| Module Identifier | GG33510 | ||
| Module Title | GLACIAL SEDIMENTARY ENVIRONMENTS | ||
| Academic Year | 2000/2001 | ||
| Co-ordinator | Professor Mike Hambrey | ||
| Semester | Semester 2 | ||
| Course delivery | Lecture | 14 Hours 7 x 2 hours of lectures / seminars / tutorials | |
| Practical | 2 Hours 1 x 2 hours | ||
| Field Work | 2 days at weekends. Transport costs to be shared by students. Aberystwyth-Cardigan areas. | ||
| Assessment | Exam | 2 Hours Students who fail to attend the field course without good reason will only gain credit for the examination component. | 50% |
| Course work | Fieldwork report, maximum 3,000 plus figures, including literature review, data acquisition and analysis - submission date to be specified by module co-ordinator (50%); | 50% | |
| Resit assessment | Resits will comprise a 2 hour written examination (50%) and a 5,000 word literature review of a topic to be decided by the module co-ordinator (50%), for submission by the first day of the resit examinations. | ||
Module Outline (Lecture Themes)
Introduction: Glaciers and their sedimentary products; glacial sediments in the geological record
Debris in glaciers: Entrainment and transport of sediment in glaciers; sediment distribution; structural glaciological controls; sediment characteristics.
Analysis of glacial sediments: Facies analysis; textural classification of poorly sorted sediments; genetic classification of glacial deposits; methods of analysis of glacial sequences.
Processes of terrestrial glacial deposition: Formation of lodgement till; melt-out till and sublimation till; role of deformable beds; depositional landforms.
Glacigenic sediment reworking and deformation: Resedimentation of glacigenic facies: glacitectonics and deformation structures, and their kinematic significance: glacier surges and sedimentation.
Case study 1: Svalbard polythermal glaciers: sedimentary facies and landforms: comparison with late glacial phenomena in the British Isles.
Glaciofluvial sediments and landforms: Glaciofluvial processes, landforms, facies and facies associations; jokulhlaups.
Glaciolacustrine processes and sediments: Importance of glacial lake sedimentation in the Quaternary record; physical processes in glacier-fed lakes; glaciolacustrine landforms; glaciolacustrine facies and facies associations.
Glaciomarine sedimentation - fjords: Sources of glaciomarine sediment; marine processes in fjords; patterns and rates of sedimentation; fjordal facies and facies associations; depositional features in fjords;
Case studies 2 & 3: East Greenland (Scoresby Sund), Antarctica (Ferrar Fjord, Lambert Glacier).
Glaciomarine sedimentation - continental margins: Glacier-ocean interactions; sedimentation and erosion on glacier-influenced continental shelves and slopes; shelf facies and facies associations.
Case study 4: Evolution of the Antarctic continental margin from offshore drilling and seismic surveying.
Fieldwork: Application of glacial sedimentological principles to the "Irish Sea Glaciation Problem" with reference to Welsh coastal and inland sections; sedimimentary logging; clast shape, fabric and lithological analysis of glacial sediments; documentation of glaciotectonic phenomena; relation to landforms.
Module Aims
The aim of this module is to provide a balanced view of sedimentation in both terrestrial and marine environments influenced by glaciers and ice sheets. The module emphasises processes and patterns of sedimentation in modern glacial environments, but also applies these concepts to interpreting the geological record.
Module objectives / Learning outcomes
On completion of this module, students should be able to assess which sedimentary criteria are applicable to interpreting Quaternary and older glacial successions; identify key glacial landforms; gain an appreciation of the complexity of processes operating in polar and temperate glacial environments; synthesise relevant literature, and produce high-quality written reports.
Reading Lists
Books
** Essential Reading
Hambrey, M.J.. (1994)
Glacial Environments. UCL Press, 295p.
Dowdeswell, J.A. & Scourse, J.D. (ed). (1990)
Glacimarine Environments: Processes and Sediments. Geological Society Special Publication 53, 422pp.
Benn, D.I. & Evans, D.J.A.. (1998)
Glaciers and Glaciation. Arnold, London, 734pp.
Bennett, M.R. & Glasser, N.F.. (1996)
Glacial Geology. Ice Sheets and Landforms. Wiley, Chichester.
Molnia, B.F.. (1983)
Glacial-Marine Sediments. Plenum, New York, 844 pp.
Menzies, J. (ed.). (1996)
Past Glacial Environments: Sediments, Forms and Techniques. Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford
Drewry, D.J.. (1986)
Glacial Geologic Processes. Arnold, London, 276 pp.
Articles
Dowdeswell, J.A.. (1987)
Processes of glacimarine sedimentation. Progress in Physical Geography, 11: 52-90