Subglacial Landsystems

Subglacial landsystem genesis and ice sheet dynamics

Ice motion is, in large part, governed by processes taking place at the glacier bed. The beds of present-day ice sheets are difficult to access, so we turn to the beds of ancient ice sheets (the landforms and sediments that they left behind) to explore the processes that regulate ice dynamics over broad areas, at a variety of scales and perhaps over whole ice ages. A selection of our more recent work in this area has focused on the following topics:

1) Genesis of meltwater erosional corridors and their implications for ice dynamics and decay [Burke et al. 2012Burke et al. 2011]

2) Relationships between macroscale sedimentology and micromorphology of glacigenic diamictons in BC [Neudorf et al. 2013aNeudorf et al. 2013bNeudorf 2008Neudorf et al. 2007]

3) The morphometry of and controls on subglacial bedforms in the Puget Lowland, WA (in progress)

4) The genesis of streamlined bedforms on the Thompson Plateau, BC [Lesemann and Brennand 2009Brennand et al. 2007]

5) The genesis of tills and drumlins in the southern Rocky Mountain Trench [Brennand and Sjogren 2005]

6) The genesis of undulating terrain, southwestern Manitoba [Ayers and Brennand 2005]

7) Genesis of a regional till sheet (Newmarket till), southern Ontario [Sharpe et al. 1999; Sharpe et al. 1997]