Hard rock landforms generate 130 km ice shelf channels through water focusing in basal corrugations
File(s)s41467-018-06679-z.pdf (3.43 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
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 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.
Date Issued
2018-11-01
Date Acceptance
2018-09-19
Citation
Nature Communications, 2018, 9
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Journal / Book Title
Nature Communications
Volume
9
Copyright Statement
© 2018 The Author(s). Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
British Council (UK)
Grant Number
NE/G00465X/3
ICECAP-2
Subjects
Science & Technology
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Science & Technology - Other Topics
WEDDELL SEA SECTOR
WEST ANTARCTICA
SUBGLACIAL BEDFORMS
STREAMLINED HARD
GROUNDING LINE
SHEET
BED
BENEATH
MODEL
ZONE
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
4576