Glacial movement and sedimentation rate of the Mackay Glacier, Granite Harbour

Samples of icebergs, containing layers of debris charged ice, were taken for ice density and measurment of pebble orientation and shape. Englacial debris and lag of a terminal ice core moraine from the southern ice stream were sampled for textural comparison with the debris charged icebergs. Water samples were taken from sites in Granite Harbour to identify suspended particulates.

Mineral identification was made optically. Sediment traps were deployed to catch sediment settling out of the water column to determine sedimentation rate. Mineralogical and textural analysis were completed.

Undisturbed bottom sediment was collected for detailed paleontological and sedimentological studies. Two cores were collected from a crack about the grounding line and another from in front of the snout and were related spatially and possibly temporally. Seafloor sediments were obtained from a cruise vessel, USCGS GLACIER for analysis and sphincter cores were collected within Granite Harbour for analysis by x-ray, textural and mineralogical composition.

Currents were attempted to be measured by indirect methods of measuring salinity changes and suspended particulate concentrations within a vertical water column profile. The abundance of aeolian debris on the sea ice was measured at eight sites within Granite Harbour.