Glacio‐isostatic age modelling and Late Weichselian deglaciation of the Lögurinn basin, East Iceland

• Published in: Boreas 2019-07, Vol.48 (3), p.563-580
• Main Authors: Norðdahl, Hreggviður, Ingólfsson, Ólafur, Vogler, Erla D., Steingrímsson, Benedikt Ó., Hjartarson, Árni
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Basins; Catchment area; Coastal zone management; Deglaciation; Exponential equations; Glacial deposits; Glacial drift; Glaciation; Glacier retreat; Glaciers; Glaciology; Gradients; Ice; Ice ages; Ice sheets; Lake ice; Lake shores; Lakes; Last Glacial Maximum; Meltwater; Modelling; Outlets; Rivers; Shorelines; Uplift; Younger Dryas
• ISSN: 0300-9483; 1502-3885
• DOI: 10.1111/bor.12366

Knowledge of the glaciation of central East Iceland between 15 and 9 cal. ka BP is important for the understanding of the extent, retreat and dynamics of the Icelandic Ice Sheet. Crucially, it is not known if the key area of Fljótsdalur‐Úthérað carried a fast‐flowing ice stream during the Last Glacial Maximum; the timing and mode of deglaciation is unclear; and the history and ages of successive lake‐phases in the Lögurinn basin are uncertain. We use the distribution of glacial and fluvioglacial deposits and gradients of former lake shorelines to reconstruct the glaciation and deglaciation history, and to constrain glacio‐isostatic age modelling. We conclude that during the Last Glacial Maximum, Fljótsdalur‐Úthérað was covered by a fast‐flowing ice stream, and that the Lögurinn basin was deglaciated between 14.7 and 13.2 cal. ka BP at the earliest. The Fljótsdalur outlet glacier re‐advanced and reached a temporary maximum extent on two separate occasions, during the Younger Dryas and the Preboreal. In the Younger Dryas, about 12.1 cal. ka BP, the outlet glacier reached the Tjarnarland terminal zone, and filled the Lögurinn basin. During deglaciation, a proglacial lake formed in the Lögurinn basin. Through time, gradients of ice‐lake shorelines increased as a result of continuous but non‐uniform glacio‐isostatic uplift as the Fljótsdalur outlet glacier retreated across the Valþjófsstaður terminal zone. Changes in shoreline gradients are defined as a function of time, expressed with an exponential equation that is used to model ages of individual shorelines. A glaciolacustrine phase of Lake Lögurinn existed between 12.1 and 9.1 cal. ka BP; as the ice retreated from the basin catchment, a wholly lacustrine phase of Lake Lögurinn commenced and lasted until about 4.2 cal. ka BP when neoglacial ice expansion started the current glaciolacustrine phase of the lake.