• Proposed Sessions (Detailed Descriptions)

This session will bring together researchers exploring the causes, processes and consequences of landscape adjustment in formerly glaciated regions following ice sheet decay. During glaciation, ice sheets depress the land, major river systems are disrupted, and rates of erosion increase dramatically. As a result, vast amounts of sediment are produced or liberated, choking river valleys and basins. During and after glaciation, the landscape enters a state of disequilibrium and begins a phase of adjustment toward pre-glacial conditions. This transition involves the rapid redistribution of glacial sediment, formation of new landforms, modification of existing landforms, and erosion of glacially over-steepened and fractured bedrock at a rate greatly exceeding that of "normal" background erosion. Most of the Canadian landscape is conditioned by its recent glacial legacy, and its current state of disequilibrium results in an environment extremely sensitive to climate change.