Search results for "ice stream"

Two-dimensional numerical modeling of fracturing and shear band development in glacier fronts

2014

In this contribution we present a two-dimensional numerical model of a deforming glacier front. The model is based on a hybrid lattice spring network approach where particles in the model can deform in a volume conservative visco-elastic manner but at the same time they can be compressed elastically and fracture by discrete failure. We restrict ourselves to a simple setting where the glacier sits on a frictionless slope that dips with 5–10°, the ice block is fixed on one side and has a free surface on the other. The glacier varies in viscosity and can flow at the base, whereas it is brittle at the top. Results show that the head of the glacier is unstable. Failure happens as a combination o…

Subglacial bedforms of the Zemgale Ice Lobe, south-eastern Baltic

2015

Abstract Presented in this paper are the results of the mapping of ∼6600 subglacial bedforms of the Zemgale Ice Lobe (ZIL), their composition and internal structure in the south-eastern Baltic region. Topographic maps at scale 1:10,000 were mainly used to map bedforms in Latvia, while a digital elevation model with cell size of 5 m was used for North Central Lithuania. The ZIL operated during the deglaciation of the Late Weichselian Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS), at least in the Middle Lithuanian and North Lithuanian glacial phases, and created a subglacial landform assemblage consisting of glacial lineations such as drumlins, mega-flutings, Mega Scale Glacial Lineations (MSGLs) and transver…

Mapping of large-scale diapir structures at the paleo-ice tongue bed in western Latvia from geophysical investigations and borehole data

2022

Abstract This study comprises the investigation of the complex and deformed Late Pleistocene sedimentary sequence in western Latvia composed of sandy sediments that are protruded by large-scale clayey silt diapirs and covered by glaciotectonically disturbed discontinuous patches of the Late Weichselian till. We use detailed measurements by ground-penetrating radar (GPR) and electrical resistivity tomography (ERT) combined with borehole data and sedimentological investigations at the Baltic Sea cliffs to map and characterize the large-scale deformation structures and discontinuous till patches. We distinguish the intriguing and previously not detected characteristics of the spatial distribut…

Mise en évidence d’une dynamique de fleuves de glace durant la glaciation ordovicienne par l’enregistrement géomorphologique

2007

On Contemporary Ice streams the most important factor controlling polar ice-sheet sheet stability and ice flowing occurs in ice streams. On Pleistocene Ice Sheet, Ice stream can be located using several geomorphologic criteria predict from known characteristic of contemporary ice streams, these criteria defining the conceptual Ice Stream land system model. But nowadays, during fossil glaciations, ice streams characterization is still poorly documented and only few studies illustrate fast ice velocity. In this work, we characterize geomorphological markers of ice stream activity in order to define the Ordovician ice stream glacial landsystem. The study area is located in Sahara from Niger to…

The Late Ordovician glacial sedimentary system of the North Gondwana platform.

2009

International audience; The Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) glaciation is examined through the North Gondwana record. This domain extended from southern high palaeo-latitudes (southeastern Mauritania, Niger) to northern lower palaeo-latitudes (Morocco, Turkey) and covered a more than 4000 km-wide section perpendicular to ice-flow lines. A major mid-Hirnantian deglaciation event subdividing the Hirnantian glaciation in two first-order cycles is recognised. As best illustrated by the glacial record in western Libya, each cycle comprises 2-3 glacial phases separated by ice-front retreats several hundreds kilometres to the south. From ice-proximal to ice-distal regions, the number of glacial surfa…

Does porewater or meltwater control tunnel valley genesis? Case studies from the Hirnantian of Morocco.

2015

18 pages; International audience; Several Ordovician tunnel valleys are exposed in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas Mountains, including the Alnif and the Foum Larjamme tunnel valleys, located 150 km away from each other. Sedimentological and deformational analyses of these two glacial troughs reveal that differing processes lead to their formations.The Alnif tunnel valley contains numerous deformation structures within sediments both below and above the main glacial erosion contact surface. Ball-structures and clastic dykes occur within preglacial sediments down to 35 m below glacial incisions while overlying glacial sediments contain fluted surfaces, clastic dykes, dewatering structures, folds and…

Sedimentological and deformational criteria for discriminating subglaciofluvial deposits from subaqueous ice-contact fan deposits: A Pleistocene exam…

2014

A pit located near Ballyhorsey, 28 km south of Dublin (eastern Ireland), displays subglacially deposited glaciofluvial sediments passing upwards into proglacial subaqueous ice-contact fan deposits. The coexistence of these two different depositional environments at the same location will help with differentiation between two very similar and easily confused glacial lithofacies. The lowermost sediments show aggrading subglacial deposits indicating a constrained accommodation space, mainly controlled by the position of an overlying ice roof during ice-bed decoupling. These sediments are characterized by vertically stacked tills with large lenses of tabular to channelized sorted sediments. The…

New insights on ice dynamics from analysis of terrain of Latvia

2019

The Bossons glacier protects Europe's summit from erosion

2013

13 pages; International audience; The contrasting efficiency of erosion beneath cold glacier ice, beneath temperate glacier ice, and on ice-free mountain slopes is one of the key parameters in the development of relief during glacial periods. Detrital geochronology has been applied to the subglacial streams of the north face of the Mont-Blanc massif in order to estimate the efficiency of erosional processes there. Lithologically this area is composed of granite intruded at ~303 Ma within an older polymetamorphic complex. We use macroscopic features (on ~10,000 clasts) and U-Pb dating of zircon (~500 grains) to establish the provenance of the sediment transported by the glacier and its subgl…