Ice-proximal fans are found where subglacial streams reach the margins of grounded tidewater glaciers. As the streams enter the marine environment, they lose energy and deposit their sedimentary load (Powell 1990; Mugford & Dowdeswell 2011). The primary factors influencing the development of ice-proximal fans in a submarine setting are sediment supply and the stability of the parent glacier terminus, which provides the time needed for fan formation (Dowdeswell et al. 2015). Several arcuate fan-like submarine landforms are observed in swath-bathymetric data beyond tidewater glaciers entering Dexterity Fjord, NE Baffin Island (Fig. 1).
(a) Swath-bathymetric data from Dexterity Fjord, Baffin Island combined with a Landsat 7 image from 2002. Four ice-proximal fans and their parent glaciers are shown (glacier numbers in brackets from Glacier Atlas of Canada). Acquisition system Kongsberg Simrad EM302. Frequency 30 kHz. Grid-cell size 10 m. (b) Location of study area (red box; map from GEBCO_08). (c, d) Enlarged images of ice-proximal fans and lateral moraines marking former ice positions. Orientation and colour bar as in (a). TMP, turbid meltwater plume; m, Little Ice Age lateral moraine. (e) Acoustic sub-bottom profile from ice-proximal fans (located in (a)). VE×33. Acquisition system …
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Ice-proximal fans in Dexterity Fjord, Buchan Gulf, Baffin Island, Canadian Arctic
