Sedimentary and sea level changes during glacial cycles and their control on glacimarine facies architecture

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Abstract
In part 1 a simple sedimentation model is presented in which subglacial icecontact, proglacial ice-contact, inner and outer proximal, and distal glacimarine zones are distinguished. In these, facies associations are controlled by: (a) distance from the glacier and the diffusion of glacially-derived water masses and their suspended sedimentary (including berg-transported) debris into nearby oceanic waters; (b) the form and depth of the sea bed, and its position in relation to the continental margin (which help determine water mass character and tidal, wave-driven and geostrophic currents and the stability of sea-bottom sediments). In part 2 a model of eustatic/isostatic sea level change in the vicinity of a generic ice sheet through a whole glacial cycle is developed. The sedimentation model from part 1 is linked to the sea level model to predict patterns of marine sedimentation near to an ice sheet through a glacial cycle, in inner shelf, outer shelf and continental slope environments. Comparisons are made between theoretical models and observed patterns of glacimarine facies architecture produced during the last glaciation of Britain, continental Europe and Spitsbergen. The phase relationship between local ice sheet advance and retreat and that of the Laurentide ice sheet, the principal determinant of global eustatic change, is a major determinant of large scale sedimentation patterns.