Case study of a relict iceberg scour exposed at Scarborough Bluffs, Toronto, Ontario: implications for pipeline engineering
Ice scour is a common process on high latitude shelves and has been studied extensively though laboratory and numerical modelling. Direct observations of ice scours in outcrop are very rare. This paper describes a Late Pleistocene iceberg scour observable in soil cliff exposures at Cudia Park, Scarborough Bluffs, Toronto, Ontario. The structure is cut into a glaciolacustrine clayey silt, is about 10 m wide and 4 m deep, and is filled with sands deposited in shallow water. A description of the scour and a simplified finite element model of sub-ice scour soil deformation are presented. It is estimated that the Cudia scour was caused by a small iceberg with a mass of 0.04 Mt, in a water depth between 10 and 30 m, acting with a downward force of 5 MN, which is consistent with modern iceberg scours. The relevance of the Cudia scour to pipeline engineering (design burial depths) is demonstrated, with reference to the design methodology of the Centre for Cold Ocean Research and Engineering (C-CORE). The Cudia scour provides an additional outcrop example of a subscour bearing capacity-type failure and is the only outcrop example to date with lateral berm piles, which are a characteristic part of modern iceberg scours.Key words: iceberg scour, Scarborough Bluffs, pipeline engineering, finite element modelling, Pleistocene geology.