Glacial Environment

Overview
• Distribution of Glacial Environments
• Glacial ice and thermal regimes
• Transport Mechanism
• Continental Glacial Deposition
• Marine Glacial Deposition
 Distribution

There are areas of

permanent ice at almost all
latitudes, including within
the tropics
➢glacial terrains:

➢temperate (or
mountain) glaciers

➢polar ice caps

http://www.geo41.com/global-distribution-of-extreme-environments/
Distribution

Image from NASA Earth Observatory.

the global distribution of

glaciers. The diameter of the
circle shows the area covered.
The area covered by tidewater
glaciers is shown in blue.

http://www.antarcticglaciers.org
Hills and ridges of bare rock (known as
nunataks) surrounded by glaciers and ice
sheets in a high-latitude polar glacial
area.

• Snowfall adds to the mass of a glacier in the accumulation zone and

as the glacier advances downslope it enters the ablation zone where
mass is lost due to ice melting
• Glacial advance or retreat is governed by the balance between these
Floating ice, including icebergs, is formed by
two processes
calving of ice from a glacier
Nichols, 2009
Glacial Ice & Thermal
regimes
• Ice is a solid, but under pressure it will
behave in a ductile manner and flow by
moving away from the point of higher
pressure
• The thermal regimes of glaciers are
determined by the climatic setting:
• glaciers frozen to bedrock tend to occur
in polar regions,
• while temperate glaciers occur in
mountains in lower latitudes.

Nichols, 2009
 Puncak Jayawijaya
Temperate Glaciers
• Typical of high mountainous regions in
lower latitudes.
• Ice is above the pressure melting point
throughout the glacier
• Able to slide easily over the underlying
bedrock

Indonesia-Tourism.com

Important erosional mechanism in mountainous areas

with temperate glaciers
• glacial abrasion
• glacial plucking
• generating detritus ranging from fine-grained rock
A valley glacier flour to large blocks of bedrock.
 Two main transport mechanisms:
➢ supraglacial debris, which accumulates on the
surface of a glacier as a result of detritus falling
down the sides of the glacial valley.

➢ basal debris, which is entrained by processes of

abrasion and plucking from bedrock by moving
ice.
➢ Basal debris has a wider range of grain sizes,
including fine-grained rock flour produced
by abrasion processes.

Edwards (1986), in (ed. H.G. Reading) Sedimentary Environments and Facies, Blackwell

• Till deposits result from the

accumulation of debris above,
below and in front of a glacier

• Till if it is unconsolidated or tillite

if it is lithified

Nichols, 2009
 Continental Glacial Deposition
Glacial landforms and glacial deposits in continental glaciated
areas

Graphic sedimentary log illustrating some of

the deposits of continental glaciers.
Nichols, 2009
lateral moraine left by the retreat of a valley
glacier

Nichols, 2009
Till deposits

Nichols, 2009
Marine Glacial
At continental margins ice feeds floating ice sheets

At continental margins in polar areas, continental ice feeds floating ice sheets that eventually melt releasing
detritus to form a till sheet and calve to form icebergs, which may carry and deposit dropstones.
Nichols, 2009
Learning Geology
 As an iceberg melts, debris will gradually be released and deposited as
dropstones in open marine sediments.

Nichols, 2009

Wikipedia
Characteristics of glacial deposits
• lithologies – conglomerate, sandstone and mudstone
• mineralogy – variable, compositionally immature
• texture – extremely poorly sorted in till to poorly sorted in
fluvio-glacial facies
• bed geometry – bedding absent to indistinct in many
continental deposits, glaciomarine deposits may be laminated
• sedimentary structures – usually none in tills, crossbedding in
fluvio-glacial facies
• palaeocurrents – orientation of clasts can indicate ice flow
direction
• fossils – normally absent in continental deposits, may be
present in glaciomarine facies
• colour – variable, but deposits are not usually oxidised
• facies associations – may be associated with fluvial facies or
with shallow-marine deposits
Nichols, 2009
Aeolian Environment

Ricardo Ogalde for Nat Geo

 Aeolian transport

Deserts and ergs

Characteristics of wind-blown particles

Overview
Aeolian bedforms

Desert environments

Aeolian deposits outside deserts

 • Aeolian/eolian:
Aeolian Transport processes of transport
of fine sediment up to
sand size by the wind

• Aeolian environments:
deposits are made up
mainly of wind-blown
material

http://media3.trover.com
Global wind patterns
• Movement of air –differences in
air pressure
• Circulation of air – differences in
temperature
• Cells in each hemisphere
• Coriolis force
• Local topographic effects

The distribution of high- and low-pressure belts at different latitudes

creates wind patterns that are deflected by the Coriolis force
Nichols, 2009
Global wind patterns

• Movement of air –differences

in air pressure
• Circulation of air – differences
in temperature
• Cells in each hemisphere
• Coriolis force
• Local topographic effects
Aeolian transport processes
• strength of the lift force is proportional to both the velocity of the
flow and the density of the medium
• Density of Air: 1.3 kg m-3
• Density of water: 1000 kg m-3
• much higher velocities are required for the wind
• Velocity of hurricanes: 55 ms-1
• Strong winds: 30 m s-1 (upper limit medium sand; Pye 1987; Nickling 1994)
• grains > coarse sand are unlikely to be aeolian deposits
• silt- and clay-sized particles are carried as suspended load – dust
storms
DESERTS & ERGS
• Desert: continental area that receives little precipitation: they are
arid areas that receive less than 250mm yr-1 precipitation (Nichols,
2009).
• ‘Classic’ desert – Sahara
• ‘Polar’ desert – high latitudes
• Erg: area where sand has accumulated as a result of aeolian
processes (Brookfield 1992).
• in fact most deserts are not sandy but are large barren areas known
as rocky deserts – areas of deflation
Erosion by Wind
• Abrasion: Rocks in a desert are subject to a sand-
blasting effect as sand and dust particles are
blown against the surface by the wind – Ventifact
• Zweikanter – polished two faces
• Dreikanter – polished three faces

Hamblin & Christiansen, 1998

Nichols, 2009
Erosion by Wind
• Attrition: When the wind-blown particles collide against each other in
the air, they are reduced in smaller particles

• Greater impact –
no cushion –
lower density
medium
• Edges –
smoothed off –
well rounded –
surface frosting
Erosion by Wind
• Deflation: removal of loose particles from the ground

A wind blowing at a relatively steady velocity can transport

grains only up to a particular size threshold (Nickling 1994),
and large, heavier grains are left behind.
Transport by wind
• Traction (creep & roll)
• Saltation
• Suspension

Wind

Grains close to the threshold for transport are carried as

bedload and deposited as ripples and dunes Nichols, 2009
Transport by wind
• A wind blowing at a relatively steady velocity can transport grains
only up to a particular size threshold (Nickling 1994) -> large, heavier
grains are left behind.
• Grains close to the threshold for transport are carried as bedload and
deposited as ripples and dunes
• finer grains remain in suspension and are carried away
• This effective and selective separation of grains during transport
means that aeolian deposits are typically well-sorted
Composition of aeolian deposits
• Very resistant minerals such as quartz - compositionally mature
• Weak grains are vey rare (e.g. Micas and Feldspar)
• Wind-blown carbonate clastic –
coastal area
• Clasts: ooids, bioclasts or pellets,
depending upon what is available
on the beach, and are well-
rounded and well-sorted
Aeolian Bedforms
Three groups can be separated on the basis of their size:
• Aeolian ripples
• Dunes
• Draas

Nichols, 2009
 Aeolian ripple
Grains-transported ->
irregularities in the surface
ad turbulence -> sediment
piles -> series of piles
(aeolian ripples)

Nichols, 2009
Aeolian ripple

Nichols, 2009
 ripples are small ridges of sand with a
height (amplitude) typically less than
4 cm and wave lengths (crest to crest)
less than 60 cm (Sloss et al., 2012)
Aeolian
dune dunes have the same morphology (or
form) as ripples but they are larger
scale structures - wavelength: 3m to
600 m and height: 10 cm to 100 m
(Nichols, 2009)
 Aeolian ripples superimposed on an aeolian dune

Aeolian dune
Aeolian dune
types

Nichols, 2009
 Draa bedforms

• Larger than dunes – a scale of hundreds of

metres to kilometres in wavelength and tens
to hundreds of metres in amplitude
• Made up of dunes on the stoss and lee sides
• Similar variability of shape to dunes
Desert Environments
• Dominant factor: climate
• Vegetation, soil, surface water – sparse
• Sand accumulation - erg

Nichols, 2009
Aeolian dune deposits and groundwater table
level
• Determined by amount of water, the aquifer, and relative level of the
nearest lake or sea

Nichols, 2009
Global climate variation
• Erg formation:
configuration of
topography & wind
patterns in a suitable
climate belt
• Most lie within 40 of the
Equator – warm
subtropical region

Nichols, 2009
During glacial periods the regions of polar high pressure are larger,
creating stronger pressure gradients and hence stronger winds. In the
absence of large high pressure areas at the poles in interglacial periods
the pressure gradients are weaker and winds are consequently less
strong.

Nichols, 2009
AEOLIAN DEPOSITS OUTSIDE DESERTS

• Loess: accumulations of wind-blown dust (pye, 1987), predominant

silt-sized material
Beach dunes
Characteristics of aeolian deposits
• lithologies – sand and silt only
• mineralogy – mainly quartz, with rare examples of
• carbonate or other grains
• texture – well- to very well-sorted silt to medium sand
• fossils – rare in desert dune deposits, occasional vertebrate bones
• bed geometry – sheets or lenses of sand
• sedimentary structures – large-scale dune crossbedding and parallel stratification in
sands
• palaeocurrents – dune orientations reconstructed from cross-bedding indicate wind
direction
• colour – yellow to red due to iron hydroxides and oxides
• facies associations – occur with alluvial fans, ephemeral river and lake facies in deserts,
also with beach deposits or glacial outwash facies
Thank You