary (Ballantyne, 1998(Ballantyne, , 2010aGoodfellow et al, 2009;Goodfellow, 2012;Hopkinson and Ballantyne, 2014). Irrespective of this debate, the extensive blockfields on many of the summits in the Monadhliath would not have formed on ice-free summits during the Younger Dryas alone (sensu.…”

Section: Younger Dryas Plateau Icefield Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Younger Dryas plateau icefield in the Monadhliath, Scotland, and implications for regional palaeoclimate

Boston

Lukas

Carr

2015

Quaternary Science Reviews

136

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a b s t r a c tA record of Younger Dryas glaciation in Scotland is well established. However, the role of the Monadhliath, a significant plateau area extending over 840 km 2 in central Scotland, has never been investigated systematically. We present the first systematic glacial geomorphological mapping across the whole region, which has led to the identification of hitherto-unrecorded glacial and associated landforms. The spatial distribution of these landforms indicates that the last phase of glaciation in the area was that of a local plateau icefield. In addition, a clear morphostratigraphical signature provides a strong indication that the icefield dates to the Younger Dryas (12.9e11.7 ka), which is supported by numerical ages in the southeast of the study area. Based on the geomorphological evidence and 2D glacier surface profile modelling, a 280 km 2 icefield is reconstructed. A novel approach is introduced to quantify plateau icefield thickness for equilibrium line altitude (ELA) and palaeoprecipitation calculations, resulting in greater overall data confidence compared to traditional reconstruction methods. The ELA for the whole icefield is calculated to be 714 ± 25 m, whilst the ELAs of individual outlet glaciers range from 560 m in the west to 816 m in the east, demonstrating a significant WeE precipitation gradient across the region during the Younger Dryas. These ELAs compare well with those calculated for Younger Dryas ice masses reconstructed in neighbouring regions and are in good agreement with overall precipitation patterns suggested for Scotland during this time. Whilst the total amount of precipitation calculated from these ELAs is highly dependent on the method used, irrespective of this, the study suggests a more arid Younger Dryas climate in the region compared to the present day.

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Section: Younger Dryas Plateau Icefield Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Younger Dryas plateau icefield in the Monadhliath, Scotland, and implications for regional palaeoclimate

Boston

Lukas

Carr

2015

Quaternary Science Reviews

136

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…8; Kleman et al, in press). Similar areas devoid of ice-flow traces in Sweden and Norway ("relict areas") are interpreted to have been regions of cold-based ice within the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet that protected the underlying landscape from glacial modification (Kleman and Stroeven, 1997;Kleman and Hättestrand, 1999;Fabel et al, 2002;Stroeven et al, 2002;Fjellanger et al, 2006;Goehring et al, 2008). To test the applicability of this hypothesis to the CIS, we collected three bedrock samples from weathered surfaces and tors exposed along ridges within the Pelly Mountains ( (Fig.…”

Section: Ross River Regionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating the glacial history of the northern sector of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet with cosmogenic 10Be concentrations in quartz

Stroeven

Fabel

Codilean

et al. 2010

Quaternary Science Reviews

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“…However, several coastal midaltitude (200-600 m above sea level) plateaus on the NE Norwegian coast, particularly the Varanger Peninsula ( Fig. 2A), are mantled by extensive block fields and show clear evidence of having survived despite being covered by ice during at least the most recent glaciation (Fjellanger et al, 2006;Fjellanger and Sørbel, 2007). This indicates that the costal plateaus are potentially very old landscape features.…”

Section: Linking a Triassic Delta To Present-day Catchmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10D), and they are similar to the mineralogically supermature, late Neoproterozoic deposits onshore Finnmark in northern Norway (cf. Fjellanger et al, 2006;Nystuen, 2008). The granite clasts also indicate a shield affinity, strongly suggesting these sediments were derived from northern Norway.…”

Section: Mineralogical Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Block-field-mantled high-altitude plateaus occur particularly in the Varanger Peninsula (Fig. 12A), indicating that the plateaus were overlain by cold-based glaciers and largely escaped glacial erosion (Fjellanger et al, 2006). Landscapes without U-shaped valleys and streamlined inselbergs are common away from the coast and high mountains in NW Fennoscandia, something which indicates negligible glacial erosion (cf.…”

Section: Geomorphology Of Northern Fennoscandia and The Modern Tana Rmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Linking an Early Triassic delta to antecedent topography: Source-to-sink study of the southwestern Barents Sea margin

et al. 2017

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Present-day catchments adjacent to sedimentary basins may preserve geomorphic elements that have been active through long intervals of time. Relicts of ancient catchments in present-day landscapes may be investigated using mass-balance models and can give important information about upland landscape evolution and reservoir distribution in adjacent basins. However, such methods are in their infancy and are often difficult to apply in deep-time settings due to later landscape modification.The southern Barents Sea margin of N Norway and NW Russia is ideal for investigating source-to-sink models, because it has been subject to minor tectonic activity since the Carboniferous, and large parts have eluded significant Quaternary glacial erosion. A zone close to the present-day coast has likely acted as the boundary between basin and catchments since the Carboniferous. Around the Permian-Triassic transition, a large delta system started to prograde from the same area as the present-day largest river in the area, the Tana River, which has long been interpreted to show features indicating that it was developed prior to present-day topography. We performed a source-to-sink study of this ancient system in order to investigate potential linkages between present-day geomorphology and ancient deposits.We investigated the sediment load of the ancient delta using well, core, twodimensional and three-dimensional seismic data, and digital elevation models to investigate the geomorphology of the onshore catchment and surrounding areas. Our results imply that the present-day GSA Bulletin; January/February 2018; v. 130 Tana catchment was formed close to the Permian-Triassic transition, and that the Triassic delta system has much better reservoir properties compared to the rest of Triassic basin infill. This implies that landscapes may indeed preserve catchment geometries for extended periods of time, and it demonstrates that source-to-sink techniques can be instrumental in predicting the extent and quality of subsurface reservoirs.

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Glacial survival of blockfields on the Varanger Peninsula, northern Norway

Cited by 57 publications

References 52 publications

A Younger Dryas plateau icefield in the Monadhliath, Scotland, and implications for regional palaeoclimate

A Younger Dryas plateau icefield in the Monadhliath, Scotland, and implications for regional palaeoclimate

Investigating the glacial history of the northern sector of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet with cosmogenic 10Be concentrations in quartz

Linking an Early Triassic delta to antecedent topography: Source-to-sink study of the southwestern Barents Sea margin

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