Variations in radar facies along a 30 km trace on an outwash plain in western Jutland, Denmark

A 30 km long trace on an outwash plain deposited in the western part of Jutland, Denmark, in front of a Late Weichselian advancing ice sheet is examined by ground penetrating radar, GPR. The trace follows the ancient mean flow direction of the braided-river system towards west-northwest. 16 localities mapped by 2D or 3D GPR are distributed along the trace starting on the proximal part of the outwash plain about three km away from the maximal extension of the ice sheet and ending in the distal part of the outwash plain. Radar facies analyses are carried out on all GPR profiles. The GPR profiles show an overall change in radar facies from discontinuous, horizontal reflections in the proximal part of the outwash plain to more continuous, horizontal reflections and discontinuous wavy reflections as well as trough-shaped and oblique clinoform reflections in the intermediate and distal part of the outwash plain. Thus, the radar facies along the trace seem to reflect the changes in lithology and sedimentary structures related to the overall fall in the depositional energy from the proximal to the distal part of the outwash plain.