Hard rock landforms generate 130 km ice shelf channels through water focusing in basal corrugations
Jeofry, H; Ross, N; Le Brocq, A; et al.Graham, A; Li, J; Gogineni, P; Morlighem, M; Jordan, T; Siegert, MJ
Date: 1 November 2018
Article
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Springer Nature
Publisher DOI
Abstract
Satellite imagery reveals flowstripes on Foundation Ice Stream parallel to ice flow, and
meandering features on the ice-shelf that cross-cut ice flow and are thought to be formed by
water exiting a well-organised subglacial system. Here, ice-penetrating radar data show flow
parallel hard-bed landforms beneath the grounded ice, and ...
Satellite imagery reveals flowstripes on Foundation Ice Stream parallel to ice flow, and
meandering features on the ice-shelf that cross-cut ice flow and are thought to be formed by
water exiting a well-organised subglacial system. Here, ice-penetrating radar data show flow
parallel hard-bed landforms beneath the grounded ice, and channels incised upwards into the ice
shelf beneath meandering surface channels. As the ice transitions to flotation, the ice shelf
incorporates a corrugation resulting from the landforms. Radar reveals the presence of subglacial
water alongside the landforms, indicating a well-organised drainage system in which water exits
the ice sheet as a point source, mixes with cavity water and incises upwards into a corrugation
peak, accentuating the corrugation downstream. Hard-bedded landforms influence both subglacial
hydrology and ice-shelf structure and, as they are known to be widespread on formerly glaciated
terrain, their influence on the ice-sheet-shelf transition could be more widespread than thought
previously.
Geography - old structure
Collections of Former Colleges
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