Mid-Pleistocene thin-skinned glaciotectonic thrusting of the Aberdeen Ground Formation, Central Graben region, central North Sea

This paper presents the results of a high-resolution 2D seismic survey of mid-Pleistocene glaciogenic sediments in the Central Graben region of the central North Sea. Sediments have undergone major glaciotectonic thrusting and folding associated with the repeated southerly advance of a mid-Pleistocene ice sheet. The total observed length of the thrust-stacked section is approximately 5–6 km, comprising a series of discrete thrust slices, which range in length from  700 m. The basal detachment of the thrust complex occurs at a depth of ca. 220 m below the sea bed within the upper Aberdeen Ground Formation. A thin-skinned glaciotectonic model involving proglacial to ice-marginal glaciotectonic thrusting followed by post-tectonic deposition is proposed. Initial ice advance led to the over-pressurizing of groundwater within a laterally extensive sand sheet in the upper Aberdeen Ground Formation, promoting the formation of a major décollement surface at the base of the developing thrust-stack. Over-pressurization of the groundwater system is thought to have occurred in response to rapid ice advance, suggesting that the development of large-scale thrust complexes may be associated with surge-type behaviour. The proposed model evidences complex dynamics of mid-Pleistocene ice sheets within the central North Sea

Evidence for multiphase water-escape during rafting of shelly marine sediments at Clava, Inverness-shire, NE Scotland

The Pleistocene shelly glaciomarine sediments exposed at Clava, near Inverness northeast Scotland occur in a series of thrust-bound rafts accreted at on the up-ice side of a bedrock high (150 m above OD) on the SE side of the valley of the River Nairn. These sediments originally formed part of a coarsening upwards deltaic or subaqueous fan sequence deposited in the marine fjord of the Loch Ness basin, located some 50 km to the SW. The geometry of these allochthonous rafts, coupled with the associated thrusting and large-scale folding of these bodies, are typical of many glacially-transported rafts described in the literature. However, at Clava, macro- and microscopic evidence indicates that these ice-rafted sediments were not frozen, with liquefaction, hydrofracturing and water-escape occurring repeatedly during their transport and accretion. The presence of large-scale detachments within the sequence, has led to the development of a purely glacitectonic model for rafting at Clava. The detachments acted as a focus for fluid flow which lubricated these décollement surfaces, aiding in the subglacial transport of the rafts

Imbricate thrust stack model for the formation of glaciotectonic rafts : an example from the Middle Pleistocene of North Norfolk, UK

In this article, we present a glaciotectonic model for raft emplacement based on a study of large-scale and small-scale deformation structures associated with the accretion of chalk rafts at three Middle Pleistocene sites on the north Norfolk coast, eastern England. Detailed structural measurements taken from the three localities indicate an overall sense of ice movement and raft emplacement towards the south/southeast, suggesting a source area for the rafts located to the north of the present Norfolk coast in the offshore area of the North Sea. Provenancing of the chalk rafts, based on analysis of the foraminifera, also indicates a northern nearshore provenance for the chalk. Mechanisms for the detachment, transport and accretion of the rafts are explored, and it is concluded that pressurized pore water played an important role in all three phases. An imbricate thrust stack model of glaciotectonic raft generation is presented, with the structural history of raft emplacement explained by the geometric relationships between the large-scale basal shear planes and associated deformation structures within adjacent preglacial and glacial sediments

Glacitectonics : a key approach to examining ice dynamics, substrate rheology and ice-bed coupling

The role of ice masses within the Earth's climate system and in landscape change is increasingly being recognised within regions that are either currently glaciated or were glaciated during the geological past. There are many different remote and field-based approaches to studying the products of glaciation. One approach – that of glacitectonics, focuses on the styles of deformation and tectonic imprint (folds, fractures, fabrics, foliations and lineations) produced as ice overrides or pushes into pre-existing rocks or sediment. This approach, when used in combination with other types of evidence, can be used to infer ice-dynamics, substrate rheology and ice-bed coupling. Of equal significance is the influence of glacitectonic structure upon the applied properties of glaciated terranes such as ground stability, hydrogeology and fluid migration (e.g. water, gas hydrates and hydrocarbons). This paper provides an introduction to this Special Issue on Glacitectonics, outlining the significance and historical development of this field of glacial geology, before introducing and summarising the contributions that make up the volume