Stone Sorting Phenomenon, Svartisen, Norway

ABSTRACT

Small pockets of stones, in which a one grain thick layer of coarser material overlies finer particles, occur near the margin of the Norwegian glacier Østerdalsisen, on the lower slopes of Burfjell. The stones in the upper layer are closely packed and their long axes near-horizontal. In some pockets, size sorting of the upper layer has occurred, the grains fining downslope. Sorting is considered to result from a combination of meltwater saturation, frost heaving, needle ice formation and turning and compaction of stones under a snow cover.