Sedimentological evidence of a meandering Younger Dryas subglacial conduit: Horn, SE central Sweden

The lateral displacement of a subglacial conduit, consisting of an area of subglacial conduit-mouth deposits covered by various subglacial and flow tills, is recognized in an abandoned gravel pit at Horn (near Nyköping). The displacement took place during a cold period (Younger Dryas) when the subglacial discharge of meltwater towards a proglacial basin was low. The sedimentary succession contains glaciofluvial deposits overlain by lodgement and flow tills. The superposition of tills may reflect oscillations of the ice in the frontal zone of the Scandinavian ice sheet during the Younger Dryas stadial. The tills are suggested to have been deposited in the conduit-mouth environment. The larger extent of the glaciofluvial unit, as compared to the limited range of the outcropping flow tills, is interpreted as evidence of lateral movement of the subglacial conduit in the frontal zone of the ice sheet. The study confirms a limited subglacial meltwater drainage in the study area during the Younger Dryas