A world-class example of a Late Palaeozoic glaciated landscape in Chad

A newly discovered pristine channel belt on the Ennedi Plateau, Chad, reveals complex palaeo-morphological features that provide unprecedented insight into the Late Carboniferous glaciation. This 300 km² network of braided and meandering channels, up to 250 m wide, shows distinctive point bar deposits and scroll bar geometries, indicating a terrestrial, subaerial environment rather than subglacial origin. These features are intercalated with glacial lineations (GLs), suggesting ice activity both preceded and succeeded fluvial activity during the advance-retreat cycles of the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age. Remote sensing techniques revealed that the Chadian ice sheet covered at least 20,000 km²—three times larger than previously estimated—with GLs arranged in widespread ice stream networks, indicating palaeo-ice flow to the north.

Kettler, C., Wohlschlägl, R., Russell, C., Scharfenberg, L., Ghienne, J.-F., & Le Heron, D. P. (2023). A world-class example of a Late Palaeozoic glaciated landscape in Chad. Sedimentary Geology, 455, 106470. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sedgeo.2023.106470