Characteristics and formation of bedrock mega-grooves (BMGs) in glaciated terrain: 2 – conceptual models of BMG initiation

Evans, David J.A.; Newton, Mihaela; Roberts, David H.; Stokes, Chris R.

doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2023.108620

Characteristics and formation of bedrock mega-grooves (BMGs) in glaciated terrain: 2 – conceptual models of BMG initiation

Evans, David J.A.; Newton, Mihaela; Roberts, David H.; Stokes, Chris R.

Authors

Professor David Evans d.j.a.evans@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Mihaela Newton

Professor Dave Roberts d.h.roberts@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Professor Chris Stokes c.r.stokes@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Abstract

Understanding BMG formation equates to being able to explain their initiation as well as their subsequent evolution. Several scenarios of bedrock mega-groove (BMG) initiation are proposed here, which attempt to explain how such parallel fluted terrain could be incised through resistant substrates over the relatively short temporal periods associated with uni-directional fast ice flow. In cases where geological controls have been inferred from the BMG morphology or location, groove initiation was likely either structural through the exploitation of linear features, or lithological, whereby the origin of harder erodents necessary for abrading softer rocks can be explained by the succession of adjacent lithologies along former ice flow paths. Where no geological control over BMG initiation could be inferred, it is hypothesized that their initiation was due to antecedent land surface conditions, through gradual bedrock elimination or related to pre-Quaternary regolith on etchplains, which was potentially a source of erodents no longer visible in the landscape.

Citation

Evans, D. J., Newton, M., Roberts, D. H., & Stokes, C. R. (2023). Characteristics and formation of bedrock mega-grooves (BMGs) in glaciated terrain: 2 – conceptual models of BMG initiation. Geomorphology, 427, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2023.108620

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Feb 4, 2023
Online Publication Date	Feb 17, 2023
Publication Date	2023-04
Deposit Date	Feb 27, 2023
Publicly Available Date	Feb 27, 2023
Journal	Geomorphology
Print ISSN	0169-555X
Publisher	Elsevier
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	427
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2023.108620

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Copyright Statement
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).