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Geomorphology

Where glaciers cut deep

Nature Geoscience volume 1, pages 343–344 (2008)Cite this article

Stunning images of fjords are familiar to geologists, but their origins are less well known. A simple model suggests that topographic steering of ice and erosion proportional to ice discharge are sufficient to explain fjord formation during the Quaternary period.

Fjords are the most extreme manifestations of Quaternary glacial erosion. They are the linear conduits for erosion products from continental interiors and margins, and are also features where the research issues of tectonic uplift3, climate evolution4, glacial erosion processes5 and denudation rates6 all come together. In some areas, fjords developed through extreme deepening of pre-existing fluvial valleys7, but such part-inheritance of relief is not universal for all fjords, and hence, not the key factor in their formation. Neither can such inheritance from fluvial valley precursors explain erosion deep below sea level.

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Figure 1: Fjorded coastline on Meta Incognita Peninsula, Baffin Island.

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  1. Johan Kleman is in the Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden. johan.kleman@natgeo.su.se,

    Johan Kleman

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  1. Johan Kleman
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Kleman, J. Where glaciers cut deep. Nature Geosci 1, 343–344 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo210

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