The Distribution of Ribbed Moraines in the Lac Naococane Region, Central Quebec, Canada

P Dunlop, C.D Clark

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Citations (Scopus)
18 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Ribbed moraines are large subglacially formed transverse ridges that coverextensive areas of the beds of the former Laurentide, Fennoscandian and Irish ice sheets.Since the flow speeds and stability of ice sheets are known to be sensitive to conditionsoperating at the bed, a full understanding of the processes of ribbed moraine genesis arecritical if we are to appreciate their role in ice sheet dynamics. To date, advances inknowledge on how ribbed moraines are formed rely on inferences drawn from theircharacteristics. However, this approach is problematic given that ribbed morainecharacteristics are poorly known. Scrutiny of the literature reveals that detailedobservations are limited to small areas and rely on small sample sizes. Thus,generalisations drawn from this base cannot be regarded as being representative andremain an inadequate data source for testing the various hypotheses. The map formspart of a large study that investigated ribbed moraine characteristics in Ireland, Canadaand Sweden over a combined area of 81,000 km2 that has addressed this deficit. It showsthe distribution of ribbed moraine ridges in the Lac Naococane region, central Qu´ebecand covers an area of 32,400 km2. It comprises over 12,800 individual ridges and formspart of a database of over 33,000 individually mapped landforms which reveal ribbedmoraine characteristics to be more complex than has hitherto been reported.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)59-70
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of Maps
Volumev2006
Publication statusPublished (in print/issue) - 2006

Bibliographical note

This paper has an associated Map that forms part of the overall publication
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Keywords

  • Ribbed Moraine
  • subglacial
  • Quebec

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