Maximizing friction in the erosion of glacial valleys

Abstract The cross-sectional profile of a glacial valley can be obtained with a variational principle in which the friction against the valley walls and the glacier bed is extremized, subject to a Lagrangian constraint. We show that the actual valley profile maximizes the friction, thus settling an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Author: Faraoni, Valerio
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2020.47
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143020000477
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Summary:Abstract The cross-sectional profile of a glacial valley can be obtained with a variational principle in which the friction against the valley walls and the glacier bed is extremized, subject to a Lagrangian constraint. We show that the actual valley profile maximizes the friction, thus settling an old debate.