scholarly journals Sediment deformation and basal dynamics beneath a glacier surge front: Bakaninbreen, Svalbard

1997 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 21-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip R. Porter ◽  
Tavi Murray ◽  
Julian A. Dowdeswell
Keyword(s):  
Yield Strength ◽  
Active Phase ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Event Analysis ◽  
Potential Explanation ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Applied Forces ◽  
Sediment Deformation ◽  
Basal Shear ◽  
Phase Motion

Bakaninbreen is a 17 km long surge-type glacier in southern Spitsbergen, Svalbard, which began surging between the springs of 1985 and 1986, forming a surge front where fast-moving surge ice meets non-surging ice. This surge front has propagated 6 km down-glacier over the period to 1995. Instruments known as “ploughmeters” were installed into the deformable sedimentary bed close to the surge front to assess mechanical conditions year-round. Forces experienced by ploughmeters located down-glacier of the surge front are generally lower than those recorded by a ploughmeter up-glacier of the surge front. Ploughmeters installed at the bed down-glacier of the surge front show initially low applied forces, followed by increasing applied forces. We interpret this increase in applied forcing as a late-active-phase motion event. Analysis of ploughmeter data allows calculation of the yield strength of basal sediments. Yield-strength estimates at Bakaninbreen are in the range 16.6–87.5 kPa. Comparison with estimates of basal shear stress suggests that sediments up-glacier of the surge front will be actively deforming, whereas there will be only limited deformation down-glacier of the surge front. Immediately down-glacier of the surge front, calculations indicate negligible basal shear stresses. Together with the deformation of sediment from up-glacier, this implies a build-up of sediment at the surge front, offering a potential explanation for the sediment-filled thrust faults outcropping on the surge front.

scholarly journals Sediment deformation and basal dynamics beneath a glacier surge front: Bakaninbreen, Svalbard

1997 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 21-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip R. Porter ◽  
Tavi Murray ◽  
Julian A. Dowdeswell
Keyword(s):  
Yield Strength ◽  
Active Phase ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Event Analysis ◽  
Potential Explanation ◽  
Motion Event ◽  
Applied Forces ◽  
Sediment Deformation ◽  
Basal Shear ◽  
Phase Motion

Bakaninbreen is a 17 km long surge-type glacier in southern Spitsbergen, Svalbard, which began surging between the springs of 1985 and 1986, forming a surge front where fast-moving surge ice meets non-surging ice. This surge front has propagated 6 km down-glacier over the period to 1995. Instruments known as “ploughmeters” were installed into the deformable sedimentary bed close to the surge front to assess mechanical conditions year-round. Forces experienced by ploughmeters located down-glacier of the surge front are generally lower than those recorded by a ploughmeter up-glacier of the surge front. Ploughmeters installed at the bed down-glacier of the surge front show initially low applied forces, followed by increasing applied forces. We interpret this increase in applied forcing as a late-active-phase motion event. Analysis of ploughmeter data allows calculation of the yield strength of basal sediments. Yield-strength estimates at Bakaninbreen are in the range 16.6–87.5 kPa. Comparison with estimates of basal shear stress suggests that sediments up-glacier of the surge front will be actively deforming, whereas there will be only limited deformation down-glacier of the surge front. Immediately down-glacier of the surge front, calculations indicate negligible basal shear stresses. Together with the deformation of sediment from up-glacier, this implies a build-up of sediment at the surge front, offering a potential explanation for the sediment-filled thrust faults outcropping on the surge front.

scholarly journals Till genesis and glacier motion inferred from sedimentological evidence associated with the surge-type glacier, Brúarjökull, Iceland

2005 ◽  
Vol 42 ◽  
pp. 14-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna E. Nelson ◽  
Ian C. Willis ◽  
Colm Ó. Cofaigh
Keyword(s):  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Brittle Deformation ◽  
Outlet Glacier ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
Show Evidence ◽  
Sediment Deformation ◽  
Basal Shear ◽  
Clay Lenses ◽  
Glacier Motion

AbstractA study employing macro- and micro-sedimentological techniques was conducted at three sites with recently deglaciated sediments in the proglacial area of Brúarjökull, a surge-type outlet glacier of the Vatnajökull ice cap, Iceland. Tills at these sites were likely deposited and deformed during the 1963/64 surge. At the height of the last surge, these sediments were beneath 90-120 m of ice, and associated basal shear stresses would have been 24-32 kPa. Tills associated with the surge at these sites formed by a combination of subglacial sediment deformation and lodgement and are thus regarded as ‘hybrid tills’. The tills show evidence of both ductile and brittle deformation. Discontinuous clay lenses within the tills, indicating local ice-bed decoupling and sliding, imply that subglacial water pressures were spatially and temporally variable during the surge. The thickness of the subglacial deforming-till layer was 50-90 cm.

scholarly journals Glaciodynamic context of subglacial bedform generation and preservation

1999 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 23-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris D. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Morphometric Characteristics ◽  
Glacial Cycle ◽  
Sheet Flow ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Ice Stream ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Basal Shear

AbstractSubglacially-produced drift lineations provide spatially extensive evidence of ice flow that can be used to aid reconstructions of the evolution of former ice sheets. Such reconstructions, however, are highly sensitive to assumptions made about the glaciodynamic context of lineament generation; when during the glacial cycle and where within the ice sheet were they produced. A range of glaciodynamic contexts are explored which include: sheet-flow submarginally restricted; sheet-flow pervasive; sheet- flow patch; ice stream; and surge or re-advance. Examples of each are provided. The crux of deciphering the appropriate context is whether lineations were laid down time-trans-gressively or isochronously. It is proposed that spatial and morphometric characteristics of lineations, and their association with other landforms, can be used as objective criteria to help distinguish between these cases.A logically complete ice-sheet reconstruction must also account for the observed patches of older lineations and other relict surfaces and deposits that have survived erasure by subsequent ice flow. A range of potential preservation mechanisms are explored, including: cold- based ice; low basal-shear stresses; shallowing of the deforming layer; and basal uncoupling.

scholarly journals Flow of Rutford Ice Stream and Comparison with Carlson Inlet, Antarctica

1989 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 51-56 ◽  
Author(s):  
R.M. Frolich ◽  
D.G. Vaughan ◽  
C.S.M. Doake
Keyword(s):  
Surface Expression ◽  
Ice Thickness ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Lateral Shear ◽  
Ice Stream ◽  
Grounding Line ◽  
Subglacial Topography ◽  
Characteristic Features ◽  
Basal Shear ◽  
Thickness Measurements

Results from movement surveys on Rutford Ice Stream are presented with complementary surface-elevation and ice-thickness measurements. Surface velocities of 300 m a−1 occur at least 130 km up-stream of the grounding line and contrast strongly with the neighbouring Carlson Inlet, where a velocity of 7 m a−1 has been measured. This contrast in velocity is not topographically controlled but appears to be due instead to differences in basal conditions, with Carlson Inlet probably being frozen to its bed. Concentration of lateral shear close to the margins and surface expression of subglacial topography both support a view of significant basal shear stresses in the central part of Rutford Ice Stream. The pattern of principal strain-rate trajectories shows a small number of characteristic features which can be compared with results from future modelling of the glacier's flow.

scholarly journals The Effect of Anisotropy on the Creep of Polycrystalline Ice

1978 ◽  
Vol 21 (85) ◽  
pp. 475-483 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. C. Lile
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Measure ◽  
Dissipative Process ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Creep Tests ◽  
First Approximation ◽  
Configuration Parameter ◽  
Polycrystalline Ice ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Basal Shear

AbstractQuantitative effects of crystallographic orientation fabrics are incorporated into the flow law for isotropic polycrystalline ice by the introduction of an enhancement factor applied to the isotropic fluidity. An aggregate is viewed to a first approximation as a collection of grains deforming independently by basal glide. The influence of preferred orientations on the mean intragranular rate of strain is treated in terms of a redistribution of the magnitude and orientation of resolved basal shear stress. A quantitative measure of this effect on the fluidity of the aggregate is provided through the development of a geometric tensor and a stress configuration parameter. Intergranular interference is then considered as a dissipative process modifying the fluidity of the aggregate.Empirical justification for the model at low octahedral shear stresses is provided by several laboratory creep tests on naturally anisotropic bore-hole specimens under both in situ and anomalous stress situations. Predicted enhancement factors ranged from approximately 0.2 to 2.8 and agree well with measured values. The tests were carried out in uniaxial compression and simple shear.

scholarly journals Surface profiles and basal shear stresses of outlet glaciers from a Late-glacial mountain ice field in western Scotland

1991 ◽  
Vol 37 (125) ◽  
pp. 77-88 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter W. Thorp
Keyword(s):  
Late Glacial ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Glacial Period ◽  
Late Glacial Period ◽  
Bedrock Topography ◽  
Pore Water Pressures ◽  
Basal Sliding ◽  
Ice Field ◽  
Surface Profiles ◽  
Basal Shear

Abstract Surface and basal long profiles are reconstructed for 13 outlet glaciers that drained ice from a large ice field (80 km by 120 km) that formed in the western Grampians of Scotland during part of the Late-glacial period (c, 14000–10000years BP). Basal shear stresses are calculated at 5 km intervals along the central flowlines of the reconstructed outlet glaciers. Individual basal shear stresses for the outlet glaciers range from 10 to 204 kPa. Variations in calculated basal shear stresses within and between the glaciers are mainly explained by differences in bedrock topography, extending and compressional flow, and by differences in basal boundary conditions. Low basal shear stresses (<53kPa) calculated for the terminal zones of Creran, Menteith and Lomond glaciers are partly explained by the overriding of glaciomarine clays with inferred high pore-water pressures and a low yield strength that may have led to rapid basal sliding and thinning of the ice lobes.

scholarly journals Flow mechanism of the Des Moines lobe of the Laurentide ice sheet

2002 ◽  
Vol 48 (163) ◽  
pp. 575-586 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas S. Hooyer ◽  
Neal R. Iverson
Keyword(s):  
Flow Direction ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Flow Mechanism ◽  
Des Moines Lobe ◽  
Des Moines ◽  
Rapid Flow ◽  
Basal Shear ◽  
Basal Till

AbstractRapid flow of the Des Moines lobe of the Laurentide ice sheet may have been related to its unlithified substrate. New reconstructions of the lobe, based on moraine elevations, sediment subsidence during moraine deposition, and flow-direction indicators, indicate that the lobe may have been ∼3 times thicker than in previous reconstructions. Nevertheless, implied basal shear stresses are <15 kPa, so internal ice deformation was not significant. Instead, the lobe likely moved by a combination of sliding, plowing of particles through the bed surface, and bed shear. Consolidation tests on basal till yield preconsolidation stresses of 125–300 kPa, so effective normal stresses on the bed were small. A model of sliding and plowing indicates that at such stresses most particles gripped by the ice may have plowed easily through the till bed, resulting in too small a shear traction on the bed to shear it at depth. Consistent with this prediction, measurements of orientations of clasts in basal till yield a weak fabric, implying pervasive bed shear strain less than ∼2, although some stronger fabrics have been reported by others. We infer, tentatively, that movement was principally at the bed surface by plowing.

Recent developments in modeling ice sheet deformation

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felicity McCormack ◽  
Roland Warner ◽  
Adam Treverrow ◽  
Helene Seroussi
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Vertical Shear ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Polar Ice ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Polar Ice Sheets ◽  
Basal Shear ◽  
The Impact

&lt;p&gt;Viscous deformation is the main process controlling ice flow in ice shelves and in slow-moving regions of polar ice sheets where ice is frozen to the bed. However, the role of deformation in flow in ice streams and fast-flowing regions is typically poorly represented in ice sheet models due to a major limitation in the current standard flow relation used in most large-scale ice sheet models &amp;#8211; the Glen flow relation &amp;#8211; which does not capture the steady-state flow of anisotropic ice that prevails in polar ice sheets. Here, we highlight recent advances in modeling deformation in the Ice Sheet System Model using the ESTAR (empirical, scalar, tertiary, anisotropic regime) flow relation &amp;#8211; a new description of deformation that takes into account the impact of different types of stresses on the deformation rate. We contrast the influence of the ESTAR and Glen flow relations on the role of deformation in the dynamics of Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica, using diagnostic simulations. We find key differences in: (1) the slow-flowing interior of the catchment where the unenhanced Glen flow relation simulates unphysical basal sliding; (2) over the floating Thwaites Glacier Tongue where the ESTAR flow relation outperforms the Glen flow relation in accounting for tertiary creep and the spatial differences in deformation rates inherent to ice anisotropy; and (3) in the grounded region within 80km of the grounding line where the ESTAR flow relation locally predicts up to three times more vertical shear deformation than the unenhanced Glen flow relation, from a combination of enhanced vertical shear flow and differences in the distribution of basal shear stresses. More broadly on grounded ice, the membrane stresses are found to play a key role in the patterns in basal shear stresses and the balance between basal shear stresses and gravitational forces simulated by each of the ESTAR and Glen flow relations. Our results have implications for the suitability of ice flow relations used to constrain uncertainty in reconstructions and projections of global sea levels, warranting further investigation into using the ESTAR flow relation in transient simulations of glacier and ice sheet dynamics. We conclude by discussing how geophysical data might be used to provide insight into the relationship between ice flow processes as captured by the ESTAR flow relation and ice fabric anisotropy.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals A Glacier Flow Model Incorporating Longitudinal Deviatoric Stresses

1984 ◽  
Vol 30 (106) ◽  
pp. 334-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. M. Shoemaker ◽  
L. W. Morland
Keyword(s):  
Steady State ◽  
Deviatoric Stress ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Field Equations ◽  
Plane Flow ◽  
Steady State Model ◽  
Glacier Flow ◽  
Basal Shear ◽  
Deviatoric Stresses ◽  
Proper Generalization

AbstractA model for glacier flow is developed which incorporates longitudinal deviatoric stress contributions to the field equations. The underlying assumptions may be applied to develop models for various situations. Here, they are developed for steady-state and non-steady-state sliding glaciers in plane flow. The models reduce to a proper generalization of plane-flow pseudo-hydrostatic theory if longitudinal deviatoric stresses are neglected in comparison to basal shear stresses. Solution of this simpler reduced model allows an estimate to be made of the magnitude of the longitudinal deviatoric stress to test if it is negligible or, more generally, investigate under what conditions it can be neglected. The steady-state model predicts that longitudinal deviatoric stresses are negligible for very arbitrary non-uniform sliding-law distributions provided that the following conditions exist: the region must be distant from an ice divide or terminus and subject to normal (not extreme) accumulation or ablation. On the other hand, examples are produced where, under non-steady conditions, longitudinal deviatoric stresses are important and even dominant.

scholarly journals Surface profiles of the laurentide ice sheet in its marginal areas

1974 ◽  
Vol 13 (67) ◽  
pp. 37-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. Mathews
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Water Pressure ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Greenland Ice Sheet ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Active Movement ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Marginal Areas ◽  
Image Position ◽  
Basal Shear

Surface slopes of ice lobes can be estimated from the gradients of their margins as shown by ice limits, by contemporaneous recessional moraines, or by lateral melt-water channels, with allowance being made for the dip of an ice lobe laterally, as well as forward, toward its extremities. Profiles can be fitted approximately to a parabola with the equation in which h is the height above and x the distance up-stream from the terminus, in the same units, and A is a coefficient which varies from glacier to glacier. The coefficient A has a value of 4.7 m1 for both the Antarctic ice sheet inland from Mirny and the west central Greenland ice sheet. Several examples of late Pleistocene ice lobes within mountainous terrain of North America and New Zealand have values of A ranging from 2.9 ml to about 4.1 m1. For several ice lobes in the south-western part of the late Pleistocene Laurentide ice sheet, however, values are from about 0.3 to 1.0 m1, corresponding to basal shear stress of from about 0.07 to 0.22 bar. A major problem exists in accounting for the active movement of ice here under such low surface gradients and basal shear stresses. Evidence of basal slip, aided by high subglacial water pressure, should be looked for in the field. Alternatively, other possibilities for the explanation of such low surface gradients should be sought.

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