The book deals with push moraines on Spitsbergen. The main body is a translation of the original German report by Karl Gripp on a 1927 expedition. The quality of Gripp's work is evaluated to see whether it stands the test of time. It is found that it is very modern, every year people still go into the field with the same research questions. It is also found that most likely Gripp's report contains the first description of features that we now take for granted, for instance the description of looped moraines to detect surges. Push moraines are still being studied and to show where we stand now two papers have been added that analyse two particular examples, Holmströmbreen and Sefströmbreen. The two examples are geographically close together, but reflect two completely different settings: terrestrial Holmströmbreen and tidewater Sefströmbreen.
Since a few years we know of the De Geer Archive, a collection of glass negatives of Spitsbergen, relating to De Geer's expeditions between 1882 and 1910. The negatives have only emerged recently and a collection of prints relating to Holmströmbreen and Sefströmbreen is included here. Together with a third paper incorporated in the book, this time an evaluation of De Geer's photos and maps of the Sefströmbreen surge, this material shows the importance of incorporating historical documentation in our studies.
Postgraduates and researchers who work with glaciations, palaeoclimatology, and climate modeling.
Spitsbergen Push Moraines, 1st Edition
Preface.1. Introduction.2. Glaciological and geological results of the Hamburg Spitsbergen-expedition of 1927.
2.1 Purpose and preparation.
2.2 Expedition report.
2.3 On patterned ground.
2.4 On frostcracks.
2.5 The glaciers.
2.6 Tertiary in front of Penckbreen.
2.7 Geological observations on the northern shores of Storfjorden.
References.3. The test of time.
3.2 Glacial geology and geomorphology.
3.3 Periglacial activity.
References.4. The De Geer archive in Stockholm exemplified by the documentation on a late-nineteenth
century glacier surge in Spitsbergen.
4.1 The De Geer archive.
4.3 Map 1 (Figure 2).
4.4 Map 2 (Figure 3).
4.5 Sketch 1 (Figure 4).
4.6 Sketch 2 (Figure 5).
4.7 Sketch 3 (Figure 6).
4.8 Photographic material.
References.5. Till and moraine emplacement in a deforming bed surge - an example from a marine environment.
5.2 The 1882/1986 Sefströmbreen surge onto Coraholmen.
5.5 Structural geology.
5.6 The Coraholmen sediments as deformation tills.
5.7 Results of the Sefströmbreen surge on the sea-bed.
5.8 Proglacial till flows and the origin of till tongues.
5.9 Discharge of meltwater from the ice margin.
5.10 Conclusions-emplacement of the deformation tills on Coraholmen and in the surrounding sea area.
5.11 Implications for the interpretation of ancient glacial sediments.
References.6. The sedimentary and structural evolution of a recent push moraine complex: Holmströmbreen, Spitsbergen.
6.2 The exposed glacier.
6.3 The ice-cored moraine zone.
6.4 The glacially pushed sediment zone.
6.5 The proglacial outwash zone.
6.6 Origin of the Holmströmbreen tectonic-sedimentary system and the significance of push moraines.
References.7. De Geer: Early observations on Holmströmbreen, Sefströmbreen and Coraholmen.
7.2 Contents of the De Geer archive.
7.3 Potential use of the collection.
7.4 Early observations on Holmströmbreen, Sefströmbreen and Coraholmen.
Quotes and reviews
"...this book is a valuable addition to the range of texts dealing with glaciers and their sedimentary products. Japp van der Meer is to be congratulated for pulling toether large amounts of information from these disparate sources into a well-structured, well illustrated and readable text."
-Neil Glasser, Centre for Glaciology, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, in QUATERNARY SCIENCE REVIEWS 2005
@qu: "this is a lovely book that will be sought out by every devotee of Spitsbergen's wonderful glacial landscape. I hope that it helps enhance Karl Gripp's reputation as one of the pioneers of glacial geology. His 1929 paper is something very special and the glacial community has much to thank Jaap van der Meer for making it more widely available.
@source: BOREAS, 2005