Post-glacial climate change and its effects on geomorphic processes

• Glaciation ends when global temperatures rise
• Followed by shorter 'inter-glacials' (10,000 to 15,000 years)
• Warming tends to be gradual and flucates

• Material from glacio-fluvial streams

Different from till in a number of ways:

• Smaller particles (streams have less energy than glaciers)
• Smoother and more rounded particles (attrition)
• Sorted horizontally: particle size decreases as distance from terminal moraine increases (larger found further up valley, smaller found further down valley)
• Stratified vertically: Distinct seasonal and annual layers can be seen in many landforms

Exceptions

• Glacier D'Argentiere, France- 0.1 to 1.5 cumecs (winter discharge), 10 to 11 cumecs (summer discharge)
• Jokulhaulps, Iceland- 2010 eruption under ice cap -> 2500 cumecs, 200,000 tonnes of sediment in one valley