Transitional deposits between the end moraine and outwash plain in the Pomeranian glaciomarginal zone of NW Poland: a missing component of ice-contact sedimentary models

What is it about?

Separate moraines and outwash plains have been widely described in the literature, but cases of transitional deposits have thus far been little studied in geomorphic and sedimentological terms. The present article focuses on the transitional sedimentary facies assemblage of such a glaciomarginal environment; sedimentological analysis is used to identify the main depositional processes and to reconstruct spatial and temporal changes in the evolving sedimentary environment.

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Why is it important?

The sedimentation processes in the ice-proximal part of the transition zone were thus similar to those typifying end moraines, except for the associated products of hyperconcentrated flows, whereas the processes in the distal part resembled those of an outwash plain, except for the greater abundance of deposits of non-channelized sheetflows. This spectrum of sedimentary processes is thought to be typical of ice-contact transition fans, which are relatively small-scale glaciomarginal forms, with a radial length of c. 700 m in the present case. . Current models for glaciomarginal sedimentation describe the formation of end moraine and outwash plain separately but do not explain sedimentation in the transition zone that links the two sedimentary environments. The present study explains the sedimentation of the transition zone, which otherwise would have been regarded as end moraine or sandur.