Geomorphological map of Breiðamerkursandur 2018: the historical evolution of an active temperate glacier foreland

ABSTRACT

We present a geomorphological map of Breiðamerkursandur, the outwash plain and foreland of Breiðamerkurjökull, an outlet glacier of the Vatnajökull ice cap, Southeast Iceland. We trace the glacial retreat of the glacier snout since its historical late nineteenth century Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum extent and the concomitant development of the glacial drainage pathways. Since the outlet began retreating from its LIA terminal position, a 120 km² area of foreland has been exposed. The mapped geomorphology is a supplementary continuation of previous surveys in the 20th century, which highlighted the geomorphology and ice margin for the years 1945, 1965 and 1998. Since the 1998 landsystem map, Breiðamerkurjökull has retreated a further 0.6–4.0 km and 29 km² has been exposed. This new map was prepared with the use of remote sensing, LiDAR DEM, a range of oblique aerial photographs and satellite images, written documents, in-field survey measurements and refined landform classifications to more accurately trace the position of the retreating snout and its outlet streams over the last 130 years.

KEYWORDS:

• Breiðamerkurjökull
• glacial landsystem
• sandur development
• historical evolution

Acknowledgements

DJAE would like to thank the Carnegie Trust, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Scottish Geographical society for continued funding over the years for research at Breiðamerkurjökull and Fjallsjökull. Thanks also to David R. Twigg, University of Loughborough, and numerous undergraduate students from the universities of Glasgow, Loughborough and Durham for their survey work on the forelands. SG appreciates financial support from the Icelandic Kvískerjasjóður fund, the late Vinir Vatnajökuls fund and Southeast Iceland Nature Research Center to maintain this work. We gratefully acknowledge productive discussions with the Kvísker brothers, Flosi, Helgi and Hálfdán Björnsson and Fjölnir Torfason from Þórbergssetur museum at Hali, Suðursveit, Southeast Iceland and their important contribution to this work. Thanks to colleagues and friends who joined us on field work on several occasions in the last decade. Constructive comments on this paper by Ben Chandler and an anonymous reviewer helped us to improve our reconstruction of the continuing and unfolding story of the Breiðamerkursandur.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Snævarr Guðmundsson

Snævarr Guðmundsson is a Physical Geographer with an MSc in Glaciology who works at the South East Iceland Nature Research Center at Höfn in Hornfjörður, Iceland.

David J. A. Evans

David J. A. Evans is a Professor of Physical Geography at Durham University in the UK, specializing in glacial geomorphology and palaeoglaciological reconstruction.