Ice-gouging characteristics: their changing patterns from 1975-1977, Beaufort Sea, Alaska

Beaufort Sea coastal erosion, shoreline evolution, and sediment flux

“…During the winters 1978 and 1979 the sediment-laden ice extended out to the stamukhi zone, with concentrations of 243 t/km2 and 800 t/km2, respectively (Barnes, et al, 1982). According to rough calculations the area between the coast and the stamukhi zone, as mapped by Reimnitz, et al (1978), covers 3,290 km2 in the study region. Thus the ice canopy held .79 x 108 tons in 1978, and 2.6 x 108 in 1979.…”

“…The outer edge of this so called "2m bench" (Barnes and Reimnitz, 1973) is often slightly shallower than the waters some distance landward. We include this feature on the comparative maps (sheet l) and in our sediment budget calculations as its outer edge is 1) an important morphologic feature (Reimnitz and Bruder, 1972), 2) the boundary between texturally well sorted sands inshore, and poorly sorted sandy muds offshore (Barnes and Reimnitz, 1973), 3) controls sea ice zonation (Reimnitz, et al, 1978), and 4) is the outer boundary to which seasonal bottom freezing occurs (Reimnitz and Barnes, 1974). In Harrison Bay the 2m bench is up to 10 km wide, elsewhere it is only 0.5 to 5 km wide.…”

Marine geological investigations in the Beaufort Sea in 1981 and preliminary interpretations for regions from the Canning River to the Canadian border

“…The first seawater encroaching onto the outer shelf brought ice, which probably included a high proportion of ice of land origin calved from retreating glaciers. This ice began plowing and re-plowing the former land surface, and the developing sediment blanket, at a higher rate than the sediment accretion rate (Reimnitz, et al, 1977;Barnes, et al, 1978;Reimnitz, 1978;Barnes and Reimnitz, 1979;. Like today, the plowing action of ice aided in sediment winnowing, resuspension, and transport, and thereby resulted in slow rates of sediment accretion.…”

Temporal and spatial character of newly formed ice gouges in eastern Harrison Bay, Alaska, 1977-1982

“…The rate at which ice gouges are added annually to this record is not fully understood, although studies to determine the yearly rate at which ice gouges are created on the inner shelf have been reported (Lewis, 1977;Reimnitz et al, 1977;Barnes et al, 1978;Pilkington and Marcellus, 1981;Weeks et al, 1984; Barnes and Rearic, 1985). Assessing the rate of ice gouge recurrence is difficult.…”