Glacier advance, ice-marginal lakes and routing of meltwater and sediment:Russell Glacier, Greenland

The ice-sheet margin at Russell Glacier, West Greenland, advanced similar t o7 m a(-1) between 1968 and 1999. As the ice advanced over moraine ridges, small changes in position caused major changes in the routing of proglacial water and sediment. These included changes in the distribution of ice-marg inal lakes, in the periodic drainage of ice-dammed lakes, in the routing an d sediment content of meltwater draining into the proglacial zone, and in t he release of sediment from the moraines by erosion and mass movements. Pro glacial hydrology and sediment flux appear to be controlled not simply by g lacier mass balance, but by evolving ice-marginal geomorphology, which must be accounted for in palaeoenvironmental interpretation of proglacial sedim ents.