Marine Ice-Pushed Boulder Ridge, Beaufort Sea, Alaska

Résumé

A steep-faced boulder ridge up to 4 m high by 300 m long was encountered along the arctic coast east of Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in the summer of 1979. Marine occurrences of similar ridges are rare. Since ice-push sorts cobble- and boulder-sized material in the construction of a ridge, recent onshore excursions of ice due to wind stress on the fast ice are believed to be responsible for building the boulder ridge. Ice push is a mechanism that preferentially sorts cobble- and boulder-sized material from 1-2 water depths and that forms boulder ridges in areas of high boulder concentrations.

Key words: marine ice-pushed boulder ridge, Beaufort Sea, Alaska