Transport conditions of mountain-surging glaciers as recorded in the micromorphology of quartz grains (Medvezhiy Glacier, West Pamir)
PDF

Keywords

glacier surge
SEM
abrasion
crushing
chemical weathering
frost weathering

How to Cite

Muzińska, A. (2015). Transport conditions of mountain-surging glaciers as recorded in the micromorphology of quartz grains (Medvezhiy Glacier, West Pamir). Geologos, 21(2), 127–138. https://doi.org/10.1515/logos-2015-0009

Abstract

In order to reproduce the conditions under which sediments were transported in surging glaciers, samples were taken from the margin and foreland of the surge Medvezhiy Glacier situated in West Pamir (Tajikistan). They were subjected to an analysis of rounding and frosting of quartz sand grains (0.8-1.0 mm) and of grain surface micromorphology under scanning electron microscope (SEM). Results obtained showed intense chemical weathering occurred in the majority of quartz grain surfaces, marked in the form of etching and precipitation. Frequencies of microstructures of glacial origin were low; individual microstructures were visible on single grains. A predominance of the crushing process over abrasion in transformation of quartz grains was noted. The commonest microstructures connected with a surge-glacier environment were large and small conchoidal fractures. However, grains with primary features not connected with a glacial environment were equally common. The majority of the grains examined showed features of multiple cycles of mechanical and chemical weathering forming a microtexture under various conditions (overprinting). Common features of grains from surging glaciers are also breakage blocks of >10μm, which depend of the phase of separation of the grain from the rock or on thermal changes in the glacier’s foreland.

https://doi.org/10.1515/logos-2015-0009
PDF

References

Benn, D.I. & Evans, D.J.A., 1998. Glaciers and Glaciation. Arnold, London, 734 pp.

Bennett, M.R., Waller, R.I., Midgley, N.G., Huddart, D., Gonzalez, S., Cook, S.J. & Tomio, A., 2003.Subglacial deformation at sub-freezing temperatures? Evidence from Hagafellsjokull-Eystri, Iceland. Quaternary Science Reviews 22, 915-923.

Cailleux, A., 1942. Les actionnes éoliennes périglaciaires en Europe. Mémoires de la Société Géologique de France 41, 1-176.

Clarke, G.K.C., 1987. Fast glacier flow: ice streams, surging, and tidewater glaciers. Journal of Geophysca Research 92, 8835-8841.

Clarke, G.K.C., Collins, S.G. & Thompson, D.E., 1984.

Flow, thermal structure, and subglacial conditions of a surge-type glacier. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 21, 232-240, 10.1139/e84-024.

Dolgushin, L.D. & Osipova, G.B., 1975. Glacier surges and the problem of their forecasting. IAHS-AISH Publ. 104, 292-304.

Embleton, C. & King, C.A.M., 1975. Glacial Geomorphology. Edward Arnold, 1-573

Goździk, J., 1980. Zastosowanie morfoskopii i graniformametrii do badań osadów w kopalni węgla brunatnego „Bełchatów” [Application of morphoscopy and granimormometry for investigations of deposits in the “Bełchatów” brown coal mine]. Studia Regionalne 4, 101-114.

Hart, J.K., 2006. An investigation of subglacial processes at the microscale from Briksdalsbreen. Norway. Sedimentology 53, 125-146.

Helland, P.E. & Holmes, M.A., 1997. Surface textural analysis of quartz sand grains from ODP Site 918 off the southeast coast of Greenland suggest glaciation of southern Greenland at 11 Ma. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 135, 109-121.

ICIMOD, 2011. Glacial Lakes and Glacial Lake Outburst Floods in Nepal. ICIMOD Books Online, 1-89.

Iverson, N.R., Hanson, B., Hooke, R.L. & Jansson, P., 1995. Flow mechanics of glaciers on soft beds. Science 267, 80-81.

Kenig, K., 1980. Skład mineralny osadów moreny czołowej lodowca Gås (Spitsbergen) z uwzględnieniem analizy powierzchni ziarn kwarcu w SEM. [Mineral composition of the terminal moraine Gås (Spitsbergen) taking into account the analysis of the surface of the quartz grains in the SEM]. Kwartalnik Geologiczny 24, 711-740.

Kotlyakov, V.M., Osipova, G.B. & Tsvetkov, D.G., 1997. Fluctuations of unstable mountain glaciers: scale and character. Annals of Glaciology 24, 338-343.

Krinsley, D.H. & Donahue, J., 1968. Environmental interpretation of sand grain surface textures by electron microscopy. Geological Society of America Bulletin 79, 743-748.

Krinsley, D.H. & Doornkamp, J.C., 1973. Atlas of Sand Grain Surface Textures. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 91-92.

Krumbein, W.C., 1941. Measurement and geological significance of shape and roundness of sedimentary particles. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 11, 64-72.

Mahaney, W.C., 1990. Macrofabrics and quartz microtextures confirm glacial origin of Sunnybrook drift in the Lake Ontario basin. Geology 19, 145-148

Mahaney, W.C., 1995. Pleistocene and Holocene glacier thicknesses and/or transport histories inferred from microtextures and quartz particles. Boreas 24, 293-304.

Mahaney, W.C., 2002. Atlas of sand grain surface textures and applications. Oxford University Press, 26-34.

Mahaney, W.C., Stewart, A. & Kalm, V., 2001. Quantification of SEM microtextures useful in sedimentary environmental discrimination. Boreas 30, 165-171.

Meier, M.F. & Post, A., 1969. What are glacier surges? Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences 6, 807-817.

Murray, T., Strozzi, T., Luckman, A., Jiskoot, H. & Christakos, P., 2003. Is there a single surge mechanism? Contrasts in dynamics between glacier surges in Svalbard and other regions. Journal of Geophysical Research Solid Earth 108, 2237-2252.

Mycielska-Dowgiałło, E. & Woronko, B., 1998. Analiza obtoczenia i zmatowienia powierzchni ziarn kwarcowych frakcji piaszczystej i jej wartość interpretacyjna [Rounding and frosting analysis of quartz sand-grain surfaces and their interpretative significance]. Przegląd Geologiczny 46, 1275-1281.

Nowikov, V., 2002. Severe hydrometeorological events and their fluctuation. World Meteorological Organization, CBS Technical Conference, 4 pp.

Paterson, W.S.B, 1994. The physics of glaciers. Third edition. Pergamon Press, Oxford, 480 pp.

Raymond, C.F., 1987. How do glaciers surge? A review. Journal of Geophysical Research 92, 9121-9134.

Rose, K.C. & Hart, J.K., 2007. Subglacial comminution in the deforming bed: Inferences from SEM analysis. Sedimentary Geology 203, 87-97.

Sharp, M. & Gomez, B., 1986. Processes of debris comminution in the glacial environment and implications of quartz sand-grain micromorphology. Sedimentary Geology 46, 33-47.

Traczyk, A. & Woronko, B., 2010. Historia zlodowacenia doliny Łomnicy w Karkonoszach w zapisie mikromorfologii powierzchni ziarn kwarcu [The history of glaciation of the Łomnica Valley in Karkonosze as shown by the quartz grain surface micromorphology records]. Przegląd Geologiczny 58, 1182-1191.

Tulaczyk, S., Kamb, B., Scherer, R. & Engelhardt, H.F., 1998. Sedimentary processes at the base of a West Antarctic ice stream: constraints from textural and compositional properties of subglacial debris. Journal of Sedimentary Research 68, 487-496.

Whalley, W.B. & Krinsley, D.H., 1974. Scanning electron microscope study of surface textures of quartz grains from glacial environments. Sedimentology 21, 87-105.

Whalley, W.B. & Langway, C.C. Jr, 1980. A scanning electron microscope examination of subglacial quartz grain from Camp Century core, Greenland - a preliminary study. Journal of Glaciology 25, 125-131.

Woronko, B., 2012. Micromorphology of quartz grains as a tool in the reconstruction of periglacial environment. [In:]: P. Churski (Ed.): Contemporary issues in Polish geography, Bogucki Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Poznań, 111-131.

Woronko, B. & Hoch, M., 2011. The Development of Frost-weathering Microstructures on Sand-sized Quartz Grains: Examples from Poland and Mongolia. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes 22, 214-227.

Wright, J.S., 1995. Glacial comminution of quartz sand grains and the production of loessic silt: a simulation study. Quaternary Science Review 14, 669-680.

Zabirow, R.D., 1955. Oledjenienie Pamira [Glaciation of Pamir]. Geograph-GIZ Publisher, Moscow, 372