A shallow marine turbiditic lobe, inferred to be associated with an ic
e-contact delta, was deposited during the last glaciation (Weichselian
) at Svalbard, the Norwegian Arctic. The postglacially raised sandy lo
be is exposed in a 200-m-long river-section and exhibits six units tha
t reflect an early phase of glaciomarine mud deposition followed by th
ree episodes dominated by deposition from sandy turbidity currents. Th
e lobe is characterized by a complex pattern of turbidite-filled erosi
onal features, from thin scour-fills, reflecting a highly mobile flow
pattern, to stacked chute-fill deposits showing confined flow. The san
dy turbidites show 'rhythmic' deposition of massive to graded laminae
deposited from suspension, alternating with faint laminae or ripple cr
oss-lamination, deposited from tractional transport. Semi-continuous t
urbidity currents are thought to have been generated by retrogressive
slumping of ice-proximal well-sorted sandy deposits on the delta front
and slope. The lateral and vertical changes of lithofacies within the
sandy lobe, are mainly attributed to normal mechanisms of turbiditic
lobe growth, with only minor effect from synsedimentary glacier termin
us movement and minor changes in the meltwater outflow position. This
detailed mapping of facies changes allows a fairly accurate reconstruc
tion of the axis of the former discharge outlet.