chapter 8. glacioaeolian processes, sediments, and landforms

CHAPTER

8GLACIOAEOLIAN PROCESSES,SEDIMENTS, AND LANDFORMS

E. Derbyshire1 and L.A. Owen21Royal Holloway, University of London, Surrey, United Kingdom,

2University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, United States

8.1 INTRODUCTIONThe frequently strong association of aeolian processes with present and former glaciation has been

recognized for over 80 years from field observations (Hogbom, 1923). Bullard and Austin (2011)

point out that the interaction between glacial dynamics, glaciofluvial, and aeolian transport in

proglacial landscapes plays an important role, not only in local environmental systems, but also

in the global context by affecting the amount of dust generated and transported. Moreover, glacial

outwash plains have been cited as a significant source of dust in the Southern Hemisphere (Sugden

et al., 2009) and must also have been important dust sources in the northern hemisphere (Bullard

and Austin, 2011). Cold climate aeolian processes and landforms have been widely acknowledged

in proglacial and paraglacial geomorphology (e.g., Ballantyne, 2002; Seppala, 2004). However,

relatively little work has been undertaken on glacioaeolian processes, sediments, and landforms

compared to other glacial systems. The ISI Web of Science does not even provide one reference to

the term ‘glacioaeolian’ and Google Scholar provides a mere 61 references. Variations on the spell-

ing of glacioaeolian, including glacioeolian, glacio-aeolian, glacio aeolian, and glacio-eolian yield

less than 40 citations. Even the international journal Aeolian Research provides only one reference

to the term glacioaeolian. A search of glacial aeolian yields 924 and 35,300 citations in the ISI

Web of Science and Google Scholar, respectively. However, this includes reference to aeolian sedi-

ments that are not of glacial origin, but were deposited during a glacial event. The classic textbook

on glaciers, Glaciers and Glaciation, by Benn and Evans (2010) does not even list glacioaeolian in

its index. Despite this, the glacioaeolian sediments and landforms are omnipresent in glacial and

proglacial evironments, and many of the great loess belts owe their origin to glacioaeolian pro-

cesses and the silt that is produced in the glacioaeolian environment.

The importance of glacioaeolian sediments and landforms for palaeoenvironmental reconstruc-

tions has a long history. The distribution of coversands, sand dunes, and loess mantles in Western

Europe and North America, e.g., was used to develop the hypothesis of a glacial anticyclone associ-

ated with the European ice sheet (Hobbs, 1942, 1943a,b). This became a framework used by a num-

ber of authors to characterize the extraglacial environment of the last glacial maximum in North

America and Europe (e.g., Schultz and Frye, 1968; Dylik 1969; Demeck and Kukla, 1969; Galon,

1959; Velichko and Morozova, 1969; Tricart, 1970; Maarleveld, 1960; Dylikowa, 1969; Krajewski,

273Past Glacial Environments. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100524-8.00008-7

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100524-8.00008-7

1977; Poser, 1932, 1948, 1950; Reiter, 1961; Lill and Smalley, 1978; Williams, 1975, Arbogast

et al., 2015; Sebe et al., 2015). Since glacioaeolian silt can be transported vast distances it has

become an important proxy for climate change ice cores and lake records (Lambert et al., 2008;

Sudarchikova et al., 2015; Dorfman et al., 2015).

For over a century, glaciers have been regarded as the greatest single source of aeolian silt,

and the nature and distribution of much of the world’s loess (wind-deposited silts predominantly in

the grain size range 0.01�0.05 mm, unstratified, relatively porous, dry, and yellow buff to brown

yellow in colour—Lill and Smalley, 1978) have been explained in terms of the former presence of

large ice sheets on the northern continents at various times during the Quaternary (Smalley, 1966a,b;

Vita-Finzi and Smalley, 1970; Boulton, 1978; Smalley and Derbyshire, 1990). A number of authors

have regarded the glacial grinding of rock as the main Earth-surface process capable of producing

the huge volumes of silt making up the world’s loess lands (Smalley et al., 2014, and references

therein). It is fair to say that the prevailing view still favours an origin in cold-climate conditions

with increased aridity in which periglacial and montane environments are added to the strictly glacial.

However, much work has recently emphasized the complex sources and pathways of the sediment

that comprises the great loess deposits and other associated aeolian deposits (e.g., Nie et al., 2015;

Nottebaum et al., 2015; Vanneste et al., 2015).

On a more local scale, the links between glacial deposition and aeolian reworking of sediments

has been illustrated from a number of glacial forelands, an early example being the observations

in Greenland by Poser (1932) and, more recently, by Bullard and Austin (2011). Information on

sediment generation and sources, the operation of the aeolian processes, facies discrimination,

and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction is, not surprisingly, widely scattered through the literature

on sedimentology, glacial and periglacial geomorphology, and Quaternary stratigraphy.

In order to help to address the need to highlight the importance of glacioaeolian processes,

landforms, and sediments in the study of glacial geology and geomorphology, we build on our

chapter on glacioaeolian processes, sediments, and landforms that was published in the first edition

of Past Glacial Environments: Sediments, Forms and Techniques (Derbyshire and Owen, 1996;

Menzies, 1996). In particular, we draw on a selection of literature that emphasizes the relation

between glaciers and aeolian sediments and landforms.

8.2 SEDIMENT PRODUCTION AND SOURCESComminution of rock to produce fragments with a particle size susceptible to movement by aeolian

suspension, saltation, and traction is effected on a large scale by several mechanisms including

glacial grinding, weathering (notably by crystal growth), and fluvial and aeolian abrasion of

particles in transport (Smalley et al., 2014; Woronko and Pisarska-Jamrozy, 2015; Fig. 8.1). More

localized and less well documented processes include hydration effects, chemical and biological

weathering, and mass slope failure in rock and soil including those associated with earthquake

shock (Hewitt, 1988; Goudie, 2005; Graly et al., 2014; Hindshaw et al., 2016; Fig. 8.2).

Most of the quartz in sedimentary rocks is derived initially from igneous and metamorphic types

and is predominantly of sand size. Most of the sand-size particles in the world’s sedimentary system

consist of quartz derived from massive plutonic rocks and gneiss with a mean grain size of 720 μm,

274 CHAPTER 8 GLACIOAEOLIAN PROCESSES, SEDIMENTS, AND LANDFORMS

and sources such as schist with a mean quartz grain size of 440 μm, bringing the initial average

particle size down to about 600 μm (Blatt, 1987; Livingstone and Warren, 1996). The ancient

granitic rocks such as those of the heavily glaciated Laurentian and Baltic shields contain quartz in

a stressed state, which facilitates comminution (Smalley, 1966a,b; Smalley et al., 2014). In contrast,

the quartz in the Quaternary sands and silts of High Asia derives less from highly stressed granite

and more from thick, recycled sedimentary units in the Karakoram�Himalayan�Tibetan zone of

crustal thickening. Break up and release of quartz particles results from the considerable energy

FIGURE 8.1

Views of supraglacial debris on the Khumbu glacier in Nepal. Note the abundant fine sediments generated by rock

fall processes that supply the debris, and abrasion and crushing of the debris as it is transported down glacier.

FIGURE 8.2

Rock avalanche debris on snow cones in the Himalaya of northern India illustrating the potential of such processes

to generate abundant fine sediment that may be transported by aeolian processes into the glacioaeolian system.

2758.2 SEDIMENT PRODUCTION AND SOURCES

derived from tectonic and crystal-growth processes in this rapidly rising, cold, and rather dry region.

The observation by Blatt (1987) that the δ18O values of quartz from plutonic igneous rocks are

consistently lower than those found in quartz from many sedimentary and metamorphic sources is

used by Smalley (1990) as a further distinction between loess derived from the Pleistocene ice sheet

glaciations (glacial loess) and that produced in High Asia by tectonic and weathering processes

(mountain loess).

The production of large amounts of silt requires comminution of sand-grade material, as shown

by considerable discussion of the relative importance of the glacial and nonglacial processes

involved. Attrition in blowing and saltating sand grains produces some silt-size material, but the

experimental results of Kuenen (1960) suggested that the volume is small; this led Smalley and

Vita-Finzi (1968) to reject this origin for the great loess sheets. Instead, production of silt by the

grinding action at the bed of glaciers and ice sheets has led some writers to express the view that

this is the only mechanism capable of producing such large volumes of silt (e.g., Smalley and

Cabrera, 1970; Boulton, 1978; Collinson, 1979). Other evidence, notably particle shape and surface

texture, and the mineralogy of the clay grade (,2 μm) has been invoked to strengthen this view.

Smalley and Cabrera (1970) interpreted the predominantly angular shape of loess grains as consis-

tent with glacial breakage, and fracture surfaces were attributed to glacial processing of silt grains

in some European loess (Smalley et al., 1973), as well as those in the Mississippi valley and New

Zealand (Smalley, 1966a,b, 1971).

Langroudi et al. (2014) present empirical work that examined the micromechanics of

sand-to-silt size reduction in the quartz material by a series of grinding experiments using a

high-energy agate disc mill that provides analogous conditions similar to glacial abrasion. Their

results suggested that the grain breakdown is not necessarily an energy-dependent process and

that noncrystallographically pure (amorphous) quartz sand and silt are inherently breakable mate-

rials through a fractal breakdown process. They also revealed that the internal defects in quartz

are independent of size and energy input. In addition, Owen et al. (2002) show the importance of

supraglacial processes in the production of silt by examining the shape, size, and thickness of

supraglacial debris on Rakhiot and Chungphar glaciers in Northen Pakistan and Glacier de

Cheilon in the Swiss Alps.

There is accumulating evidence that weathering processes are important producers of silt

(Assallay et al., 1998; Wright, 2007). Mechanical breakage exploits the inherent planar microfrac-

tures (Moss, 1966; Riezebos and van der Waals, 1974; Moss and Green, 1975; Assallay et al., 1998)

generated in sand-sized quartz grains by stress gradients during metamorphism and as a result of

contraction or cooling from the molten state. This can result from freeze�thaw stressing (Zeuner,

1959; Minervin, 1984; Wright, 2000; Schwamborn et al., 2012; Woronko and Pisarska-Jamrozy,

2015; Fig. 8.3), and impact during fluvial transport (Moss et al., 1973; Whalley, 1979; Palmer,

1982; Attal and Lave, 2009), as well as impact-breakage during aeolian transport (Smalley and Vita-

Finzi, 1968; Whalley et al., 1982, 1987; Smith et al., 2002; Smalley et al., 2014). The products of

such splitting are predominantly blade-shaped fragments (Smalley, 1966a,b), a view consistent with

the observed dominance of face-to-face fabrics in the younger, little-modified loesses of China and

Western Europe (Derbyshire and Mellors, 1988; Derbyshire et al., 1988).

The laboratory and field evidence of silt production involves the combined processes of

hydration and salt crystal growth (Goudie et al., 1970, 1979; Goudie, 1974, 2005; Sperling and

Cooke, 1985; Rodriguez-Navarro and Doehne, 1999; Fig. 8.4). Salt weathering is a significant


(A)

(C)

(E)

D

(D)

(B)Ice

IceIce

Grain

Grain

Grain

Direction of iceexpansion duringfreezing

In-grain weakness Thin premelting water film

Unloading (dilation) microcracks

Direction of grains movement

Normal stress

Shear stress

Grain

Grain

σn

τ

σn

τ

Thin premeltingfilm

Thin premeltingfilm

Thin premeltingfilm

Breakage block

C

Ice

Ice

Ice

B

FIGURE 8.3

Schematic of the development of frost weathering of quartz grains by freezing and expansion of water (A�D)

and (E) frictional sliding between two rough grains. (A) Frozen sandy-sized deposit. (B) Fragment of quartz grain

with ingrain weaknesses and thin unfrozen water (premelting film) adjacent to the surface of the grain within

frozen sand sediment. (C) The growth of the crystal ice causes the increase in the pressure on the unfrozen water

film and disintegration of the quartz grain along the ingrain weaknesses. It occurs when thickness of the unfrozen

water film becomes less than irregularities on the surface of particles. At the beginning small conchoidal fractures

are formed. (D) Multiple cycles of the freeze�thaw cause the overlapping of conchoidal features and forming

breakage block microstructures.

(A–D) After Woronko, B., Pisarska-Jamrozy, M., 2015. Micro-scale frost weathering of sand-sized quartz grains microscale frost

weathering of quartz grains. Permafrost Periglacial Process (1045–6740), doi:10.1002/ppp.1855; (E) after Blenkinsop, T., 2000.

Deformation microstructures and mechanisms in minerals and rocks. Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York, 150 pp.

cause of rock tafoni and silt production in a range of dry environments including intertropical

desert plains and piedmonts which are of particular interest (Cooke, 1981; Goudie and Day, 1981;

Bradley et al., 1978), polar deserts (Prebble, 1967; Waragai 1999; Matsuoka et al., 2006), and dry

mountain slopes (Goudie, 1983). Quartz sand grains treated with saturated sulphate solutions in a

hot desert environment as simulated in a climatic cabinet, showed abundant fracturing and commi-

nution that produced angular silt-sized particles after only 40 cycles of temperature and humidity

oscillation (Goudie et al., 1979). Scanning electron microscopy of the fragments resulting from the

experiments of Sperling and Cooke (1985), e.g., revealed conchoidal and stepped fracture surfaces

which are indistinguishable from those attributed by some authors specifically to glacial crushing.

Activity of this kind may be high where salts become concentrated as in saturated sites such as

arroyos, alluvial fans, and playa basins, locations in which the finer-grained sediments also tend to

coat the surface. A combination of salt enrichment and contraction cracking on desiccation in

wetting and drying cycles yields silt-sized bundles of clay-grade particles (Yaalon and Ganor,

1974; Dare-Edwards, 1984), which are removed by the wind at threshold velocities significantly

lower than those required to lift the grains making up such aggregates (Gillette et al., 1980). It thus

appears that the cold but semiarid to arid environments that cover so much of central Asia

are capable of producing abundant silt-grade materials which, following concentration in wadis,

fans and plains, are readily susceptible to deflation (Yaalon, 1969; Bruins and Yaalon, 1979;

Smalley and Smalley, 1983). Van Kamp (2010) emphasized that humid tropical climates yield

quartz-rich sands and kaolinite-rich muds, along with Si, Mg, Ca, Na, and K in solution, whereas

feldspar is commonly more abundant than quartz in sands in arid- and semi-arid climates.

The intimate association of till matrices of glacially comminuted rock flour, periglacial river

sediments, and the European loess sheets has sustained a strong body of opinion favouring the

FIGURE 8.4

Cavernous weathering and removal of rock varnish by salt crystal growth and aeolian abrasion in Zanskar,

northern India. Please note handheld GPS for scale.


glacioaeolian origin of loess (e.g., Hobbs, 1933; Smalley, 1966a,b). Similarly, the loess in North

America has been attributed to a glacial origin, with glacioaeolian sediment derived by deflation of

glacial deposit in the forelands as the North American ice sheets retreated (Muhs et al., 2000, 2013;

Bettis et al., 2003; Fig. 8.5). However, the extension of this explanation to the Loess Plateau of

China (Smalley, 1968) was dependent on derivation of glacial silt from the mountains of subtropi-

cal China to the southeast, which, according to prevailing opinion at that time, as summarized in

the map of Sun and Yang (1961), underwent at least three glaciations during the Pleistocene.

Reevaluation has concluded that there is no unequivocal evidence of Pleistocene glaciation south of

the Yangtze River (Derbyshire, 1983, 1992). A further attempt to explain the main body of the

Chinese loess in glacioaeolian terms postulates derivation from the Qinghai-Xizang (Tibet) Plateau

FIGURE 8.5

Map of North America showing extent of the Laurentide ice sheet at the last glacial maximum and wind patterns

derived from a modelled glacial anticyclone (COHMAP Members, 1988) compared to those derived from loess

distributions.

After Muhs, D.R., Bettis III, E.A., 2000. Geochemical variations in Peoria Loess of western Iowa indicate Last Glacial paleowinds of

midcontinental North America. Quat. Res. 53, 49�61 and Bettis III, E.A., Muhs, D.R., Roberts, H.M., Wintle, A.G., 2003. Last

Glacial loess in the conterminous USA. Quat. Sci. Rev., 22, 1907�1946.

2798.2 SEDIMENT PRODUCTION AND SOURCES

as a result of a glacial anticyclone induced by widespread ice sheets (Smalley and Krinsley, 1978).

Nie et al. (2015) used a multitechnique sedimentary provenance dataset from the Yellow River to

show that substantial amounts of sediment eroded from northeast Tibet and carried by the river’s

upper reach are stored in the Chinese Loess Plateau and the western Mu Us desert. Their finding

revises the understanding of the origin of the Chinese Loess Plateau suggesting that the Loess

Plateau is a major terrestrial sink for Yellow River sediment eroded from the glaciated northeastern

margin of the Tibetan Plateau.

8.3 WIND ACTION AROUND GLACIERSWind action in and adjacent to glacially covered terrain is expressed directly in the erosion

of bedrock surfaces and unlithified deposits, and transportation of the detached particles to be

deposited as a variety of aeolian sediments and landforms (Figs. 8.6 and 8.7). Wind also acts in

a number of ways that influence landforms indirectly, most notably in its effect upon snow

distribution on glacial forelands, but consideration of aeolian processes will be limited in this

section to direct effects. Seppala (2004) provides a comprehensive review of these aeolian

processes in cold environments.

FIGURE 8.6

Wind-eroded rock surfaces, boulders, and pebbles in glacial environments. (A) Tor at B5000 m above sea level

in Zanskar, northern India. (B) Rock outcrop, Gurla Mandata, southern Tibet. (C) Wind-polished boulder on

moraine, Gurla Mandata, southern Tibet. (D) Ventifacts on moraines in Tashkurgan valley, southeastern Tibet.


Sources of the abrasive particles essential to wind erosion of bedrock surfaces have been

outlined above. To these should be added the hard granular snow of the high polar regions,

where grain hardness reaches a Moh value of six in snow at a temperature of 250�C (Bird, 1967).

Wind abrasion produces a suite of distinctive landforms including asymmetrically smoothed

pebbles and cobbles (ventifacts), streamlined ridges (yardangs) and grooves, polished pavements,

and a variety of cavernous forms, under the general term of tafoni, in which both weathering and

aeolian abrasion appear to play a part (Samuelson, 1926; Fristrup, 1952; Pissart, 1966; Cailleux,

1968; Bogacki, 1970; Akerman, 1980; McKenna-Neuman and Gilbert, 1986; Koster and Dijkmans,

1988; Andre and Hall, 2005; Mackay and Burn, 2005; Matsuoka et al., 2006; Strini et al., 2008;

Bockheim, 2010; Figs. 8.4, 8.6, and 8.8).

The distribution of wind-eroded surfaces is very uneven, however, and there are extensive

areas in, e.g., northern Canada that are almost devoid of such features (Bird, 1967), localized

effects being observed only in mechanically weak lithologies (Saint-Onge, 1965). The dry forelands

of polar and continental glaciers and ice sheets, on the other hand, display abundant and

well-developed forms. Early reports from northeast Greenland (Fristrup, 1952) added many obser-

vations from the ice-free enclaves (Sekyra, 1969) and the dry valleys of Antarctica (Nichols, 1966).

Ventifacts have been observed in many lithologies including coarse-grained granites, but the com-

monest abrasion-polished surfaces on both pebbles and exposed bedrock occur in the finer-grained

basic intrusives. Frost-shattered coarse-grained granite contrasts with wind-polished dykes and

veins of microgranite in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Ventifact orientation leaves little doubt that gla-

cially induced katabatic winds move very dense, very cold air at high velocities in winter from the

FIGURE 8.7

View of dry deflated lake bed, a source of fine sediment, along Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram of northern

Pakistan.

2818.3 WIND ACTION AROUND GLACIERS

Antarctic ice sheet and its outlet (valley) glaciers along the deep troughs known as ‘dry valleys’.

The wind pattern is not always so simple, however, as can be seen in the aeolian abrasion of both

sandstone and gneissic bedrock around the cirque containing Sandy Glacier, which lies almost

2000 m above the floor of Wright dry valley. That the very strong winds blow across as well as

along the axis of this dry valley is attested by the composition of the englacial sediments of the cir-

que glacier (Dort et al., 1969).

The cavernous weathering forms seen in the Antarctic dry valleys have also been explained, in

part, by wind erosion (Strini et al., 2008). There appears to be rather general agreement that weath-

ering processes weaken rock surfaces, which are then etched by wind abrasion. Periodic localized

melting by direct isolation of thin accumulations of snow around rock stacks and boulders provides

a brief wetting phase used by Cailleux (1968) to explain the mobilization of salts (notably mirabil-

ite) to form veins and efflorescences which effect substantial localized granular disaggregation

of the coarser-grained intrusive rock surfaces and old glacial boulders. Such features are also well

known from Greenland (Washburn, 1969) and the glaciated desert valley of the Karakoram in

northern Pakistan and China (Fig. 8.4). Thus weakened, rock surfaces are much more susceptible to

wind abrasion than in the unweathered state. However, the observed asymmetry of the tafoni does

not simply reflect present-day dominant wind directions. Case hardening, by which the surface

of a boulder becomes relatively stronger than the tafoni by evaporation of solutions leaving

a thin cemented surface layer, certainly plays a role in both Antarctic and high mountain deserts

(Andre and Hall, 2005; Strini et al., 2008). Such surfaces may develop through a number of stages

until it, too, is removed in part by aeolian abrasion (Fig. 8.9) (Derbyshire et al., 1984). Although a

preferred orientation has been recorded in some groups of tafoni, the orientations do not appear

to match current dominant wind directions in Antarctica (Cailleux and Calkin, 1963) or in the

FIGURE 8.8

Yardangs in the Qaidam Basin in northwest Tibet. The height of each yardang at this location is about 20 m.


Karakoram where residual snowpatch localization (a combined product of isolation and an indirect

effect of wind action) appears to be the essential cause.

The erosive action of the wind in the form of deflation from the surfaces of unlithified

deposits such as till, glaciofluvial, and glaciolacustrine facies is probably far more significant in

terms of volume of material moved per unit of time, than is the case of abrasion of even severely

weathered bedrock. The winnowing of fines (sands and silts) from freshly deposited proglacial

sediments may be sufficiently rapid to produce a stone pavement within just a few years.

Blowing sand and silt has been observed on many glacial outwash plains including, e.g., those in

the Yukon (Nickling, 1978), Baffin Island (Church, 1972; McKenna-Neuman and Gilbert, 1986),

Iceland (Bogacki, 1970; Mountney and Russell, 2006; Dagsson-Waldhauserova et al., 2015), west

Spitsbergen (Riezebos et al., 1986), and in the Karakoram glacial valleys, the Pamir, and Tibet

(Fig. 8.10). Blown silt and sand may cap landforms such as moraines and form sand ramps

(Figs. 8.11 and 8.12).

The relation between particle size, fluid, and impact threshold velocities is summarized in Fig. 8.13

(Mabbutt, 1977). Particles ,0.1 mm in diameter are moved by suspension and particles .0.1 mm in

diameter are moved by saltation, while those .0.6 mm are moved by creep. Threshold velocities for

entrainment of particles, in traction, saltation, and suspension loads, are reached with higher

frequency in winter on snow-free surfaces in high-latitude glacial forelands. Wind velocities and air

densities may be sufficiently high in the Antarctic winter to move particles of gravel grade by trac-

tion, saltation, and even suspension (Selby et al., 1974; J. J. M. van der Meer, Personal communica-

tion). Moreover, since the density of air varies inversely with temperature and because the drag force

FIGURE 8.9

Conceptual model of landscape evolution in southeastern Nebraska. The model starts after initial fluvial

dissection of glaciated landscape and slow accumulation of oldest loess unit (Kennard Formation). Landscape

diverges between large areas of net upbuilding through loess accumulation and steep slopes that experience net

erosion and retreat.

After Mason, J.A., 2015. Up in the refrigerator: geomorphic response to periglacial environments in the Upper Mississippi River

Basin, USA. Geomorphology 248, 363�381.


on a particle moving in air is proportional to air density, it is generally speculated that cold winds are

more effective in aeolian transport than warm winds (McKenna Neuman, 1993). As McKenna

Neuman (1993) highlights, for temperatures typical of current seasonal variation in the Canadian

Arctic, the flux of sediment moved by winter winds at 230�C could exceed that moved in summer at

10�C by a factor of at least 1.16, assuming transport-limited conditions.

Particle size has a strong influence not only on the mechanism of transport but also on the sedi-

mentary characteristics and landforms (Fig. 8.13). Aeolian sand is deposited as dunes and sheets

within short distances of its source in glacial outwash plains, lake basins, and proglacial coastal

flats. In contrast, aeolian silts are transported predominantly in suspension and may be carried hun-

dreds of kilometres or more from their proglacial source locations, contributing a fertile and readily

worked fraction to the soils of extensive regions remote from the glaciers.

Glacial winds also vary over time and glaciers oscillate due to climate change. Ballantyne

(2002) highlights the importance of reworking of sediment during deglaciation, aeolian processes

being particularly important in redistributing sediment. This is a view supported in numerous other

studies (e.g., Kadlec et al., 2015; Mason, 2015; Martignier et al., 2015). Moreover, the loess records

highlight a strong control of climate in its sedimentology, notably enhancing deposition of silt dur-

ing glacial times, while palaeosols dominate during interglacials. Aeolian archives in mountain

areas are particularly sensitive to climate change, providing important data on the nature of

palaeoenviornmental change (Stauch, 2015; Fig. 8.14).

FIGURE 8.10

Dust storm in the Shigar Valley in the Karakoram of northern Pakistan. Glacial winds move vast amounts of

sediment through this valley during the summer.


0.01

Aeolian sands

Fluvio-aeolian sands

NetherlandsSum

n = 85

Great BritainSum

n = 43

SW FranceSum

n = 26

PortugalSum

n = 11

0.005

Pro

babi

lity

dens

ityP

roba

bilit

yde

nsity

Pro

babi

lity

dens

ityP

roba

bilit

y de

nsity

0

0.004

0.004

0.002

00.003

0.002

0.001

00.0015

0.001

0.0005

0

0 10

GS

-1

8.2

ka e

vent

9.3

ka e

vent

11.4

ka

even

tYo

unge

r D

ryas

Bal

ling

GI-

1

GS

-2 GI-

2

GS

-3 GI-

3G

I-4

20

Age-4 (ka)

30

12.52550

100

Ca2

+ (p

pb)

200400800

Alle

rad

FIGURE 8.11

Summed probability densities of ages for the OSL-dated west European aeolian records in the Netherlands, Great

Britain, Portugal, and southwest France compared with the INTIMATE event stratigraphy of Rasmussen et al. (2014).

After Sitzia, L., Bertran, P., Bahain, J.-J., Bateman, M.D., Hernandez, M., Garon, H., et al., 2015. The Quaternary coversands of

southwest France. Quat. Sci. Rev. 124, 84�105.


8.4 GLACIOAEOLIAN SEDIMENTS AND LANDFORMSThe wind acts as an agent of deposition on glacier surfaces, on the morainic and outwash areas

adjacent to glaciers, and in more distant extraglacial terrain (Seppala, 2004). Given that the wastage

of glaciers tends to destroy supraglacial aeolian landforms and to rework aeolian deposits, it is not

surprising that much aeolian sedimentation on glacier surfaces has gone relatively unreported. Dry

conditions tend to restrict aeolian entrainment and transport to the winter season. Nevertheless,

wind-winnowing of the supraglacial load of some Alpine glaciers also takes place locally in

summer when the debris dries out and eventually collapses as the subjacent glacier ice melts down,

the sand and coarser grades being redeposited by sliding and rolling while the silts are blown off.

This is an important process of grain size fractionation in the terminal zone of glaciers with hot,

dry summers as in the Karakoram, Himalaya, and some valleys on the eastern slope of the

Southern Alps of New Zealand. Aeolian deposition of sediments on glacier surfaces appears to be

substantial only in the case of hyperarid polar and continental glaciers such as the Qilian Shan of

northern Tibet and the Alpine glaciers in the dry valley region of eastern Antarctica. Most glaciers

in the latter region show a finely dispersed silt component along the englacial foliation derived

from aeolian deposition of dust and snow in the accumulation zone. On some Antarctic glaciers,

the supraglacial load is predominantly of wind-rippled sand deposited by winds blowing across the

glacier from adjacent debris-strewn desert surfaces. The intercalation of such sand with snow in

the glacier’s accumulation zone is sometimes preserved in the englacial foliation. In the case of

Sandy Glacier in Wright Valley, Antarctica, the consistency of the alternation of thin layers of sand

and clean ice in the snout area has been used to support the view that movement in this cirque

FIGURE 8.12

Glacioaeolian sands and silts capping hummocky moraines in the Waqia Valley in the Pamir.


glacier has been by simple rotational sliding with little deformation of the original sedimentary

structure derived from aeolian deposition above the equilibrium line (Dort, 1967; Dort et al., 1969).

The sands and silts blown across the proglacial plains and beyond are deposited as dunes and a

number of sheet-like or planar bodies. Sand dunes derived from glacial outwash plains are known from

many parts of the world including Antarctica (Webb and McKelvey, 1959; Bourke et al., 2009;

Bristow et al., 2011), Alaska (Koster and Dijkmans, 1988; Busacca et al., 2003), the Himalaya, and

Tibet (Owen, 2014; Figs. 8.15 and 8.16). Dunes of barchan, transverse, and whaleback form have been

60

Dust

0.010.04 0.1 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.8 1.5 2.0

Creep

Saltation

NormalSuspension (local)

Suspension (export)

Loess

Dunes

4 2 1Grain diameter (∅)

0 1

Swales, sand sheets, and ripples

Regs

Extreme

2.5 3.0

Approxim

ate threshold wind velocity

1 cm above surface (m

s–1)

8

Fluid t

hres

hold

Impact

threshold 6

4

Sand grain diameter (mm)

40

Dra

g ve

loci

ty (

cm s

–1)

20

0

FIGURE 8.13

The relation between particle size, fluid, and impact thresholds, dominant mode of aeolian transport and aeolian

landforms.

Mabbutt, J.A., Desert Landforms,figure, r 1977 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, by permission of The MIT Press.

2878.4 GLACIOAEOLIAN SEDIMENTS AND LANDFORMS

Qilan Shan(A)

(B)

(C)

(D)

(E)

Qinghai Lake

Gonghe Basin

Qaidam Basin

Donggi Cona

Southern Tibet

2000

Effe

ctiv

e m

oist

ure

Hig

hLo

w

520

510

500

490

Inso

latio

n 30

°N(W

m–3

)δ18

O r

ecor

dD

ongg

e C

ave

δ18O

C. M

ullie

ensi

sce

llulo

se

480

470– 10

– 9– 8– 7– 6– 5– 4

– 29

– 28

– 27

– 26

– 25

– 24

4000 6000 8000 10,00012,000 14,000 16,00018,000 20,000

2000 4000 6000 8000 10,000AGE (years)

12,000 14,000 16,00018,000 20,000

LoessSand

Palaeosol

FIGURE 8.14

Palaeoclimatic comparison of the aeolian phases and selected records. (A) Phases of enhanced sediment

accumulation and soil formation on the Tibetan Plateau. (B) June summer insolation at 30 degrees North of

Berger and Loutre (1991). (C) δ18O record from Dongge Cave of Dykoski et al. (2005). (D) δ13C record from

Hongyuan peat record of Hong et al. (2003) and (E) effective moisture for monsoonal central Asia of Herzschuh

(2006).

After Stauch, G., 2015. Geomorphological and palaeoclimate dynamics recorded by the formation of aeolian archives on the Tibetan

Plateau. Earth-Sci. Rev. 150, 393�408.

FIGURE 8.15

Dune field at the confluence of the Shigar and Indus valleys in the Karakoram of northern Pakistan. Glacial

winds converge at this confluence reworking fluvial and glacial deposits to form a complex assemblage of

pyramidal and barchan dunes.

FIGURE 8.16

Barchan dunes in southern Tibet.


described from the Antarctic dry valleys where they characteristically consist of interstratified sand and

snow-derived ice which acts as a cement (Calkin and Rutford, 1974; Bristow et al., 2010a,b, 2011).

Deposition of sand with snow in this way is predominantly a winter process. Although, outside the polar

regions, such niveoaeolian deposits (Rochette and Cailleux, 1971; Christiansen, 1998) tend to be

destroyed by seasonal melting, some structures have been recognized in dunes (Steidmann, 1973;

Ahlbrandt and Andrews, 1978; Ballantyne and Whittington, 1987; Koster and Dijkmans, 1988;

Belanger and Filion, 1991; Bateman, 2013). For example, Ahlbrandt and Andrews (1978) recognize

cold-climate deposits with distinctive tensional, compressional, and dissipation sedimentary structures

in Colorado. Small-scale sand accumulation in the lee of vegetation tussocks (sand shadows), and in the

lee of moraines, gravel braids in outwash plains and beach ridges, are common on glacial forelands.

Processes of deflation may also contribute to dune morphologies such as the classic blow-out dunes in

Iceland (Bogacki, 1970). Parabolic dunes are particularly common in cold-climate regions, often form-

ing extensive complexes (Ahlbrandt and Andrews, 1978; Koster, 1988; Belanger and Filion, 1991;

Sitzia et al., 2015; Yan and Baas, 2015). The formation and movement of dunes has been observed with

good examples being described in northwest Alaska (Koster and Dijkmans, 1988) and on the sub-Arctic

eastern coast of the Hudson Bay (Belanger and Filion, 1991). Reconstructions of formation and move-

ments of dunes include work in Colorado (Ahlbrandt and Andrews, 1978), western Nebraska (Smith,

1965) and the Netherlands (Koster, 1988).

Sands with varying amounts of silt occur as sheets in down-wind locations adjacent to outwash

plains and temporary, dried-out lakes or ponds. Sand sheets, often with distinctive subhorizontal planar

bedding are best known from the Pleistocene record of the Netherlands where they have been termed

‘coversands’ (Maarleveld, 1960). Fig. 8.17 shows the distribution of the coversand belts in Europe with

notable studies being undertaken in Belgium (Vandenberghe and Gullentops, 1977; Vandenberghe,

1983), Denmark (Kolstrup et al., 2007), France (Sitzia et al., 2015), Germany (Koster, 1988; Schwan,

1988), the Netherlands (Vandenberghe, 1991, 1993; Kasse, 1999, 2002; Vandenberghe and Kasse,

2008), Poland (Manikowska, 1991), and Scandinavia (Seppala, 1995; Kayhko et al., 1999).

This, along with evidence such as the distribution of ventifacts and loess, the percentage

of frosted coarse sand grains in aeolian sediments (Fig. 8.17b), sedimentary structures indicating

dominant palaeowind directions, as well as evidence from other glacial and paraglacial sediments,

are important in reconstructing Pleistocene palaeoenvironments. This has facilitated reconstruction

of ice margins (Fig. 8.17a) and the configuration of the past atmospheric pressure system during

the last glaciation. Cailleux (1942), e.g., believed that areas with higher percentages of frosted

grains were regions that had experienced the most severe periglacial activity and strongest winds.

Increases in aeolian activity and the formation of coversands are thought to have coincided with

increased aridity during periods of colder climate.

In the European Lowlands the deposition of coversands during late glacial times occurred

during the Early Dryas Stadial and the Late Dryas Stadial, with older coversands deposited in

the Earliest Dryas Stadial and the Pleniglacial (Kukla, 1975; Koster 1988). Sarntheim’s (1978)

computer simulation of the distribution of moisture during the last glacial and present interglacial,

and evidence for the distribution and extent of past deserts show that increased aridity during the

last glacial maximum enhanced aeolian activity, the formation of dunes, and the extension

of deserts, while during the Holocene climatic optimum deserts and dune formation were at a mini-

mum. Using stratigraphic analysis and numerical dating of Pleistocene coversands in southwest


10° W 0° 10° E 20° 30° 40° 50° 60°20°70° N

60°

50°

>80%

0 500

km

60-80%

40-60%

20-40%

<20%

10° W 0° 10° E 20° 30° 40° 50° 60°20°

10° W 0° 10° E 20° 30° 40° 50° 60°20°70° N

60°

50°

?

??

?

?

?

D

A

A

S

S

DW

SW?

?

??

?

Max. extent of glaciation in EuropeAnglian limitSaale limitExtent of last glaciationDeversian limitWeichselian limit

Apline Ice CapPyreneesIce Cap

Caucasus Ice Cap

Ural Ice CapEx

tent

of

Last

Glaciat

ion

Max

ext

e nt o

f Gla

ci

ation

Apline Ice Cap

PyreneesIce Cap Caucasus Ice Cap

Ural Ice Cap

(B)

(A)

500km

Loess and Loessic deposits(based on Bordes 1969, Hobbs 1943)Extent of sand beltsbased on Koster 1988Vetifacts

0

FIGURE 8.17

Maps of northern Europe comparing: (A) the distribution of loess and coversand, and reconstruction of former ice

extents (B) the percentage frosted coarse sand grains.

(A) After Bordes F., 1969. Le loess en France. Bull. Assoc. Franc¸. Et. Quaternaire (A.F.E.Q.) Suppl. VII. Congre’s Int. I.N.Q.U.A., 69

pp.; Hobbs, W.H., 1943a. The glacial anticyclones and the continental glaciers of North America. Am. Philos. Soc. Proc., 86, 368–

402; Hobbs, W.H., 1943b. The glacial anticyclone and the European continental glacier. Am. J. Sci., 241, 333–336; and Koster, E.

A., 1988. Ancient and modem cold-climate aeolian sand deposition: a review. J. Quat. Sci. 3, 69–83. (B) after Cailleux, A., 1942.

Les actions eoliennes periglaciaires en Europe. Soc. Geol. France Mem 46, 1�176.

France, Sitzia et al. (2015) constructed a renewed chronostratigraphic framework for sand deposi-

tion, showing the development of transgressive dune fields since at least the Middle Pleistocene

(MIS 10). Three main phases of accumulation occurred during the last glacial. The oldest

(64�42 ka) is associated with wet sandsheet facies, histic horizons, and zibar-type dune fields and

the Late Pleniglacial (24�14 ka) corresponds to the main phase of coversand extension in a drier

context. These compare favourably with chronologies elsewhere in Europe (Fig. 8.11).

By examining the Loveland loess in Iowa, Muhs et al. (2013) tested whether Earth was dustier

during the last glacial period and that the increased gustiness (stronger, more frequent winds) would

have enhanced dustiness and that this, in turn, would be recorded in the loess record. The Loveland

loess is one of the thickest deposits of last-glacial-age (Peoria) loess in the world. Based on the

geochemistry of the loess, Muhs et al. (2013) were able to show that the loess was derived not only

from glaciogenic sources of the Missouri River, but from distal loess of nonglacial sources in

Nebraska. Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of the loess succession showed that

deposition began after B27 ka continuing to B17 ka (Fig. 8.18). The OSL ages also indicate that

FIGURE 8.18

Relation to insolation, Laurentide ice sheet oscillations, and Loveland loess deposition in Iowa. (A) insolation

from 31 to 17 ka at the top of the atmosphere at 65 degrees North in July; (B) time�distance diagram showing

the southerly extent of the Laurentide ice sheet in the midcontinent of North America from B31 to B17 ka; (C)

stratigraphy, OSL ages (shown on part B as squares with error bars), and coarse/fine silt ratios at Loveland, Iowa;

and (D) particle size data; and loess mass accumulation rates.

After Muhs, D.R., Bettis, E.A., Roberts, H.M., Harlan, S.S., Paces, J.B., Reynolds, R.L., 2013. Chronology and provenance of

lastglacial (Peoria) loess in western Iowa and paleoclimatic implications. Quat. Res. 80, 468�481.


mass accumulation rates of loess were not constant, but highest and grain size coarsest at B23 ka.

During this time B10 m of loess accumulated in # 2 ka. Muhs et al. (2013) argued that the timing

of the coarsest grain size and highest mass accumulation rates, indicating strongest winds, coincides

with a summer-insolation minimum at high latitudes in North America and the maximum south-

ward extent of the Laurentide ice sheet. Their observations help to confirm the view that increased

dustiness during the last glacial was driven largely by enhanced gustiness, forced by a steepened

meridional temperature gradient.

The down-wind fining of aeolian deposits from sand to sandy silt and to silt has been demon-

strated in a number of currently glaciated regions including Spitsbergen (Riezebos et al., 1986; Van

Vliet-Lanoe and Hequette, 1987). In the case of the Holmstrombreen area of Spitsbergen, commi-

nution of mica also increases rapidly down-wind from the source sites, a characteristic noted in the

Pleistocene coversands of the Netherlands (Riezebos et al., 1986). Periodic wetting and drying are

important, even in very dry polar regions where vertical cracks arising from desiccation, thermal

contraction, or both, may become filled with aeolian sands to form sand wedges (Washburn, 1980;

Fig. 8.19). Other indicators of periodic moistening of the surface laminae of wind-deposited sedi-

ments are adhesion structures (the so-called adhesion ripples and warts: Kocurek and Fielder, 1982)

known from both modern and Pleistocene proglacial aeolian sand sheets (Ruegg, 1983).

The deposition of loess, coversands, and other aeolian deposits may be complex, with sediments

capping, infilling, and burying landforms (Figs. 8.12 and 8.20). Mason (2015) provides an interest-

ing model for aeolian deposition and landscape evolution in southeastern Nebraska that illustrates

some of the complexity (Fig. 8.9).

The particle size of loess is dominantly medium silt (Fig. 8.21), while the coversands have

much wider particle size variability and are often loamy. The mineralogy of the aeolian sediments

is strongly influenced by source area although carbonates, frequently occurring as cements, are

common in many loess deposits. Loess typically includes quartz, plagioclase, K-feldspar, mica,

calcite (sometimes with dolomite), and phyllosilicate clay minerals (smectite, chlorite, mica,

and kaolinite), with bulk geochemical dominated by SiO2 that ranges from B45% to 75%, but is

FIGURE 8.19

Sand-wedge near Tso Mor in southern Tibet. These formed as drifting glacioaeolian sands filled thermal

contraction cracks in polygonal ground.


typically 55�65%. Muhs (2013) provides ternary plots to show that SiO2/10, CaO1MgO, and

Na2O1K2O can be used to show the relative abundance of quartz, carbonates, and feldspars,

respectively, and how compositions compare with the most common rock types (Fig. 8.22). Most

loess has a composition that is very close to average shale, but this varies between regions, as

shown in Fig. 8.22.

8.5 FACIESThe facies progression coversands�sandy loess�loess is well documented from the proglacial fore-

lands around the Northern Hemisphere Pleistocene ice sheets (Ruegg, 1981, 1983; Schwan, 1986,

1987; Koster, 1988; Figs. 8.23 and 8.24). Fig. 8.23 is a schematic diagram showing the possible

landform and sediment associations in a glacioaeolian-dominated region with lithofacies variations

shown in a section. The scale has been omitted because such facies variations can change over

short distances (several kilometres), as is the case in the European Alps or Iceland, as well as over

FIGURE 8.20

Dunes and sand ramps south of Kongur Shan in the Pamir (upper) and north of Gurla Mandata in southern Tibet

(lower), derived from the glaciers and associated outwash plains.


many hundreds or thousands of kilometres as in the case in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Facies may vary seasonally as shown in Fig. 8.24 (Schwan, 1986). Over large areas particular litho-

facies associations are geographically governed by their proximity to the ice margins, that is, the

dominant sediment source area. Much, although by no means all, loess is derived from the silt pro-

duced by subglacial grinding. At the present time, loess is generally not accumulating in great quan-

tities even adjacent to the polar deserts, although thick deposits of Holocene age are known from the

Yukon and central Alaska (Pewe, 1955), and continuous, but thin (B1 m) loess mantles in extensive

areas such as Søndre Strømfjord in west Greenland (Meer, J.J.M. van der, Personal communication).

The proglacial loess of the last ice-sheet maximum in Europe contains sedimentary indicators of

a complex environmental history. Ruegg (1981, 1983), Schwan (1986, 1987), and Koster (1988) all

recognize a broad succession of facies associations that vary through time from fluvial to

aeolian-lacustrine to aeolian in northwest Europe, representing climatic amelioration (Fig. 8.25).

There is also abundant evidence of syndepositional permafrost development in the form of contrac-

tion cracks, sand wedges, and pseudomorphs of ice veins and ice wedges (Harry and Gozdzik, 1988;

FIGURE 8.21

Plots of mean particle size and degree of sorting (standard deviation of the mean particle size) of loess from

various regions.

After Muhs, D.R., 2013. Loess and its geomorphic, stratigraphic, and paleoclimatic significance in the Quaternary. In: Shroder, J.,

Lancaster, N., Sherman, D.J., Baas, A.C.W. (Eds.), Treatise on Geomorphology. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, vol. 11, Aeolian

Geomorphology, pp. 149�183.

2958.5 FACIES

Svensson, 1988), as well as indications of widespread reworking by a number of processes including

frost creep, solifluction, rainbeat, rainwash, and snow meltwater flow (Maarleveld, 1964; Mucher and

Vreeken, 1981; Vreeken and Mucher 1981).

In the glaciated valleys of some of the world’s greatest mountain ranges, the considerable

volumes of silt produced by subglacial abrasion occur in a number of ‘storages’, which persist

for varying lengths of time depending on the climatic conditions affecting, in particular, the den-

sity of the vegetation cover, and also on the dynamism of the proglacial landscape as influenced

by climate, topography, and tectonics. Silt, initially stored as the matrix in the till of large mor-

aines, is reworked as mudflows, is incorporated in outwash rivers as suspended load, and is held

Noncalcerous loess

(A)

(B) (C)

1

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1 0

CaO + MgO

Na 2

O +

K2O

SiO2 /10

1 00.

20.

40.

60.

81

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0 0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1 00

CaO + MgOLimestone

Na 2

O +

K2O

SiO2 /10

1

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1 0

CaO + MgO

Na 2

O +

K2O

SiO2 /10

1

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1 0

CaO + MgO

Na 2

O +

K2O

SiO2 /10

Average rocks

Calcerous loessNorth AmericaCalcerous loess

Siberianloess

New Zealandloess

Granite

ShaleBasalt

SandstoneAlaskan

loess

Icelandicloess

Nebraskaloess

Illinoisloess

Iowa loessArgentine

loessChineseloess

FIGURE 8.22

Ternary plots of major element chemistry of bulk loess from various regions. (A) Noncalcareous loess; (B)

calcareous loess from Asia and South America; (C) calcareous loess from North America. Also shown as an inset is

average compositions of common rocks.

After Muhs, D.R., 2013. Loess and its geomorphic, stratigraphic, and paleoclimatic significance in the Quaternary. In: Shroder, J.,

Lancaster, N., Sherman, D.J., Baas, A.C.W. (Eds.), Treatise on Geomorphology. Academic Press, San Diego, CA, vol. 11, Aeolian

Geomorphology, pp. 149�183.


Erosio

n &

defla

tion

Depos

ition

of

silt &

fine

san

d

Tran

spor

tG

ener

al fi

ning

of

Gra

in s

ize in

aeo

lian

sedi

men

tsCycle

s of

aeo

lian

sedi

men

tatio

n

Erosio

n &

defla

tion

of s

ilt &

fine

sand

Depos

ition

of s

ilt &

fine

sand

Tran

spor

t

of s

and

&sil

t

Produ

ctio

nof

silt

&sa

ndLoeses

Sand

Silty

Silts

Nonglacial diamictons

Glacial diamictons

Deflation of fine sand & silt

Ventifacts

FIGURE 8.23

Landform�sediment associations in the glacioaeolian environment. (1) Silt and fine sand formation by weathering

on high steep valley slopes; (2) silts and sands produced and supplied to the glacier by rock fall and other mass

movement processes; (3) silts deposited in a supraglacial lake; (4) silts, sands, and other rock debris falling into

crevasses and incorporated into the ice; (5) silts and sands washed into a small lake; (6) terraces composed of

lacustrine silts and sands produced as lake dries or drains; (7) fine sediment produced by overland flow and

deposited at base of slope; (8) meltwater stream feeding a proglacial lake; (9) proglacial lake into which lacustrine

silts and sands are deposited; (10) parabolic dune; (11) ice-contact lake; (12) deflation of outwash surface; (13)

barchan dune; (14) longitudinal dunes; (15) deflation hollow; (16) deflation of lacustrine silts and sands in a dried-

up proglacial lake; (17) rock-strewn surface, reg-like; (18) hummocky moraine; (19) aeolian sand infilling

depressions within till ridges; (20) end moraines; (21) meltwater stream dissecting the end moraine;

(22) coversands; (23) floodplain sands and gravels; (24) alluvial fan; (25) river terraces capped by loess; (26)

vegetated surface with formation of palaeosols; (27) fines being deflated from floodplain sediment; (28) loess hills.

After Derbyshire, E., Owen, L.A., 1996. Glacioaeolian processes, sediments and landforms. In: Menzies, J. (Ed.), Past Glacial

Environments: Sediments, Forms and Techniques, Wiley, Chichester, pp. 213�237.

2978.5 FACIES

in enclosed depressions as lake beds (Owen, 1996). The volumes of such stored silts are consid-

erable in the Karakoram and Himalaya (Li et al., 1984; Fort et al., 1989; Owen 1996; Benn and

Owen, 2002), but the occurrence within such mountain regions of silts as aeolian accumulations

tends to be limited to topographically favourable locations where thicknesses rarely exceed a

metre or two (Owen et al., 1992; Lehmkuhl et al., 2000; Lee et al., 2014; Fig. 8.26). As with

the Pleistocene loess of Western Europe, there is much evidence of colluvial reworking. Most

silt-grade material is blown considerable distances from the immediate proglacial source sites in

the high mountains, and the thick loess deposits of regions such as the Potwar Plateau in north-

ern Pakistan are probably derived mainly from glacial silts that have been concentrated into

thick alluvial sequences by the major rivers along the Karakoram�Himalayan piedmont.

Smalley et al. (1973) suggested that much of the silt that occurs in the North European Plain

and hill lands, including the Munich region originated from glaciers, and then was fluvially

transported, deposited as floodplain sediments, and subsequently deflated and deposited by aeo-

lian processes to form loess as mentioned previously with the Chinese loess. These examples

help to demonstrate the often polygenic origin and complex dynamics of the glacioaeolian

system.

FIGURE 8.24

Schematic representation of seasonal aeolian deposition in the periglacial environment.

After Schwan, J., 1986. The origin of horizontal alternating bedding in Weichselian aeolian sands in Northwestern Europe. Sediment.

Geol. 49, 73�108.


Facies

6 Dune sand facies(older inland dunesand river dunes)

Dry aeolian Dune-foreset cross-bedding (sub) horizontallamination

Evenly lamination/even horizontal or slightlyinclined parallel lamination, rarely cross-bedded/low-angle cross-lamination, granuleand adhesion ripples/occasional strings ofsmall pebbles, deflation levels, small frostcracks and cryogenic deformations

Evenly lamination(’layer-cake’)/horizontalalternating bedding, silty laminate or siltlayers, adhesion ripples, frost wedges andmajor cryogenic deformations, vertical-platy cracks

Evenly or wave-ripple laminated, silt andgytja layers, adhesion lamination

Fining-upward sequence of

Climbing-ripple cross-lamination, scourtroughs, horizontal lamintion,adhesionlamination

Onlarge-scale trough cross-bedding, sand withscattered granules, no cryogenic deformations

Deflation surface, desertpavement

Dry aeolian (seasonal frost?)

Moist aeolian (permafrost?)

Wet aeolian (permafrost?)

Shallow pools, aeoliansupplied material

Water current velocity low

Low energy (ripple phase)fast running water

Low energy (dune phase)fast running water

High energy very fastrunning water

5 Sand sheet facies A(younger cover sands)

4 Sand sheet facies B(older cover sands)

3 (Aeolian-) lacustrinefacies

2 (Local) flowing water1 Or fluviatile facies

A or B

Depositionalenvironment

Structures

FIGURE 8.25

Facies associations of Weisheselian dune sands and sand sheets in northwestern Europe. The facies are in

sequential order; however, facies type 6 and 5 may be synchronous and facies 4 and 3 can be in reverse order.

After Koster, E.A., 1988. Ancient and modem cold-climate aeolian sand deposition: a review. J. Quat. Sci. 3, 69�83 according to

Ruegg, G.H.J., 1981. Sedimentary features and grain size of glaciofluvial and periglacial Pleistocene deposits in The Netherlands

and adjacent parts of Western Germany. Verh. Naturwiss. Verein Hamburg 24, 133�154; Ruegg, G.H.J., 1983. Periglacial aeolian

evenly laminated sandy deposits in the Late Pleistocene of NW Europe, a facies unrecorded in modem sedimentology handbooks. In:

Brookfield, M.S., Ahlbrandt, T.S. (Eds.), Aeolian Sediments and Processes, Elsevier Scientific Publications, Amsterdam, pp.

455�482; Schwan, J., 1986. The origin of horizontal alternating bedding in Weichselian aeolian sands in Northwestern Europe.

Sediment. Geol., 49, 73�108; Schwan, J., 1988. The structure and genesis of Weichselian to early Hologene aeolian sand sheets in

western Europe. Sediment. Geol. 55, 197�232.

2998.5 FACIES

8.6 CONCLUSIONStudies of contemporary glacioaeolian processes and sedimentation are still few compared to the

research undertaken on other aspects of glacial geology. However, studies of ancient glacioaeolian sys-

tems, if loess is included, are numerous. To interpret fully the vast thickness of Quaternary

glacioaeolian sediments present throughout the world requires an understanding of the production,

transport, and deposition of sediment by aeolian processes within glacial and proglacial environments.

Glacioaeolian sediments have great potential for use as palaeoenvironmental indicators for continental

regions, especially with regard to reconstructing palaeoclimatic change. This is particularly true of the

thick loess sequences in northwestern Europe, Midwestern USA, and central China that contain palaeo-

sols. There is still much to be learned about the process and timing of palaeosol formation and associ-

ated aeolian sediments within such sequences. Moreover, the study, interpretation, and mapping of

glacioaeolian sand and silt have important economic aspects. Some of the richest agricultural regions

of the world are located on glacioaeolian sediments; they also yield some of the best sand deposits for

industrial use, such as aggregates, concrete, and manufacturing, which includes heat-resistant bricks,

ceramics, and glass. Clearly, an understanding of the sediment geometries and facies variability is

important for the exploration, exploitation and sustainable development of these resources.

REFERENCESAhlbrandt, T.S., Andrews, S., 1978. Distinctive sedimentary features of cold-climate eolian deposits, North

Park, Colorado. Palaeogeogr. Palaeoclimatol. 25, 327�351.

FIGURE 8.26

Terrace section at Pangboche in the Khumbu Himal comprising, from bottom up: glacial diamict, aeolian silts,

debris flow diamict, and colluviated loess.


http://refhub.elsevier.com/B978-0-08-100524-8.00008-7/sbref1



Akerman, J., 1980. Studies on periglacial geomorphology in West Spitsbergen, Meddelanden Fran Lunds

Universities Geografiska Institution Avhanglingrar, vol. 89. pp. 1�297.

Andre, M.-F., Hall, K., 2005. Honeycomb development on Alexander Island, glacial history of George VI

Sound and palaeoclimatic implications (Two Step Cliffs/Mars Oasis, W Antarctica). Geomorphology 65,

117�138.

Arbogast, A.F., Luehmann, M.D., Miller, B.A., Wernette, P.A., Adams, K.M., Waha, J.D., et al., 2015.

Late-Pleistocene paleowinds and aeolian sand mobilization in north-central Lower Michigan. Aeolian Res.

16, 109�116.

Assallay, A.M., Rogers, C.D.F., Smalley, I.J., Jefferson, I.F., 1998. Silt 2�62 μm, 9�4 phi. Earth-Sci. Rev.

45, 61�88.

Attal, M., Lave, J., 2009. Pebble abrasion during fluvial transport: experimental results and implications for

the evolution of the sediment load along rivers. J. Geophys. Res. Earth Surf. 114, F04023.

Ballantyne, C.K., 2002. Paraglacial geomorphology. Quat. Sci. Rev. 21, 1935�2017.

Ballantyne, C.K., Whittington, G., 1987. Niveoaeolian sand deposits on An Teallach, Wester Ross, Scotland.

Trans. R. Soc. Edinburgh Earth Sci. 78, 51�63.

Bateman, M.D., 2013. Aeolian processes in periglacial environments. In: Shroder, J. (Ed.), Treatise on

Geomorphology, vol. 8. Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 416�429.

Belanger, S., Filion, L., 1991. Niveo-aeolian sand deposition in subarctic dunes, eastern coast of Hudson Bay,

Quebec, Canada. J. Quat. Sci. 6, 27�37.

Blenkinsop, T., 2000. Deformation Microstructures and Mechanisms in Minerals and Rocks. Kluwer

Academic Publishers, New York, 150 pp.

Benn, D.I., Evans, D.J.A., 2010. Glaciers and Glaciation. second ed. Routledge, London, 816 pp.

Benn, D.I., Owen, L.A., 2002. Himalayan glacial sedimentary environments: a framework for reconstructing

and dating former glacial extents in high mountain regions. Quat. Intl. 97�98, 3�26.

Berger, A., Loutre, M.F., 1991. Insolation values for the climate of the last 10 million years. Quat. Sci. Rev.

10, 297�317.

Bettis III, E.A., Muhs, D.R., Roberts, H.M., Wintle, A.G., 2003. Last Glacial loess in the conterminous USA.

Quat. Sci. Rev. 22, 1907�1946.

Bird, J.B., 1967. The Physiography of Arctic Canada. John Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 336 pp.

Blatt, H., 1987. Oxygen isotopes and the origin of quartz. J. Sediment. Petrol. 57, 373�377.

Bockheim, J.G., 2010. Soil preservation and ventifact recycling from dry-based glaciers in Antarctica. Antarct.

Sci. 22, 409�417.

Bogacki, M., 1970. Eolian processes on the forefield of the Skeidararjokull (Iceland). Acad. Pol. Sci. Bull.

Ser. Sci. Geol. Geogr. 18, 279�287.

Bordes, F., 1969. Le loess en France. Bull. Assoc. Franc. Et. Quaternaire (A.F.E.Q.) (Suppl. VII), Congres Int.

I.N.Q.U.A., 69 pp.

Boulton, G.S., 1978. Boulder shapes and grain-size distributions of debris as indicators of transport paths

through a glacier and till genesis. Sedimentology 25, 773�799.

Bourke, M.C., Ewing, R.C., Finnegan, D., McGowan, H.A., 2009. Sand dune movement in the Victoria

Valley. Antarct. Geomorphol. 109, 148�160.

Bradley, W.C., Hutton, J.T., Twidale, C.R., 1978. Role of salts in development of granitic tafoni, South

Australia. J. Geol. 86, 647�654.

Bristow, C.S., Jol, H.M., Augustinus, P., Wallis, I., 2010a. Slipfaceless whaleback dunes in a polar desert,

Victoria Valley, Antarctica: insights from ground penetrating radar. Geomorphology 114, 361�372.

Bristow, C.S., Augustinus, P.C., Wallis, I.C., Jol, H.M., Rhodes, E.J., 2010b. Investigation of the age and

migration of reversing dunes in Antarctica using GPR and OSL, with implications for GPR on Mars. Earth

Planet. Sci. Lett. 289, 30�42.

301REFERENCES

















































































Bristow, C.S., Augustinus, P., Rhodes, E.J., Wallis, I.C., Jol, H.M., 2011. Is climate change affecting rates of

dune migration in Antarctica? Geology 39, 831�834.

Bruins, H.J., Yaalon, D.H., 1979. Stratigraphy of the Netivot section in the desert loess of the Negev (Israel).

Acta Geol. Acad. Sci. Hung. 22, 161�169.

Bullard, J.E., Austin, M., 2011. Dust generation on a proglacial floodplain, West Greenland. J. Aeolian

Res. 3, 43�54.

Busacca, A.J., Beget, J.E., Markewich, H.W., Muhs, D.R., Lancaster, N., Sweeney, M.R., 2003. Eolian sedi-

ments. Dev. Quat. Sci. 1, 275�309.

Cailleux, A., 1942. Les actions eoliennes periglaciaires en Europe. Soc. Geol. France Mem. 46, 1�176.

Cailleux, A., 1968. Periglacial of McMurdo Strait (Antarctica). Biuletyn Peryglacjalny 17, 57�90.

Cailleux, A., Calkin, P.E., 1963. Orientation of hollows in cavernously weathered boulders in Antarctica.

Biuletyn Peryglacialny 12, 147�150.

Calkin, P.E., Rutford, R.H., 1974. The sand dunes of Victoria Valley, Antarctica. Geogr. Rev. 64, 189�216.

Christiansen, H.H., 1998. Nivation forms and processes in unconsolidated sediments, NE Greenland. Earth

Surf. Processes Landforms 23, 751�760.

Church, M., 1972. Baffin Island Sandurs: a study of Arctic fluvial processes. Geol. Surv. Can. Bull. 216, 280 pp.

COHMAP Members, 1988. Climatic changes of the last 18,000 years: observations and model simulations.

Science 241, 1043�1052.

Cooke, R.U., Doornkamp, J.C., 1990. Geomorphology in Environmental Management. A New Introduction.

second ed Clarendon Press, Oxford, 515 pp.

Collinson, J.D., 1979. In: Reading, H.G. (Ed.), Sedimentary Environments and Facies. Elsevier, New York.

Cooke, R.U., 1981. Salt weathering in deserts. Proc. Geol. Assoc. 92, 1�16.

Dagsson-Waldhauserova, P., Arnalds, O., Olafsson, H., Hladil, J., Skala, R., Navratil, T., et al., 2015. Snow-

Dust Storm: unique case study from Iceland, March 6-7, 2013. Aeolian Res. 16, 69�74.

Dare-Edwards, A.T., 1984. Loessic clays of south-east Australia. Loess Lett. Suppl. 2, 3�16.

Demeck, J., Kukla, J., 1969. Periglazialzone, Loess and Paleolithikum der Tschekoslowakei. Tschechoslowakische

Akademie der Wissenschaften, Geographisches Institut, Brno, 157 pp.

Derbyshire, E., 1983. The Lushan dilemma: Pleistocene glaciation south of the Chang Jiang (Yangtze River).

Z. Geomorphol. NF 27, 445�471.

Derbyshire, E., 1992. Origine et remise en cause de la theorie des glaciations pleistocecenes de la Chine du

sudest: le cas des massifs de Lushan et Huagnshan. Ann. Geogr. 566, 472�490.

Derbyshire, E., Mellors, T.W., 1988. Geological and geotechnical characteristics of some loess and loessic

soils from China and Britain: a comparison. Eng. Geol. 25, 135�175.

Derbyshire, E., Owen, L.A., 1996. Glacioaeolian processes, sediments and landforms. In: Menzies, J. (Ed.),

Past Glacial Environments: Sediments, Forms and Techniques. Wiley, Chichester, pp. 213�237.

Derbyshire, E., Li, J.J., Perrott, F.A., Xu, S.Y., Waters, R.S., 1984. Quaternary glacial history of the Hunza

valley, Karakoran Mountains, Pakistan. In: Miller, K.J. (Ed.), The International Karakoram Project 1980,

vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 456�495.

Derbyshire, E., Billard, A., Van Vliet-Lanoe, B., Lautridou, J.�P., Cremaschi, M., 1988. Loess and palaeoen-

vironment: some results of a European joint programme of research. J. Quat. Sci. 3, 147�169.

Dorfman, J.M., Stoner, J.S., Finkenbinder, M.S., Abbott, M.B., Xuan, C., St-Onge, G., 2015. A 37,000-year environ-

mental magnetic record of aeolian dust deposition from Burial Lake, Arctic Alaska. Quat. Sci. Rev. 128, 81�97.

Dort Jr., W., 1967. Internal structure of Sandy Glacier, Southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. J. Glaciol.

6, 529�540.

Dort Jr., W., Roots, E.F., Derbyshire, E., 1969. Firn-ice relationships, Sandy Glacier, Southern Victoria Land,

Antarctica. Geogr. Ann. 51(A), 104�111.

Dykoski, C.A., Edwards, R.L., Cheng, H., Yuan, D., Cai, Y., Zhang, M., et al., 2005. A high-resolution,

absolute-dated Holocene and deglacial Asian monsoon record from Dongge cave, China. Earth Planet. Sci.

Lett. 233, 71�86.

















































































Dylik, J., 1969. L’action du vent pendant le dernier age froid sur le territoire de la Pologne Centrale. Biuletyn

Peryglacjalny 20, 29�44.

Dylikowa, A., 1969. Le probleme des dunes interieures en Pologne a la lumiere des etudes de structure.

Biuletyn Peryglacjalny 20, 45�80.

Fort, M., Burbank, D.W., Freytet, P., 1989. Lacustrine sedimentation in a semiarid alpine setting: an example

from Ladakh, northwestern Himalaya. Quat. Res. 31, 332�350.

Fristrup, B., 1952. Wind erosion within the Arctic deserts. Geogr. Tidsskr. 51�56.

Galon, R., 1959. New investigations of inland dunes in Poland. Przegl. Geogr. 31, 93�110.

Gillette, D.A., Adams, J., Endo, A., Smith, D., Kihl, R., 1980. Threshold velocities for imput of the soil parti-

cles into the air by desert soils. J. Geophys. Res. 85, 5621�5630.

Goudie, A.S., 1974. Further experimental investigation of rock weathering by salt and other mechanical pro-

cesses. Z. Geomorphol., Suppl. 21, 1�12.

Goudie, A.S., 1983. Dust storms in space and time. Prog. Phys. Geogr. 7, 502�530.

Goudie, A.S., 2005. Rocks under pressure. Phys. World 18, 22.

Goudie, A.S., Day, M.J., 1981. Disintegration of fan sediments in Death Valley, California, by salt weathering.

Phys. Geogr. 1, 126�137.

Goudie, A.S., Cooke, R.U., Evans, I., 1970. Experimental investigation of rock weathering by salts. Area 2,

42�48.

Goudie, A.S., Cooke, R.U., Doornkamp, J.C., 1979. The formation of silt from quartz dune sand by salt-

weathering processes in deserts. J. Arid Environ. 2, 105�112.

Graly, J.A., Humphrey, N.F., Landowski, C.M., Harper, J.T., 2014. Chemical weathering under the Greenland

ice sheet. Geology 42, 551�554.

Harry, D.G., Gozdzik, J.S., 1988. Ice wedges: growth, thaw transformation, and palaeoenvironmental signifi-

cance. J. Quat. Sci. 3, 39�550.

Herzschuh, U., 2006. Palaeo-moisture evolution inmonsoonal Central Asia during the last 50,000 years. Quat.

Sci. Rev. 25, 163�178.

Hewitt, K., 1988. Catastrophic landslide deposits in the Karakoram Himalaya. Science 242, 64�67.

Hindshaw, R.S., Heaton, T.H.E., Boyd, E.S., Lindsay, M.R., Tipper, E.T., 2016. Influence of glaciation on

mechanisms of mineral weathering in two high Arctic catchments. Chem. Geol. 420, 37�50.

Hobbs, W.H., 1933. The origin of the loess associated with continental glaciation based upon studies in

Greenland. International Geographical Congress, Paris 1931. C. R. Geosci. 2, 408�411.

Hobbs, W.H., 1942. Wind � the dominant transportation agent within extra-marginal zones to continental gla-

ciers. J. Geol. 50, 556�559.

Hobbs, W.H., 1943a. The glacial anticyclones and the continental glaciers of North America. Am. Philos. Soc.

Proc. 86, 368�402.

Hobbs, W.H., 1943b. The glacial anticyclone and the European continental glacier. Am. J. Sci. 241, 333�336.

Hogbom, I., 1923. Ancient inland dunes of northern and middle Europe. Geogr. Ann. 5, 113�243.

Hong, Y.T., Hong, B., Lin, Q.H., Zhu, Y.X., Shibata, Y., Hirota, M., et al., 2003. Correlation between

Indian Ocean summer monsoon and North Atlantic climate during the Holocene. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett.

211, 371�380.

Kadlec, J., Kocurek, G., Mohrig, D., Shinde, D.P., Murari, M.K., Varma, V., et al., 2015. Response of fluvial,

aeolian, and lacustrine systems to late Pleistocene to Holocene climate change, Lower Moravian Basin,

Czech Republic. Geomorphology 232, 193�208.

Kasse, C., 1999. Late Pleniglacial and Late Glacial aeolian phases in the Netherlands. GeoArchaeo-Rhein 3,

61�82.

Kasse, C., 2002. Sandy aeolian deposits and environments and their relation to climate during the Last Glacial

Maximum and Lateglacial in northwest and central Europe. Prog. Phys. Geogr. 26, 507�532.

Kayhko, J.A., Worsley, P., Pye, K., Clarke, M.L., 1999. A revised chronology for aeolian activity in subarctic

Fennoscandia during the Holocene. Holocene 9, 195�205.

303REFERENCES
















































































Kocurek, G., Fielder, G., 1982. Adhesion structures. J. Sediment. Petrol. 52, 1229�1241.

Kolstrup, E., Murray, A., Possnert, G., 2007. Luminescence and radiocarbon ages from laminated Lateglacial

aeolian sediments in western Jutland, Denmark. Boreas 36, 314�325.

Koster, E.A., 1988. Ancient and modem cold-climate aeolian sand deposition: a review. J. Quat. Sci.

3, 69�83.

Koster, E.A., Dijkmans, J.W.A., 1988. Niveo-aeolian deposits and denivation forms, with special reference to

the Greak Kobuk Sand Dunes, Northwestern Alaska. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 13, 153�170.

Krajewski, K., 1977. Poznoplejstocenskie i Holocenskie procesy wydmotworcze w Pradolinie Warszawsko-

Berlinskiej w wid_ach Warty i Neru. Acta Geogr. Lodz. 39, 87 pp.

Kuenen, P.H., 1960. Experimental abrasion 4: Eolian action. J. Geol. 68, 427�449.

Kukla, G.J., 1975. Loess stratigraphy of central Europe. In: Butzer, K.W., Issac, G.L. (Eds.), After the

Australopithecines: Stratigraphy, Ecology, and Culture in the Middle Pleistocene. Mouton Publishers, The

Hague, pp. 99�188.

Lambert, F., Delmonte, D., Petit, J.R., et al., 2008. Dust-climate couplings over the past 800 000 years from

the EPICA Dome C ice core. Nature 452, 616�619.

Langroudi, A.A., Jefferson, I., O’hara-Dhand, K., Smalley, I., 2014. Micromechanics of quartz sand breakage

in a fractal context. Geomorphology 211, 1�10.

Lee, S.Y., Seong, Y.B., Owen, L.A., Murari, M.K., Lim, H.S., Yoon, H.I., et al., 2014. Late Quaternary glacia-

tion in the Nun-Kun massif, northwestern India. Boreas 43, 67�89.

Lehmkuhl, F., Klinge, M., Rees-Jones, J., Rhodes, E.J., 2000. Late Quaternary eolian sedimentation in central

and south-eastern Tibet. Quat. Intl. 68, 117�132.

Li, J.J., Derbyshire, E., Xu, S.Y., 1984. Glacial and paraglacial sediments of the Hunza valley, northwest

Karakoram, Pakistan: a preliminary analysis. In: Miller, K. (Ed.), The International Karakoram Project

1980, 2. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 496�535.

Lill, G.O., Smalley, I.J., 1978. Distribution of loess in Britain. Proc. Geol. Assoc. 88, 57�65.

Livingstone, I., Warren, A., 1996. Aeolian Geomorphology. Longman, Harlow, 211 pp.

Mabbutt, J.A., 1977. Desert Landforms. MIT Press, Cambridge.

Mackay, J.R., Burn, C.R., 2005. A long-term field study (1951�2003) of ventifacts formed by katabatic winds

at Paulatuk, western Arctic coast, Canada. Can. J. Earth Sci. 42, 1615�1635.

Manikowska, B., 1991. Vistulian and Holocene aeolian activity, pedostratigraphy and relief evolution in

Central Poland. Z. Geomorph. 90, 131�141.

Maarleveld, G.C., 1960. Wind directions and cover sands in The Netherlands. Biuletyn Peryglacjalny 8,

49�58.

Maarleveld, G.C., 1964. Periglacial phenomena in The Netherlands during different parts of the Wurm time.

Biuletyn Peryglacjalny 14, 251�256.

Martignier, L., Nussbaumer, M., Adatte, T., Gobat, J.-M., Verrecchia, E.P., 2015. Assessment of a locally-

sourced loess system in Europe: The Swiss Jura Mountains. Aeolian Res. 18, 11�21.

Mason, J.A., 2015. Up in the refrigerator: geomorphic response to periglacial environments in the Upper

Mississippi River Basin, USA. Geomorphology 248, 363�381.

Matsuoka, N., Thomachot, C.E., Oguchi, C.T., Hatta, T., Abe, M., Matsuzaki, H., 2006. Quaternary bedrock

erosion and landscape evolution in the Sør Rondane Mountains, East Antarctica: reevaluating rates and

processes. Geomorphology 81, 408�420.

McKenna Neuman, C., 1993. A review of aeolian transport processes in cold environments. Prog. Phys.

Geogr. 17, 137�155.

McKenna-Neuman, D.P., Gilbert, R., 1986. Aeolian processes landforms in glaciofluvial environments of

southeastern Baffin Island, N.W.T. Canada. In: Nicklings, W.G. (Ed.), Aeolian Geomorphology. Allen &

Unwin, Boston, MA, pp. 213�235.

Menzies, J. (Ed.), 1996. Past Glacial Environments: Sediments, Forms and Techniques. Wiley, Chichester.








































































Minervin, A.V., 1984. Cryogenic processes in loess formation in central Asia. In: Velichko, A.A. (Ed.), Late

Quaternary Environments of the Soviet Union. Longman, London, pp. 133�140.

Moss, A.J., 1966. Origin, shaping and significance of quartz sand grains. J. Geol. Soc. Aust. 13, 97�136.

Moss, A.J., Green, P., 1975. Sand and silt grains: predetermination of their formation and properties by

microfractures in quartz. J. Geol. Soc. Aust. 22, 485�495.

Moss, A.J., Walker, P.H., Hutka, J., 1973. Fragmentation of granitic quartz in water. Sedimentology 20, 489�511.

Mountney, N.P., Russell, A.J., 2006. Coastal aeolian dune development, Solheimasandur, southern Iceland.

Sediment. Geol. 192, 167�181.

Mucher, H.J., Vreeken, W.J., 1981. (Re)deposition of loess in southern Limbourg, The Netherlands:

2. Micromorphology of the Lower Silt Loam complex and comparison with deposits produced under labo-

ratory conditions. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 6, 355�363.

Muhs, D.R., 2013. Loess and its geomorphic, stratigraphic, and paleoclimatic significance in the Quaternary.

In: Shroder, J., Lancaster, N., Sherman, D.J., Baas, A.C.W. (Eds.), Treatise on Geomorphology, vol. 11.

Academic Press, San Diego, CA, pp. 149�183. , Aeolian Geomorphology.

Muhs, D.R., Bettis III, E.A., 2000. Geochemical variations in Peoria Loess of western Iowa indicate Last

Glacial paleowinds of midcontinental North America. Quat. Res. 53, 49�61.

Muhs, D.R., Bettis, E.A., Roberts, H.M., Harlan, S.S., Paces, J.B., Reynolds, R.L., 2013. Chronology and

provenance of last-glacial (Peoria) loess in western Iowa and paleoclimatic implications. Quat. Res. 80,

468�481.

Nichols, R.L., 1966. Geomorphology of Antarctica. In: Tedrow, J.C.F. (Ed.), Antarctic Soils and Soil Forming

Processes. American Geophysical Union, pp. 1�46. , Antarctic Research Series, 8.

Nickling, W.G., 1978. Eolian sediment transport during dust storms: Slims River Valley, Yukon Territory.

Can. J. Earth Sci. 15, 1069�1084.

Nie, J., Stevens, T., Rittner, M., Stockli, D., Garzanti, E., Limonta, M., et al., 2015. Loess Plateau storage of

Northeastern Tibetan Plateau-derived Yellow River sediment. Nat. Commun. 6, 8511.

Nottebaum, V., Lehmkuhl, F., Stauch, G., Lu, H., Yi, S., 2015. Late Quaternary aeolian sand deposition sus-

tained by fluvial reworking and sediment supply in the Hexi Corridor—an example from northern Chinese

drylands. Geomorphology 250, 113�127.

Owen, L.A., 1996. Quaternary lacustrine deposits in a high-energy semi-arid mountain environment,

Karakoram Mountains, northern Pakistan. J. Quat. Sci. 11, 461�483.

Owen, L.A., 2014. Himalayan landscapes of India. In: Kale, V.S. (Ed.), Landscapes and Landforms of India.

World Geomorphological Landscapes. Springer Science1Business Media, Dordrecht, pp. 41�52.

Owen, L.A., White, B., Rendell, H., Derbyshire, E., 1992. Loessic silts in the western Himalayas: their sedi-

mentology, genesis and age. Catena 19, 493�509.

Owen, L.A., Derbyshire, E., Scott, C.H., 2002. Contemporary sediment production and transfer in high-altitude

glaciers. Sediment. Geol. 155, 13�36.

Palmer, A.S., 1982. Stratigraphy and Selected Properties of Loess in Wairarapa, New Zealand (Unpublished

Ph.D. thesis). Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand.

Pewe, T.L., 1955. Origin of the upland silt newar Fairbanks, Alaska. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 66, 699�724.

Pissart, A., 1966. Le role geomorphologique du vent dans la region de Mould Bay (Ile Prince Patrick—N.W.

T.—Canada). Z. Geomorphol. 10, 226�236.

Poser, H., 1932. Eingie Untersuchungen zur Morphologie Ostgronlands. Medd. Gronl. 94, 55 pp.

Poser, H., 1948. Aolische Ablaerungen und Klima des Spatglazials in Mittel-und Westeuropa. Die Naturwiss.

35, 269�276, 307�312.

Poser, H., 1950. Zur Rekonstruktion der Spatglazialen Luftdruckverhaltnisse in Mittel und Westeuropa auf

Grund der Vorzeitlichen Binrendunen. Erdkunde 4, 81�88.

Prebble, M.M., 1967. Cavernous weathering in the Taylor dry valley, Victoria Land, Antarctica. Nature 216,

1194�1195.

305REFERENCES











































































Rasmussen, S.O., Bigler, M., Blockley, S.P., Blunier, T., Buchardt, S.L., Clausen, H.B., et al., 2014. A stratigraphic

framework for abrupt climatic changes during the Last Glacial period based on three synchronized Greenland

ice-core records: refining and extending the INTIMATE event stratigraphy. Quat. Sci. Rev. 106, 14�28.

Reiter, E.R., 1961. Meterologie der Strahlstrome (Jet Streams). Springer Verlag, Wien, 473 pp.

Riezebos, P.A., van der Waals, L., 1974. Silt-sized quartz particles: a proposed source. Sediment. Geol. 12,

279�285.

Riezebos, P.A., Boulton, G.S., Meer, J.J.M., van der Ruegg, G.H.J., Beets, D.J., Castel, I.I.Y., et al., 1986.

Products and effects of modern aeolian activity on a nineteenth-century glacier-pushed ridge in West

Spitsbergen, Svalbard. Arct. Alp. Res. 18, 389�396.

Rochette, J.-C., Cailleux, A., 1971. Depots niveo-eoliens annuels a Poste-de-la-Baleine, Nouveau-Quebec.

Rev. Geogr. Montreal 25, 35�41.

Rodriguez-Navarro, C., Doehne, E., 1999. Salt weathering: influence of evaporation rate, supersaturation and

crystallization pattern. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 24, 191�209.

Ruegg, G.H.J., 1981. Sedimentary features and grain size of glaciofluvial and periglacial Pleistocene deposits in

The Netherlands and adjacent parts of Western Germany. Verh. Naturwiss. Verein Hamburg 24, 133�154.

Ruegg, G.H.J., 1983. Periglacial aeolian evenly laminated sandy deposits in the Late Pleistocene

of NW Europe, a facies unrecorded in modem sedimentology handbooks. In: Brookfield, M.S.,

Ahlbrandt, T.S. (Eds.), Aeolian Sediments and Processes. Elsevier Scientific Publications, Amsterdam,

pp. 455�482.

Saint-Onge, D.A., 1965. La Geomorphologie de I’Ille Ellef Ringnes, Territories du NordOuest, Canada.

Canada Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Geographical Branch Geographical Paper, Ottawa,

No. 38, 46 pp.

Samuelson, C., 1926. Studien Uber die Wirkungen des Windes in den Kalten und gemassigten Erdtielen. Bull.

Geol. Inst. Univ. Uppsala 20, 57�230.

Sarntheim, M., 1978. Sand deserts during glacial maximum and climatic optimum. Nature 272, 43�46.

Schultz, C.B., Frye, J.C., 1968. ). Loess and Related Eolian Deposits of the World. University of Nebraska

Press, Lincoln, 369 pp.

Schwamborn, G., Schirrmeister, L., Frutsch, F., Diekmann, B., 2012. Quartz weathering in freeze-thaw cycles:

experiment and application to the el’gygytgyn crater lake record for tracing Siberian permafrost history.

Geogr. Ann. Series A Phys. Geogr. 94, 481�499.

Schwan, J., 1986. The origin of horizontal alternating bedding in Weichselian aeolian sands in Northwestern

Europe. Sediment. Geol. 49, 73�108.

Schwan, J., 1988. The structure and genesis of Weichselian to early Hologene aeolian sand sheets in western

Europe. Sediment. Geol. 55, 197�232.

Schwan, K., 1987. Sedimentologie characteristics of a fluvial to aeolian succession in Weichselian talsand in

the Emsland (FRG). Sediment. Geol. 52, 273�289.

Sebe, K., Roetzel, R., Fiebig, M., Luthgens, C., 2015. Pleistocene wind system in eastern Austria and its

impact on landscape evolution. Catena 134, 59�74.

Sekyra, J., 1969. Periglacial phenomena in the oases and the mountains of the Enderby Land and the Dronning

Maud Land (Easy Antarctica). Biuletyn Peryglacjalny 19, 277�289.

Selby, M.J., Rains, R.B., Palmer, R.W.P., 1974. Eolian deposits of the ice-free Victoria Valley, southern

Victoria Land, Antarctica. N. Z. J. Geol. Geophys. 17, 543�562.

Seppala, M., 1995. Deflation and redeposition of sand dunes in Finnish Lapland. Quat. Sci. Rev. 14, 799�809.

Seppala, M., 2004. Wind as a Geomorphic Agent in Cold Climates. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge,

378 pp.

Sitzia, L., Bertran, P., Bahain, J.-J., Bateman, M.D., Hernandez, M., Garon, H., et al., 2015. The Quaternary

coversands of southwest France. Quat. Sci. Rev. 124, 84�105.

Smalley, I.J., 1966a. Formation of quartz sand. Nature 211, 476�479.












































































Smalley, I.J., 1966b. The properties of glacial loess and the formation of loess deposits. J. Sediment. Petrol.

36, 669�676.

Smalley, I.J., 1968. The loess deposits and Neolithic culture of Northern China. Man 3, 224�241.

Smalley, I.J., 1971. ‘In-situ’ theories of loess formation and the significance of the calcium carbonate content

of loess. Earth�Sci. Rev. 7, 67�85.

Smalley, I.J., Cabrera, J.G., 1970. The shape and surface texture of loess particles. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 81,

1591�1596.

Smalley, I.J., 1990. Possible mechanisms for the model coarse-silt quartz particles in loess deposits. Quat. Int

7/8, 23�27.

Smalley, I.J., Derbyshire, E., 1990. The definition of ice-sheet and mountain loess. Area 22, 300�301.

Smalley, I.J., Krinsley, D.H., 1978. Loess deposits associated with deserts. Catena 5, 53�66.

Smalley, I.J., Smalley, V., 1983. Loess material and loess deposits: formation, distribution and consequences.

In: Brookfield, M.E., Ahlbrandt, T.S. (Eds.), Eolian Sediments and Processes. Elsevier, Amsterdam,

pp. 51�68.

Smalley, I.J., Vita-Finzi, C., 1968. The formation of fine particles in sandy deserts and the nature of ‘desert’

loess. J. Sediment. Petrol. 38, 766�774.

Smalley, I.J., Krinsley, D.H., Vita-Finzi, C., 1973. Observations on the Kaisertuhl loess. Geol. Mag. 110,

29�36.

Smalley, I., O’Hara-Dhand, K., Kwong, J., 2014. China: materials for a loess landscape. Catena 117,

100�107.

Smith, H.T.U., 1965. Dune morphology and chronology in central and western Nebraska. J. Geol 73,

557�578.

Smith, B.J., Wright, J.S., Whalley, W.B., 2002. Sources of non-glacial, loess-size quartz silt and the origins of

“desert loess”. Earth-Sci. Rev. 59, 1�26.

Sperling, C.H.B., Cooke, R.U., 1985. Laboratory simulation of rock weathering by salt crystallization and

hydration processes in hot, arid environments. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 10, 541�555.

Stauch, G., 2015. Geomorphological and palaeoclimate dynamics recorded by the formation of aeolian

archives on the Tibetan Plateau. Earth-Sci. Rev. 150, 393�408.

Steidmann, J.R., 1973. Ice and snow in eolian sand dunes of southwestern Wyoming. Science 179, 796�798.

Strini, A., Guglielmin, M., Hall, K., 2008. Tafoni development in a cryotic environment: an example from

Northern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 33, 1502�1519.

Sudarchikova, N., Mikolajewicz, U., Timmreck, C., O’Donnell, D., Schurgers, G., Sein, D., et al., 2015.

Modelling of mineral dust for interglacial and glacial climate conditions with a focus on Antarctica. Clim.

Past 11, 765�779.

Sugden, D.E., McCulloch, R.D., Bory, A.J.-M., Hein, A.S., 2009. Influence of Patagonian glaciers on

Antarctic dust deposition during the last glacial period. Nat. Geosci . Available from: http://dx.doi.org/

10.1038/NGEO474.

Sun, T.C., Yang, H.J., 1961. The great Ice Age glaciation in China. Acta Geol. Sin. 41, 234�244.

Svensson, H., 1988. Ice-wedge casts and relict polygonal patterns in Scandinavia. J. Quat. Sci. 3, 57�67.

Tricart, J., 1970. Geomorphology of Cold Environments. Macmillan, London, 320 pp.

Van Kamp, P.C.D.E., 2010. Arkose, subarkose, quartz sand, and associated muds derived from felsic plutonic

rocks in glacial to tropical humid climates. J. Sediment. Res. 80, 895�918.

Van Vliet-Lanoe, B., Hequette, A., 1987. Activite eolienne et sables limoneaux sur les versants exposes

au nord-est de la Peninsule du Brogger, Spitzberg du Nord-Ouest (Svalbard). In: Pecsi, M., French,

H.M. (Eds.), Loess and Periglacial Phenomena. Akademia Kiado, Budapest, pp. 103�123.

Vandenberghe, J., 1983. Late Weichselian river dune formation Grote Nete Valley, Central Belgium.

Z. Geomorphol. 45, 251�263.

307REFERENCES






















































http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NGEO474

http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NGEO474



















Vandenberghe, J., 1991. Changing conditions of aeolian sand deposition during the last deglaciation period.

Z. Geomorphol. Suppl. 90, 193�207.

Vandenberghe, J., 1993. Changing fluvial processes under changing periglacial conditions. Z. Geomorphol.

Suppl. 88, 17�28.

Vandenberghe, J., Gullentops, F., 1977. Contribution to the stratigraphy of the Weichselian Pleniglacial in the

Belgian coversand area. Geol. Mijnb 56, 123�128.

Vandenberghe, J., Kasse, C., 2008. Les formations sableuses en milieux periglaciaires: sables de couverture et

sables dunaires. In: Dewolf, Y., Bourrie, G. (Eds.), Les Formations Superficielles. Ellipses, Paris, pp. 317�321.

Vanneste, H., De Vleeschouwer, K., Martınez-Cortizas, A., von Scheffer, C., Piotrowska, N., Coronato, A.,

et al., 2015. Late-glacial elevated dust deposition linked to westerly wind shifts in southern South

America. Sci. Rep. 5, 11670.

Velichko, A.A., Morozova, T.D., 1969. Structure of the loess mass of the Russian plain. Akad. Nauk SSSR

Izv. Ser. Geogr. 4, 18�29 (in Russian).

Vita-Finzi, C., Smalley, I.J., 1970. Origin of quartz silt: comments on a note by Ph.H.Kuenen. J. Sediment.

Petrol. 40, 1367�1369.

Vreeken, W.J., Mucher, H.J., 1981. (Re)deposition of loess in southern Limbourg, The Netherlands. 1. Field evidence

for conditions of deposition of the lower silt loam complex. Earth Surf. Processes Landforms 6, 337�354.

Waragai, T., 1999. Weathering processes on rock surfaces in the Hunza Valley, Karakoram, North Pakistan.

Z. Geomorphol. Suppl. 119, 119�136.

Washburn, A.L., 1969. Weathering, frost action and patterned ground in the Mesters Vig District, Northeast

Greenland. Medd. Grønl. 176, 303 pp.

Washburn, A.L., 1973. Periglacial Processes and Environments. Edward Arnold, London, 320 pp.

Washburn, A.L., 1980. Geocryology: A Survey of Periglacial Processes and Environments. Edward Arnold

Publishing, London, 406 pp.

Webb, P.N., McKelvey, P.C., 1959. Geological investigations in South Victoria Land, Antarctica. N. Z. J.

Geol. Geophys. 2, 120�136.

Whalley, W.B., 1979. Quartz silt production and sand grain surface textures from fluvial and glacial environ-

ments. Scanning Electron Microsc. 1979, 547�551.

Whalley, W.B., Smith, B.J., McAllister, J.J., Edwards, A.J., 1987. Aeolian abrasion of quartz particles and the

production of silt-size fragments: preliminary results. In: Frostick, L., Reid, I. (Eds.), Desert Sediments:

Ancient and Modern. Geological Society of London, Special Publication 35, pp. 129�138.

Williams, R.G.B., 1975. The British climate during the Last Glaciation: an interpretation based on periglacial

phenomenon. In: Wright, A.E., Moseley, F. (Eds.), Ice Ages: Ancient and Modern. Seel House Press,

Liverpool, pp. 95�120. , Geological Journal, Special Issue 6.

Woronko, B., Pisarska-Jamrozy, M., 2015. Micro-scale frost weathering of sand-sized quartz grains micro-

scale frost weathering of quartz grains. Permafrost Periglacial Process. (1045�6740), p. n doi:10.1002/

ppp.1855.

Wright, J.S., 2000. The Spalling of overgrowths during experimental freeze-thaw of a quartz sandstone as a

mechanism of quartz silt production. Micron 31, 631�638.

Wright, J.S., 2007. An overview of the role of weathering in the production of quartz silt. Sediment. Geol.

202, 337�351.

Yaalon, D.H., 1969. Origin of desert loess. Abstracts. In: 8th INQUA congress, Paris, 2, p. 755.

Yaalon, D.H., Ganor, E., 1974. The influence of dust on soils during the Quaternary. Soil Sci. 116, 146�155.

Yan, N., Baas, A.C.W., 2015. Parabolic dunes and their transformations under environmental and climatic

changes: towards a conceptual framework for understanding and prediction. Glob. Planet. Change 124,

123�148.

Zeuner, F.E., 1959. The Pleistocene Period. Hutchinson, London, 447 pp.


































































chapter 8. glacioaeolian processes, sediments, and landforms

Documents