LiDAR-based volume assessment of the origin of the Wadena drumlin field, Minnesota, USA

The Wadena drumlin field (WDF; ~7500km2) in west-central Minnesota, USA, is bordered along its outer extremity by the till-cored Alexandria moraine marking the furthest extent of the southwesterly-flowing Wadena ice lobe at c. 15,000kyr BP. Newly available high-resolution Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data reveal new information regarding the number, morphology and extent of streamlined bedforms in the WDF. In addition, a newly-developed quantitative methodology based on relief curvature analysis of LiDAR elevation-based raster data is used to evaluate sediment volumes represented by the WDF and its bounding end moraine. These data are used to evaluate models for the origin of drumlins. High-resolution LiDAR-based mapping doubles the streamlined footprint of the Wadena Lobe to ~16,500km2 increases the number of bedforms from ~2000 to ~6000, and most significantly, reclassifies large numbers of bedforms mapped previously as ‘drumlins’ as ‘mega-scale glacial lineations’ (MSGLs), indicating that the Wadena ice lobe experienced fast ice flow. The total volume of sediment in the Alexandria moraine is ~71–110km3, that in the drumlins and MSGLs is ~2.83km3, and the volume of swales between these bedforms is ~74.51km3. The moraine volume is equivalent to a till layer 6.8m thick across the entire bed of the Wadena lobe, suggesting drumlinization and moraine formation were accompanied by widespread lowering of the bed. This supports the hypothesis that drumlins and MSGLs are residual erosional features carved from a pre-existing till; swales represent ‘missing sediment’ that was eroded subglacially and advected downglacier to build the Alexandria Moraine during fast ice flow. Alternatively, the relatively small volume of sediment represented by subglacial bedforms indicates they could have formed rapidly by depositional processes.