Upper-flow regime bedforms in a subglacial triangular-shaped landform (murtoo), Late Pleistocene, SW Finland: Implications for flow dynamics and sediment transport in (semi-)distributed subglacial meltwater drainage systems

We know less about subglacial meltwater flow properties in distributed inefficient and semi-efficient systems in comparison to those of ice marginal eskers and proglacial environments. While previous studies have indicated the overall common presence of upper-flow-regime (UFR) bedforms in glacigenic settings, facies expressions of subglacial meltwater flows remain poorly documented. Three ca. 3 m deep and up to 70 m long trenches excavated across a triangle-shaped subglacial landform called a murtoo in a Lateglacial to Holocene meltwater route in SW Finland provide a detailed window into sedimentary structures presumably formed ca. 40–50 km away from the coeval subaqueous margin of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (FIS). The aim of this paper is to document small-scale bedforms, which formed subglacially by meltwater flow and to characterize the proximal and central parts of the studied murtoo during its early evolutionary phase. We defined seven main facies types that characterize the depositional processes of the unit. Overall, the studied deposits reflect increasing meltwater delivery through time and are characterized by abrupt lateral changes in sedimentary structures and grain size. While the initial deposits are dominated by massive and horizontally laminated silt with sand lenses interpreted as lower-flow-regime deposits, the latter sediments are characterized by sinusoidal stratification, sigmoidal cross-stratification and scours with backsets or chaotic fill interpreted as deposits of antidunes, humpback dunes, chutes-and-pools and cyclic steps of the upper-flow regime. The upper-flow-regime bedforms developed on a 1 m high and 15 m long bed slope and are associated with the formation of a short-lived enlarged water-filled cavity or pond, where supercritical density flows allowed for the deposition of upper-flow regime bedforms. The final coarse-grained murtoo head-bar development, characterized by planar-cross stratified gravel and pebbly sand, indicates avalanche processes that were controlled by grain size. Our results confirm that the core of the murtoo is depositional and meltwater processes played a key role in its deposition. Despite the subglacial setting with a subaqueous ice-sheet margin, the meltwater flow was not permanently characterized by pipe-flow conditions. Overall, the findings contribute to the understanding of semi-distributed subglacial meltwater systems during the retreat of a continental ice sheet (FIS) in a rapidly warming climate

High-resolution LiDAR mapping of glacial landforms and ice stream lobes in Finland

Newly available high resolution airborne LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) technology is generating unprecedented next-generation imagery of Earth surface features. LiDAR datasets are being employed by the Geological Survey of Finland (GTK) as part of a new national geological initiative (Glacier Dynamic database: GDdatabase) to rapidly and cost-effectively map glacial landforms and sediments left by the last (Late Weichselian) Fennoscandian Ice Sheet (FIS). There is a high demand for such data in hydrogeological, geoengineering and mineral exploration projects and also for the identification of glacial landforms that provide key information regarding ice sheet rheology, growth and decay. An important step forward with this new technique is the recognition of paleo- ice stream corridors with fast flowing ice (> 3 km yr-1 based on modern ice sheets), surrounded by stagnant or sluggish-flowing ice. Precise geomorphic criteria are now available for recognition of paleo-ice streams, based on the elongation of subglacial streamlined bedforms and the presence of megascale glacial lineations. Flow sets of drumlins and megascale glacial lineations can now be mapped in high resolution using LiDAR and are now seen as genetically related forms in a continuum that records increasing ice flow velocity and the creation of a low friction bed. This paper briefly outlines the nature of the GDdatabase and the methodology behind its construction and provides examples of principal bedform types that record the dynamic interplay of paleo-ice stream lobes in the Finnish sector of the last FIS