Subglacial tills: a process model based on microsedimentological clues

Abstract Subglacial sediments are subject to erosion, transport, and deposition in active, ephemeral, and spatially localized glacial environments. It is critical to determine how these mobilized sediments become immobilized in a time-transgressive process and can be frequently remobilized and reimmobilized. Microscopic sedimentary structural signatures provide invaluable information on subglacial processes and contribute to understanding till formation. Data were obtained from a series of field sites in Canada and Austria investigating the microsedimentological aspects of both alpine and continental glaciation tills to construct a conceptual model of subglacial deformation. Microstructures in these tills indicate rheological behaviors that can be summarized into a potential model for soft deforming subglacial sediments. Most microstructures noted in these subglacial till examples highlight the development of subglacial interface kinematics providing clues to till deposition mechanics, subglacial bedform development, and the processes involved in till provenance distributions. A conceptual process model of subglacial interface conditions in soft mobile sediments is developed that uses microsedimentological evidence and highlights how an active ice mass integrates with ongoing substrate deformation. In the model, interaction occurs between the ice and its sediment bed with internal sediment microstructures evolving where multiple transient shear deformation processes cause localized deformation linked to pervasive and nonpervasive sediment deformation.