The Gepatsch Glacier in Tirol (Austria) is a rapidly retreating valley glacier whose host valley and forefield reveal subglacial, proglacial, and reworked sediment–landform assemblages. Structures include roches moutonées develop on gneiss, compound bedrock-sediment bedforms (crag and tail structures), flutes, and small diamicton ridges. The glacial sediments and landforms are undergoing incision and terrace development by meltwater streams. Glacial geomorphological and surface geological maps, in concert with elevation models of difference between July 2019 and July 2020 highlight considerable changes to the forefield over a 12-month time period. Till exposed within the last 20 years has undergone substantial mass wasting and re-deposition as subaerial mass flows, or reworked into stream deposits. The lee sides of many roches moutonées completely lack subglacial sediment, and instead contain a sand and gravel deposit interpreted to result from glaciofluvial deposition. Thus, insights into the rates of erosion and deposition in a complex, proglacial setting, allow some of these processes to be quantified for the first time. Repeated monitoring of glacier forefields is expected to yield a better understanding of the preservation potential of proglacial sedimentary facies, and hence their preservation potential in Earth's sedimentary record.Supplementary material: A comparison of 3D model parameters for 2019 and 2020 data is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5664299
Although the retreat process of glaciers from the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) is well documented, high-resolution insight into conditions prior to the maximum is lacking in the eastern European Alps, resulting in a gap in our understanding about the processes associated with this important climatic tipping point. We describe an outstanding sand and gravel outcrop at Gröbming in the Enns Valley (Ennstal), Austria, that represents the development of a delta complex that debouched into a large body of water that we name paleo-Lake Gröbming, fed by a major valley glacier. The succession consists of sands bearing climbing ripples, parallel laminations, and supercritical bed forms (bottomsets) overlain by meter-scale gravelly foresets. Topsets comprise gravels. We argue that sustained accumulation of supercritical bed forms required a jet efflux feeder mechanism best explained by a direct glacial meltwater source. Complex vertical and lateral repetition of this tripartite succession is observed, with sequence stratigraphic analysis permitting us to argue that stratal complexity is attributable to base-level changes in paleo-Lake Gröbming resulting from dam breaches of the lake. Thus, application of well-established sequence stratigraphic approaches to Quaternary ice-marginal successions in the Alps has significant potential to yield unprecedented insights into conditions prior to the LGM.
<p>Ongoing monitoring of the Gepatsch Glacier, Tirol (Austria) consists of a multifaceted, interdisciplinary project which aims to characterise short term (diurnal in the summer melt season) and longer term (annual to decadal) changes to the glacier snout and forefield in the context of a rapid retreating valley glacier. The glacial valley and forefield comprises amphibolites, para- and orthogneisses that have been smoothed and striated into whalebacks, compound bedrock-sediment bedforms (crag and tail structures), flutes, and annual moraines. The glacial sediments and landforms are undergoing incision and terrace development by meltwater streams. As part of a long term goal to characterise the rates of erosion, sedimentation, and re-deposition, we return to the same site each year in mid-July to collect airborne data with an UAV (Mavic Pro drone) that allows us to produce orthophotos and digital elevation models. We compute the daily and annual elevation changes, allowing us determine zones of erosion and deposition. Measureable evidence for erosion of flutes in the immediate glacial forefield has occurred over a 12-month time period. Till deposited within the last 20 years has undergone substantial mass wasting and re-deposition as subaerial mass flows, or reworked into stream deposits. The lee side of many whaleback structures completely lacks subglacial sediment, and contains instead a sand and gravel deposit interpreted to result from waterlain deposition. Thus, this case study area offers insight into the rates of erosion and deposition in a complex, proglacial setting, allowing some of these processes to be quantified for the first time. This approach is expected to yield a better understanding of the preservation potential of proglacial sedimentary facies, and hence their preservation potential in Earth&#8217;s sedimentary record.</p>
<p>The Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is well understood in many parts of the European Alps, but open questions remain concerning glacial phases prior to the LGM as the record is fragmentary. The Gr&#246;bminger Mitterberg (GM), located among the Enns Valley in Styria (Austria) is one such location where pre-LGM glacial and paraglacial processes can be studied. The GM emerges roughly 200 m from the Enns Valley floor and is situated between unmetamorphosed Mesozoic carbonates in the north and crystalline basement units in the south. Strata occur below a cover of up to more than 10 m thick basal till attributed to the LGM. The sedimentary record rests on the phyllites and greenschists that crop out at the steep southern flank of the GM. The sediment consists of an assortment of pebble-sand deposits with individual sand lenses, sand bodies with climbing ripples and undulose bedding, and fine-sand/silt laminated strata. In grain-supported intervals, cracked pebbles occur, which are interpreted to record subglacial loading. Cross-bedding orientations, together with the limited amount of unmetamorphosed carbonate pebbles in the sequence, imply that sediment was sourced from the GM and deposited at its margins, rather than from surrounding mountains towards the centre of the Enns Valley. Three depositional regimes have been recognised: deltaic sediment (both distal sands with ripples and proximal, cross-bedded gravel), lake bottom sediment (laminated fine-sand and silt) and fluvial deposits (channels with basal lag deposits and local cross bedding). The delta facies testify to the presence of lacustrine conditions. By analogy to the Unterangerberg in the Inn Valley (Tyrol, Austria; Starnberger et al. 2013), the following sequence of events is proposed. Before the LGM, sediment derived from the wider catchment area accumulated in the Enns Valley in lakes and rivers. Aggradation within the whole Enns valley resulted in deposition on the present day GM. During the LGM, the large Enns Glacier eroded much of the sediment record, especially around the GM. Deposits on top of the GM were then concealed by > 10 m thick diamicts and thereby preserved. Future age dating of the sediments will provide a better-constrained chronology to the sequence of events proposed above.</p>
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