Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T09:14:11.819Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Glacially Triggered Faulting

A Historical Overview and Recent Developments

from Part I - Introduction

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 December 2021

By
Holger Steffen ,
Odleiv Olesen  and
Raimo Sutinen
Edited by
Holger Steffen ,
Odleiv Olesen  and
Raimo Sutinen
Holger Steffen
Affiliation:
Lantmäteriet, Sweden
Odleiv Olesen
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Norway
Raimo Sutinen
Affiliation:
Geological Survey of Finland
Get access

Summary

Glacially triggered faulting, also called glacially induced faulting or postglacial faulting, describes fault movement caused by a combination of tectonic and glacially induced isostatic stresses. Stresses induced by the advance and retreat of an ice sheet are thought to be released during or after ice melting and reactivate pre-existing faults. The most impressive fault scarps that witness such activity, are found in Northern Europe. It was assumed these features are unique. This view has changed recently as new faults were discovered – even outside the former glaciated area – and fault activity dating showed several phases of reactivation thousands of years after deglaciation ended. This book summarizes the research until the very recent findings. It reviews the theoretic aspects, i.e. the knowledge to understand the presence of glacially induced fault structures, followed by an overview of geological, geophysical, geodetic and geomorphological investigations methods, a summary of all known glacially induced faults worldwide and an outline for modelling of these stresses and faults.

Keywords

Glacially Induced FaultPostglacial FaultGlacially Triggered FaultingGlacial Isostatic AdjustmentPostglacial ReboundNeotectonicsSeismicityClassificationCriteriaHistory
Type
Chapter
Information
Glacially-Triggered Faulting , pp. 3 - 19
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adams, J. (1981). Postglacial Faulting: A Literature Survey of Occurrences in Eastern Canada and Comparable Glaciated Areas. Atomic Energy of Canada Limited Technical Report, TR-142.Google Scholar
Adams, J. (1996). Paleoseismology in Canada: a dozen years of progress. Journal of Geophysical Research, 101, 6193–6207, doi.org/10.1029/95JB01817.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, J., Wetmiller, R. J., Hasegawa, H. S. and Drysdale, J. (1991). The first surface faulting from a historical intraplate earthquake in North America. Nature, 352, 617–619, doi.org/10.1038/352617a0.Google Scholar
Adams, J., Percival, J. A., Wetmiller, R. J., Drysdale, J. and Robertson, P. B. (1992). Geological controls on the 1989 Ungava surface rupture: a preliminary interpretation. Papers of the Geological Survey of Canada, 92-1C, 147–155.Google Scholar
Arvidsson, R. (1996). Fennoscandian earthquakes: whole crustal rupturing related to postglacial rebound. Science, 274, 744–746, doi.org/10.1126/science.274.5288.744.Google Scholar
Bentley, M. J. and McCulloch, R. D. (2005). Impact of neotectonics on the record of glacier and sea level fluctuations, Strait of Magellan, southern Chile. Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography, 87(2), 393–402, doi.org/10.1111/j.0435-3676.2005.00265.x.Google Scholar
Brandes, C. and Tanner, D. (2012). Three-dimensional geometry and fabric of shear deformation-bands in unconsolidated Pleistocene sediments. Tectonophysics, 518 –521, 84–92, doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2011.11.012.Google Scholar
Brandes, C., Polom, U. and Winsemann, J. (2011). Reactivation of basement faults: interplay of ice-sheet advance, glacial lake formation and sediment loading. Basin Research, 23, 53–64, doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2117.2010.00468.x.Google Scholar
Brandes, C., Steffen, H., Steffen, R. and Wu, P. (2015). Intraplate seismicity in northern Central Europe is induced by the last glaciation. Geology, 43, 611–614, doi.org/10.1130/G36710.1.Google Scholar
Brandes, C., Steffen, H., Sandersen, P. B. E., Wu, P. and Winsemann, J. (2018). Glacially induced faulting along the NW segment of the Sorgenfrei–Tornquist Zone, northern Denmark: implications for neotectonics and Lateglacial fault-bound basin formation. Quaternary Science Reviews, 189, 149–168, doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2018.03.036.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brandes, C., Plenefisch, T., Tanner, D. T., Gestermann, N. and Steffen, H. (2019). Evaluation of deep crustal earthquakes in northern Germany – possible tectonic causes. Terra Nova, 31(2), 83–93, doi.org/10.1111/ter.12372.Google Scholar
Brandes, C., Winsemann, J., Roskosch, J. et al. (2012). Activity along the Osning Thrust in Central Europe during the Lateglacial: ice-sheet and lithosphere interactions. Quaternary Science Reviews, 38, 49–62, doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2012.01.021.Google Scholar
Brøgger, W. C. (1884). Spaltenverwerfungen in der Gegend Langesund-Skien [Crevasse faults in the Langesund-Skien area]. Nyt Magazin for Naturvidenskaberne, 28, 253–419.Google Scholar
Brooks, G. R. and Adams, J. (2020). A review of evidence of glacially-induced faulting and seismic shaking in southeastern Canada. Quaternary Science Reviews, 228, 106070, doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2019.106070.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrd, J. O. D., Smith, R. B. and Geissman, J. W. (1994). The Teton fault, Wyoming: topographic signature, neotectonics, and mechanisms of deformation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 99(B10), 20095–20122,doi.org/10.1029/94JB00281.Google Scholar
Clark, P. U., Dyke, A. S., Shakun, J. D., et al. (2009). The last glacial maximum. Science, 325(5941), 710–714, doi.org/10.1126/science.1172873.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fenton, C. (1991). Neotectonics and Palaeoseismicity in North West Scotland. PhD thesis, University of Glasgow, Glasgow.Google Scholar
Fenton, C. (1994). Postglacial Faulting in Eastern Canada. Geological Survey of Canada Open File, 2774.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenton, C. (1999). Glacio-isostatic (postglacial) faulting: criteria for recognition. In Hanson, K. L., Kelson, K. I., Angell, M. A. and Lettis, W. R., eds., Identifying Faults and Determining Their Origins. U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, pp. A-51–A-99.Google Scholar
Firth, C. R. and Stewart, I. S. (2000). Postglacial tectonics of the Scottish glacio-isostatic uplift centre. Quaternary Science Reviews, 19, 1469–1493, doi.org/10.1016/S0277-3791(00)00074-3.Google Scholar
Greene, D. C. (1996). Quaternary reactivation of the Lost Lakes fault, a brittle fault zone containing pseudotachylite in the Tuolumne intrusive suite, Sierra Nevada, California. Geological Society of America Cordilleran Section, Spring Meeting, Abstracts with Program, 28, p. 70.Google Scholar
Gregersen, S., Leth, J., Lind, G. and Lykke-Andersen, H. (1996). Earthquake activity and its relationship with geologically recent motion in Denmark. Tectonophysics, 254, 265–273, doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(95)00193-X.Google Scholar
Grollimund, B. and Zoback, M. D. (2001). Did deglaciation trigger intraplate seismicity in the New Madrid seismic zone? Geology, 29, 175–178, doi.org/10.1130/0091-7613(2001)029%3C0175:DDTISI%3E2.0.CO;2.Google Scholar
Hetzel, R. and Hampel, A. (2005). Slip rate variations on normal faults during glacial-interglacial changes in surface loads. Nature, 435, 81–84, doi.org/10.1038/nature03562.Google Scholar
Hinz, N. H., Carson, R. J., Gardner, T. W. and McKenna, K. (1997). Late Quaternary deglaciation, flooding, and tectonism (?), upper Clarks Fork Valley, Park County, Wyoming. Geological Society of America Annual Meeting, Abstracts with Program, 29, p. 15.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, G. and Reicherter, K. (2012). Soft-sediment deformation of late Pleistocene sediments along the southwestern coast of the Baltic Sea (NE Germany). International Journal of Earth Sciences, 101, 351–363, doi.org/10.1007/s00531-010-0633-z.Google Scholar
Hughes, A. L. C., Gyllencreutz, R., Lohne, Ø. S., Mangerud, J. and Svendsen, J. I. (2016). The last Eurasian ice sheets – a chronological database and time‐slice reconstruction, DATED‐1. Boreas, 45, 1–45, doi.org/10.1111/bor.12142.Google Scholar
Jäckli, H. C. A. (1965). Pleistocene glaciation of the Swiss Alps and signs of postglacial differential uplift. Geological Society of America, Special Paper, 84, 153–157, doi.org/10.1130/SPE84-p153.Google Scholar
Jakobsson, M., Björck, S., O’Regan, M. et al. (2014). Major earthquake at the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in Lake Vättern, southern Sweden. Geology, 42, 379–382, doi.org/10.1130/G35499.1.Google Scholar
Johnston, A. C. (1987). Suppression of earthquakes by large continental ice sheets. Nature, 330, 467–469, doi.org/10.1038/330467a0.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karpov, N. N. (1960). Traces of postglacial tectonic faults in the Khibiny Mountains. Moscow University Bulletin, 5(4), 61.Google Scholar
Knight, J. (1999). Geological evidence for neotectonic activity during deglaciation of the southern Sperrin Mountains, Northern Ireland. Journal of Quaternary Science, 14, 45–57, doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-1417(199902)14:1<45::AID-JQS389>3.0.CO;2-3.Google Scholar
Kuivamäki, A., Vuorela, P. and Paananen, M. (1998). Indications of Postglacial and Recent Bedrock Movements in Finland and Russian Karelia. Geological Survey of Finland Nuclear Waste Disposal Research Report YST-99, Espoo, Finland, 92 pp.Google Scholar
Kujansuu, R. (1964). Nuorista siirroksista Lapissa [English summary: Recent faults in Lapland]. Geologi, 16, 30–36 (in Finnish).Google Scholar
Kukkonen, I. T., Olesen, O., Ask, M. V. S. and the PFDP Working Group (2010). Postglacial faults in Fennoscandia: targets for scientific drilling. GFF, 132(1), 71–81, doi.org/10.1080/11035891003692934.Google Scholar
Lagerbäck, R. (1992). Dating of Late Quaternary faulting in northern Sweden. Journal of the Geological Society, 149, 285–291, doi.org/10.1144/gsjgs.149.2.0285.Google Scholar
Lagerbäck, R. and Sundh, M. (2008). Early Holocene faulting and paleoseismicity in northern Sweden. Geological Survey of Sweden Research Paper C 836, 80 pp.Google Scholar
Lough, A. C., Wiens, D. A. and Nyblade, A. (2018). Reactivation of ancient Antarctic rift zones by intraplate seismicity. Nature Geoscience, 11(7), 515–519, doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0140-6.Google Scholar
Ludwig, A. O. (1954/1955). Eistektonik und echte Tektonik in Ost-Rügen (Jasmund) [Ice tectonics and real tectonics in East Rügen Island (Jasmund)]. Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der E.-M.-A.-Universität Greifswald, 4, 251–288.Google Scholar
Lund, B. (2015). Palaeoseismology of glaciated terrain. In Beer, M. et al., eds., Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering. Springer-Verlag, Berlin/Heidelberg, 1765–1779.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lund, B. and Näslund, J.-O. (2009). Glacial isostatic adjustment – implications for glacially induced faulting and nuclear waste repositories. In Connor, C. B., Chapman, N. A. and Connor, L. J., eds., Volcanic and Tectonic Hazard Assessment for Nuclear Facilities. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 142–155.Google Scholar
Lund, B., Roberts, R. and Smith, C. A. (2017). Review of paleo-, historical and current seismicity in Sweden and surrounding areas with implications for the seismic analysis underlying SKI report 92:3. Swedish Radiation Safety Authority Report, 2017:35.Google Scholar
Lundqvist, J. and Lagerbäck, R. (1976). The Pärve Fault: a late-glacial fault in the Precambrian of Swedish Lapland. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, 98, 45–51, doi.org/10.1080/11035897609454337.Google Scholar
Mantovani, M. and Scherneck, H.-G. (2013). DInSAR investigation in the Pärvie end-glacial fault region, Lapland, Sweden. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 34(23), 8491–8502, doi.org/10.1080/01431161.2013.843871.Google Scholar
Mather, W. W. (1843). Geology of New-york. Part 1, Comprising Geology of the First Geological District. Carroll & Cook, Albany, New York.Google Scholar
Matthew, G. F. (1894). Movements of the Earth’s crust at St. John, N. B., in post-glacial times. Bulletin of the Natural History Society of New Brunswick, 12, 34–42.Google Scholar
Mikko, H., Smith, C. A., Lund, B., Ask, M. V. S. and Munier, R. (2015). LiDAR-derived inventory of post-glacial fault scarps in Sweden. GFF, 137, 334–338, doi.org/10.1080/11035897.2015.1036360.Google Scholar
Mohr, P. (1986). Possible Late Pleistocene faulting in Iar (west) Connacht, Ireland. Geological Magazine, 123, 545–552, doi.org/10.1017/S0016756800035135.Google Scholar
Mörner, N.-A. (2005). An interpretation and catalogue of paleoseismicity in Sweden. Tectonophysics, 408, 265–307, doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2005.05.039.Google Scholar
Muir Wood, R. (1993). A Review of the Seismotectonics of Sweden. SKB Technical Report TR-93-13, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co., Stockholm.Google Scholar
Munier, R. and Fenton, C. (2004). Review of postglacial faulting. In Munier, R. and Hökmark, H., eds., Respect Distances. SKB Technical Report TR-04-17, Swedish Nuclear Fuel and Waste Management Co., Stockholm, pp. 157–218.Google Scholar
Munier, R., Adams, J., Brandes, C. et al. (2020). International Database of Glacially-Induced Faults, PANGAEA, doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.922705.Google Scholar
Munthe, H. (1905). Om en sen- eller postglacial förkastning vid Allebergsände i Västergötland och om en postglacial rubbning i silurlagren SV om Visby [About a Lateglacial or postglacial fault at Allebergsände in Västergötland and about a postglacial disturbance in the Silurian deposits SW of Visby]. Geologiska Föreningens i Stockholm Förhandlingar, 27(6), 346.Google Scholar
Ojala, A. E. K., Markovaara‐Koivisto, M., Middleton, M. et al. (2018). Dating of paleolandslides in western Finnish Lapland. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms, 43, 2449–2462, doi.org/10.1002/esp.4408.Google Scholar
Olesen, O. (1988). The Stuoragurra fault, evidence of neotectonics in the Precambrian of Finnmark, northern Norway. Norsk Geologisk Tidskrift, 68, 107–118.Google Scholar
Olesen, O., Blikra, L. H., Braathen, A. et al. (2004). Neotectonic deformation in Norway and its implications: a review. Norwegian Journal of Geology, 84, 3–34.Google Scholar
Olesen, O., Bungum, H., Lindholm, C. et al. (2013). Neotectonics, seismicity and contemporary stress field in Norway – Mechanisms and implications. In Olsen, L., Fredin, O. and Olesen, O., eds., Quaternary Geology of Norway. Geological Survey of Norway Special Publication Vol. 13, pp. 145–174.Google Scholar
Oliver, J., Johnston, T. and Dorman, J. (1970). Postglacial faulting and seismicity in New York and Quebec. Canadian Journal of Earth Sciences, 7, 579–590, doi.org/10.1139/e70-059.Google Scholar
Olsen, L., Olesen, O. and Høgaas, F. (2020). Dating of the Stuoragurra Fault at Finnmarksvidda, northern Norway. Abstracts and Proceedings of the Geological Society of Norway 1 – The 34th Nordic Geological Winter Meeting, Oslo, pp. 157–158.Google Scholar
Palmu, J.-P., Ojala, A. E. K., Ruskeeniemi, T., Sutinen, R. and Mattila, J. (2015). LiDAR DEM detection and classification of postglacial faults and seismically-induced landforms in Finland: a paleoseismic database, GFF, 137(4), 344–352, doi.org/10.1080/11035897.2015.1068370.Google Scholar
Peltier, W. R. and Andrews, J. T. (1976). Glacial‐isostatic adjustment – I. The forward problem. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 46, 605–646, doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1976.tb01251.x.Google Scholar
Reusch, H. (1888). Bømmeløen og Karmøen med omgivelser [Bømmeløen and Karmøen with Surroundings]. Norges geologiske undersøkelse, Norway.Google Scholar
Pisarska-Jamroży, M., Belzyt, S., Börner, A. et al. (2018). Evidence from seismites for glacio-isostatically induced crustal faulting in front of an advancing land-ice mass (Rügen Island, SW Baltic Sea). Tectonophysics, 745, 338–348, doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2018.08.004.Google Scholar
Smith, C. A., Sundh, M. and Mikko, H. (2014). Surficial geology indicates early Holocene faulting and seismicity, central Sweden. International Journal of Earth Sciences, 103(6), 1711–1724, doi.org/10.1007/s00531-014-1025-6.Google Scholar
Smith, C. A., Grigull, S. and Mikko, H. (2018). Geomorphic evidence of multiple surface ruptures of the Merasjärvi “postglacial fault”, northern Sweden. GFF, 140(4), 318–322, doi.org/10.1080/11035897.2018.1492963.Google Scholar
Steffen, R., Wu, P., Steffen, H. and Eaton, D. W. (2014). On the implementation of faults in finite-element glacial isostatic adjustment models. Computers & Geosciences, 62, 150–159, doi.org/10.1016/j.cageo.2013.06.012.Google Scholar
Stein, S., Sleep, N. H., Geller, R. J., Wang, S.‐C. and Kroeger, G. C. (1979). Earthquakes along the passive margin of eastern Canada. Geophysical Research Letters, 6, 537–540, doi.org/10.1029/GL006i007p00537.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stewart, I. S., Firth, C. R., Rust, D. J., Collins, P. E. F. and Firth, J. A. (2001). Postglacial fault movement and palaeoseismicity in western Scotland: a reappraisal of the Kinloch Hourn fault, Kintail. Journal of Seismology, 5 , 307–328, doi.org/10.1023/A:1011467307511.Google Scholar
Sutinen, R., Hyvönen, E., Middleton, M. and Ruskeeniemi, T. (2014). Airborne LiDAR detection of postglacial faults and Pulju moraine in Palojärvi, Finnish Lapland. Global and Planetary Change 115, 24–32, doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2014.01.007.Google Scholar
Tanner, V. (1930). Om nivåförändringarna och grunddragen av den geografiska utvecklingen efter istiden i Ishavsfinland samt om homotaxin av Fennoskandias kvartära marina avlagringar. Studier över kvartärsystemet i Fennoskandias nordliga delar – IV. [On level changes and basic features of the geographical development after the ice age in the Polar Sea of Finland and on the homotaxis of Fennoscandia’s Quaternary marine deposits. Studies of the Quaternary System in Northern Fennoscandia – IV]. Bulletin de la Commission Géologique de Finlande, 88, 594 pp.Google Scholar
van Loon, A. J. and Pisarska-Jamroży, M. (2014). Sedimentological evidence of Pleistocene earthquakes in NW Poland induced by glacio-isostatic rebound. Sedimentary Geology, 300, 1–10, doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2013.11.006.Google Scholar
van Loon, A. J., Pisarska-Jamroży, M., Nartišs, M., Krievāns, M. and Soms, J. (2016). Seismites resulting from high-frequency, high-magnitude earthquakes in Latvia caused by Late Glacial glacio-isostatic uplift. Journal of Palaeogeography, 5, 363–380, doi.org/10.1016/j.jop.2016.05.002.Google Scholar
Van Vliet-Lanoë, B., Bonnet, S., Hallegouët, B. and Laurent, M. (1997). Neotectonic and seismic activity in the Armorican and Cornubian Massifs: regional stress field with glacio-isostatic influence? Journal of Geodynamics, 24(1–4), 219–239, doi.org/10.1016/S0264-3707(96)00035-X.Google Scholar
Wessel, P., Smith, W. H. F., Scharroo, R., Luis, J. F. and Wobbe, F. (2013). Generic Mapping Tools: improved version released. EOS Transactions American Geophysical Union, 94, 409–410, doi.org/10.1002/2013EO450001.Google Scholar
Wu, P. and Hasegawa, H. S. (1996a). Induced stresses and fault potential in eastern Canada due to a disc load: a preliminary analysis. Geophysical Journal International, 125, 415–430, doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1996.tb00008.x.Google Scholar
Wu, P. and Hasegawa, H. S. (1996b). Induced stresses and fault potential in eastern Canada due to a realistic load: a preliminary analysis. Geophysical Journal International, 127, 215–229, doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1996.tb01546.x.Google Scholar
Wu, P. and Peltier, W. R. (1982). Viscous gravitational relaxation. Geophysical Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 70, 435–486, doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246X.1982.tb04976.x.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×