| Title | Cirque infills in the Khibiny Mountains, Kola Peninsula, Russia; palaeoglaciological interpretations and modern analogues in East Antarctica |
| Author | Hattestrand, C.; Kolka, V.; Johansen, N. |
| Author Affil | Hattestrand, C., Stockholm University, Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm, Sweden. Other: Russian Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation |
| Source | JQS. Journal of Quaternary Science, 23(2), p.165-174, . Publisher: John Wiley and Sons for the Quaternary Research Association, Chichester, United Kingdom. ISSN: 0267- 8179 |
| Publication Date | Feb. 2008 |
| Notes | In English. 37 refs. GeoRef Acc. No: 286618. CRREL Acc. No: 62006599 |
| Index Terms | cirques; glacial geology; ice; paleoclimatology; remote sensing; Antarctica-- East Antarctica; Russia--Khibiny Mountains; Russia--Kola Peninsula; aerial photography; Antarctica; blue ice; Commonwealth of Independent States; deglaciation; East Antarctica; Europe; glacial features; Heimifrontfjella; Khibiny Mountains; Kola Peninsula; moraines; Russian Federation |
| Abstract | We report here on cirque infills mapped in the Khibiny Mountains, Kola Peninsula, Russia. Cirque infills are morainic deposits located near the headwalls of valleys and cirques. Their location and shape, often with concave margins towards the valley side, indicate that they were deposited by ice flowing up-valley, into the mountains, rather than by local glaciers. We suggest that they formed during the last deglaciation, when Khibiny was a nunatak and Fennoscandian ice sheet lobes extended into valleys and cirques of the massif. The formation of cirque infills is probably more related to ice sheet dynamic factors, occurring when the ice margin retreated from the cirques, than to climate-driven interruption in the ice-marginal retreat. Glacial conditions similar to those prevalent when the Khibiny cirque infills were formed, occur today in Antarctica where the ice sheets engulf nunatak ranges. In Heimefrontfjella, Antarctica, the formation of supraglacial moraines at the head of cirques are linked to blue-ice conditions, indicating locally low accumulation rates, a dry continental climate and sublimation dominated ablation. We suggest that these Antarctic moraines are modern analogues of cirque infills on the Kola Peninsula, and possibly, that the cirque infills may be used as palaeoenvironmental indicators. Abstract Copyright (2008), Wiley Periodicals, Inc. |
| URL | http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/jqs.1130 |
| Publication Type | journal article |
| Record ID | 84582 |