a b s t r a c tIce sheet flow is strongly influenced by the nature and quantity of meltwater entering the subglacial system. Accessing and monitoring contemporary drainage systems beneath ice sheets is notoriously difficult, but it is possible to utilise the exposed beds of palaeo-ice sheets. In particular, eskers record deposition in glacial drainage channels and are widespread on the exposed beds of former ice sheets. However, unlike some other common glacial landforms (e.g. drumlins) there have been relatively few attempts to investigate and quantify their characteristics at the ice sheet scale. This paper presents data on the distribution, pattern, and morphometry of a large (>20,000) sample of eskers in Canada, formed under the Laurentide Ice Sheet, including quantification of their length, fragmentation, sinuosity, lateral spacing, number of tributaries, and downstream elevation changes. Results indicate that eskers are typically very long (hundreds of km) and often very straight (mean sinuosity approximates 1). We interpret these long esker systems to reflect time-transgressive formation in long, stable conduits under hydrostatic pressure. The longest eskers (in the Keewatin sector) are also the least fragmented, which we interpret to reflect formation at an ice margin experiencing stable and gradual retreat. In many locations, the lateral distance between neighbouring eskers is remarkably consistent and results indicate a preferred spacing of around 12 km, consistent with numerical models which predict esker spacing of 8e25 km. In other locations, typically over soft sediments, eskers are rarer and their patterns are more chaotic, reflecting fewer large R-channels and rapidly changing ice sheet dynamics. Comparison of esker patterns with an existing ice margin chronology reveals that the meltwater drainage system evolved during deglaciation: eskers became more closely spaced with fewer tributaries as deglaciation progressed, which has been interpreted to reflect increased meltwater supply from surface melt. Eskers show no preference to trend up or down slopes, indicating that ice surface was an important control on their location and that the conduits were, in places, close to ice overburden pressure.

Geomorphological mapping is a well-established method for examining earth surface processes and landscape evolution in a range of environmental contexts. In glacial research, it provides crucial data for a wide range of process-oriented and palaeoglaciological reconstruction studies; in the latter case providing an essential geomorphological framework for establishing glacial chronologies. In recent decades, there have been significant developments in remote sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS), with a plethora of high-quality remotely-sensed datasets now (often freely) available. Most recently, the emergence of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology has allowed sub-decimetre scale aerial images and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) to be obtained. Traditional field mapping methods still have an important role in 'work streams' that recognise the different approaches typically used in mapping landforms produced by ice masses of different sizes: (i) mapping of ice sheet geomorphological imprints using a combined remote sensing approach, with some field checking (where feasible); and (ii) mapping of alpine and plateau-style ice mass (cirque glacier, valley glacier, icefield and icecap) geomorphological imprints using remote sensing and considerable field mapping. Key challenges to accurate and robust geomorphological mapping are highlighted, often necessitating compromises and pragmatic solutions. The importance of combining multiple datasets and/or mapping approaches is emphasised, akin to multi-proxy/-method approaches used in many Earth Science disciplines. Based on our review, we provide idealised frameworks and general recommendations to ensure best practice in future studies and aid in accuracy assessment, comparison and integration of geomorphological data. These will be of particular value where geomorphological data are incorporated in large compilations and subsequently used for palaeoglaciological reconstructions. Finally, we stress that robust interpretations of glacial landforms and landscapes invariably requires additional chronological and/or sedimentological evidence, and that such data should be collected as part of a coupled inductive-deductive approach.

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Abstract. We identify and map visible traces of subglacial meltwater drainage around the former Keewatin Ice Divide, Canada, from high-resolution Arctic Digital Elevation Model (ArcticDEM) data. We find similarities in the characteristics and spatial locations of landforms traditionally treated separately (i.e. meltwater channels, meltwater tracks and eskers) and propose that creating an integrated map of meltwater routes captures a more holistic picture of the large-scale drainage in this area. We propose the grouping of meltwater channels and meltwater tracks under the term meltwater corridor and suggest that these features in the order of 10s–100s m wide, commonly surrounding eskers and transitioning along flow between different types, represent the interaction between a central conduit (the esker) and surrounding hydraulically connected distributed drainage system (the meltwater corridor). Our proposed model is based on contemporary observations and modelling which suggest that connections between conduits and the surrounding distributed drainage system within the ablation zone occur as a result of overpressurisation of the conduit. The widespread aerial coverage of meltwater corridors (5 %–36 % of the bed) provides constraints on the extent of basal uncoupling induced by basal water pressure fluctuations. Geomorphic work resulting from repeated connection to the surrounding hydraulically connected distributed drainage system suggests that basal sediment can be widely accessed and evacuated by meltwater.

The confi guration of subglacial meltwater is a critical control on ice sheet dynamics, and the presence of pressurized water distributed across the bed can induce dynamic instabilities. However, this process can be offset by effi cient evacuation of water within large subglacial channels, and drainage systems beneath alpine glaciers have been shown to become increasingly channelized throughout the melt season in response to the increased production of meltwater. This seasonal evolution has recently been inferred beneath outlet glaciers of the Greenland Ice Sheet, but the extent to which this process occurs across much larger spatial and temporal scales is largely unknown, introducing considerable uncertainty about the evolution of subglacial drainage networks at the ice sheet scale and associated ice sheet dynamics. This paper uses an unprecedented data set of over 20,000 eskers to reconstruct the evolution of channelized meltwater systems during the fi nal deglaciation of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (13-7 kyr B.P.). We demonstrate that eskers become more frequent during deglaciation and that this coincides with periods of increased rates of ice margin recession and climatic warming. Such behavior is reminiscent of the seasonal evolution of drainage systems observed in smaller glaciers and implies that channelized drainage became increasingly important during deglaciation. An important corollary is that the area of the bed subjected to a less effi cient pressurized drainage system decreased, which may have precluded dynamic instabilities, such as surging or ice streaming.