Open AccessInfill of tunnel valleys associated with landward‐flowing ice sheets: The missing Middle Pleistocene record of the NW European rivers?
Author(s) -
Moreau Julien,
Huuse Mads
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geochemistry, geophysics, geosystems
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.928
H-Index - 136
ISSN - 1525-2027
DOI - 10.1002/2013gc005007
Subject(s) - geology , infill , pleistocene , meltwater , paleontology , ice sheet , geomorphology , oceanography , glacial period , ecology , biology
The southern termination of the Middle and Late Pleistocene Scandinavian ice sheets was repeatedly located in the southern North Sea (sNS) and adjacent, north‐sloping land areas. Giant meltwater‐excavated valleys (tunnel valleys) formed at the southern termination of the ice sheets and contain a hitherto enigmatic succession of northward prograding clinoforms, comprising 1000s km 3 of sediment. This study analyses 3D seismic data, covering the entire sNS, and demonstrates for the first time that the formation of these tunnel valleys was separate from their infill. The infill constitutes the postglacial record of the NW European river deltas, which had so far been considered missing.