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  • Review Article
  • Published:

Ice-dominated Arctic deltas

Nature Reviews Earth & Environment volume 3, pages 225–240 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Arctic deltas form the critical interface between the Arctic landscape and the ocean. They filter freshwater, sediment, carbon and biochemical fluxes from approximately 14 million km2 of northern permafrost terrain. This Review highlights the unique controlling factors, seasonality and morphodynamic processes affecting Arctic deltas. Arctic deltas are ‘ice-dominated systems’ that are affected by land ice, permafrost and sea ice. They are strongly seasonal and are frozen for 7–9 months of the year. Permafrost limits channel migration. Arctic deltas experience ice jam floods, inducing biochemical exchange with thermokarst lakes. Transport under sea ice creates shallow prodelta ramps. Open-ocean conditions that promote marine reworking of river deposits are short-lived in the Arctic. A data compilation of Arctic deltas highlights that sediment and carbon fluxes are substantially lower than for lower-latitude deltas, with the exception of Greenlandic deltas. Arctic delta morphodynamics are also markedly subdued, with land–water conversion about eightfold less than in low-latitude deltas, probably owing to the unique ice processes occurring in Arctic deltas, which result in preferential floodplain and submarine sedimentation. Future trajectories of controlling factors indicate that Arctic deltas will transition away from being dominated by ice. The open-water season is expanding most rapidly, with wave energy predicted to increase threefold by 2100. Arctic deltas will thaw and experience increased wave influence, with poorly understood consequences for delta morphodynamics and carbon cycling. Process studies under transitional conditions are needed to develop predictive models further.

Key points

  • Arctic deltas are an important link in Arctic land–ocean exchange, delivering about 13% of the global freshwater flux but transferring a disproportionately low portion of the global sediment flux (around 2%) and particulate organic carbon flux (3–4%).

  • River-ice jams during break-up cause substantial floods in Arctic delta plains, leading to pronounced sediment retention and biogeochemical flux exchange with thermokarst lakes.

  • Land-fast sea ice plays an important part in river flood sediment distribution and acts to construct a characteristic submarine ramp, possibly enhancing carbon sequestration.

  • Arctic deltas are currently ice-dominated and experience subdued morphodynamic activity compared with lower-latitude deltas, probably owing to slower channel migration and flow constriction from land-fast sea ice.

  • Greenlandic deltas differ from other Arctic deltas in that they are growing rapidly owing to ice-sheet melt and their location in fjords protects them from wave action.

  • Climate change will force a morphological adjustment of Arctic deltas that will include increased channel mobility, subsidence and increased coastal erosion caused by enhanced wave action.

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Fig. 1: Distribution and classification of Arctic deltas.
Fig. 2: Ice processes that act on Arctic deltas.
Fig. 3: RSL changes in Arctic deltas during the Holocene.
Fig. 4: Sediment transport processes in Arctic deltas.
Fig. 5: Ice processes in Arctic deltas.
Fig. 6: Comparison of the characteristics and dynamics of Arctic and global deltas.
Fig. 7: Current concepts of Arctic delta processes and projected effects of climate warming.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge funding from the US National Science Foundation (NSF-OPP awards 2001225 and 1844181).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. INSTAAR, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Irina Overeem

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Irina Overeem

  3. Department of Physical Geography, Utrecht University, Utrecht, Netherlands

    Jaap H. Nienhuis

  4. Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA

    Anastasia Piliouras

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Glossary

Delta

Depositional feature that forms where a river enters a standing body of water and supplies sediments more rapidly than they can be redistributed by wave and tidal processes.

Thermokarst lakes

Lakes occupying a closed depression formed by settlement of the ground following thawing of ice-rich permafrost or the melting of massive ice.

Permafrost

Ground (soil or rock, including ice and organic material) that remains at or below 0°C for at least 2 consecutive years.

Glacio-isostatic rebound

The viscoelastic response of the crust that causes a rise of the Earth’s crust after removal of the weight of large land-ice masses.

Forebulges

Flexural bulges in front of a load on the Earth’s crust or upper mantle. The load, typically from ice or sediment, causes the lithosphere to flex by depressing the plate beneath it. The rate of forebulge formation and collapse is controlled by mantle viscosity.

Transgression

Movement of the ocean towards the shore, as a result of sea level rise.

Bayhead deltas

Deltas that develop at the innermost part of estuaries or bays within wave-dominated and mixed-energy systems on transgressive coastlines.

Fetch

The distance that wind blows over open water and generates waves.

Gilbert-type deltas

A type of fluvial-dominated delta forming a wedge of coarse sediments with parallel topsets and inclined foresets sloping downwards to the basin floor.

Land-fast sea ice

Ice that is anchored to the shore or ocean bottom, typically over shallow ocean shelves at continental margins. Fast ice is defined by the fact that it does not move with the winds or currents.

Thaw slumping

The process of slope mass movements caused by thawing of ice-rich permafrost.

Pack ice

Sea ice that is not attached to the shoreline and drifts in response to winds, currents and other forces.

Frazil ice

Small needle-like ice crystals, typically a few millimetres in diameter, suspended in water, that represent the first stages of sea-ice growth. Frazil crystals merge under calm conditions to form thin sheets of ice on the surface.

Excess ice

The volume of ice in the ground that exceeds the total pore volume that the ground would have under natural unfrozen conditions.

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Overeem, I., Nienhuis, J.H. & Piliouras, A. Ice-dominated Arctic deltas. Nat Rev Earth Environ 3, 225–240 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43017-022-00268-x

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