On the Deposition of Subglacial and Melt-Out tills at the Margins of Certain Svalbard Glaciers

Abstract

Two types of basal till are described. First, melt-out tills released by the melting of masses of buried, debris-rich stagnant ice. Top melting of these ice masses is of greatest importance at the present day, and this produces tills which retain some of their englacial fabrics although some are changed by the melting process. Bottom melting of these masses could also produce such tills but these are likely to be much less important. Secondly, tills are also formed subglacially when basal debris-rich glacier ice becomes stationary beneath the over-riding active glacier. When these subglacial masses melt, water is expelled from the resultant till which also shows tectonic shear fractures induced by the over-riding ice. The mode of deposition of these latter tills could also be responsible for the production of certain rock-cored drumlins. Subglacial tills in Svalbard are relatively rare and, except under special conditions, are likely to react to ice loading by water expulsion, compaction and shear fracture rather than by fluid flow.

If a basal freezing hypothesis is accepted for the origin of most englacial debris, the lateral and vertical variations in erratic content can be predicted for many melt-out tills.