Formation and persistence of glaciovolcanic voids explored with analytical and numerical models
Abstract One fifth of Earth's volcanoes are covered by snow or ice and many have active geothermal systems that interact with the overlying ice. These glaciovolcanic interactions can melt voids into glaciers, and are subject to controls exerted by ice dynamics and geothermal heat output. Glacio...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2024.8 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S002214302400008X |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/jog.2024.8 2024-04-07T07:53:41+00:00 Formation and persistence of glaciovolcanic voids explored with analytical and numerical models Unnsteinsson, Tryggvi Flowers, Gwenn E. Williams-Jones, Glyn Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Simon Fraser University 2024 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2024.8 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S002214302400008X en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 Journal of Glaciology page 1-15 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 Earth-Surface Processes journal-article 2024 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2024.8 2024-03-08T00:31:43Z Abstract One fifth of Earth's volcanoes are covered by snow or ice and many have active geothermal systems that interact with the overlying ice. These glaciovolcanic interactions can melt voids into glaciers, and are subject to controls exerted by ice dynamics and geothermal heat output. Glaciovolcanic voids have been observed to form prior to volcanic eruptions, which raised concerns when such features were discovered within Job Glacier on Qw̓elqw̓elústen (Mount Meager Volcanic Complex), British Columbia, Canada. In this study we model the formation, evolution, and steady-state morphology of glaciovolcanic voids using analytical and numerical models. Analytical steady-state void geometries show cave height limited to one quarter of the ice thickness, while numerical model results suggest the void height h scales with ice thickness H and geothermal heat flux $\dot {Q}$ as $h/H = a H^b \dot {Q}^c$ , with exponents b = − n /2 and c = 1/2 where n is the creep exponent. Applying this scaling to the glaciovolcanic voids within Job Glacier suggests the potential for total geothermal heat flux in excess of 10 MW. Our results show that relative changes in ice thickness are more influential in glaciovolcanic void formation and evolution than relative changes in geothermal heat flux. Article in Journal/Newspaper Journal of Glaciology Cambridge University Press Canada British Columbia ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) Journal of Glaciology 1 15 |
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Cambridge University Press |
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English |
topic |
Earth-Surface Processes |
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Earth-Surface Processes Unnsteinsson, Tryggvi Flowers, Gwenn E. Williams-Jones, Glyn Formation and persistence of glaciovolcanic voids explored with analytical and numerical models |
topic_facet |
Earth-Surface Processes |
description |
Abstract One fifth of Earth's volcanoes are covered by snow or ice and many have active geothermal systems that interact with the overlying ice. These glaciovolcanic interactions can melt voids into glaciers, and are subject to controls exerted by ice dynamics and geothermal heat output. Glaciovolcanic voids have been observed to form prior to volcanic eruptions, which raised concerns when such features were discovered within Job Glacier on Qw̓elqw̓elústen (Mount Meager Volcanic Complex), British Columbia, Canada. In this study we model the formation, evolution, and steady-state morphology of glaciovolcanic voids using analytical and numerical models. Analytical steady-state void geometries show cave height limited to one quarter of the ice thickness, while numerical model results suggest the void height h scales with ice thickness H and geothermal heat flux $\dot {Q}$ as $h/H = a H^b \dot {Q}^c$ , with exponents b = − n /2 and c = 1/2 where n is the creep exponent. Applying this scaling to the glaciovolcanic voids within Job Glacier suggests the potential for total geothermal heat flux in excess of 10 MW. Our results show that relative changes in ice thickness are more influential in glaciovolcanic void formation and evolution than relative changes in geothermal heat flux. |
author2 |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Simon Fraser University |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Unnsteinsson, Tryggvi Flowers, Gwenn E. Williams-Jones, Glyn |
author_facet |
Unnsteinsson, Tryggvi Flowers, Gwenn E. Williams-Jones, Glyn |
author_sort |
Unnsteinsson, Tryggvi |
title |
Formation and persistence of glaciovolcanic voids explored with analytical and numerical models |
title_short |
Formation and persistence of glaciovolcanic voids explored with analytical and numerical models |
title_full |
Formation and persistence of glaciovolcanic voids explored with analytical and numerical models |
title_fullStr |
Formation and persistence of glaciovolcanic voids explored with analytical and numerical models |
title_full_unstemmed |
Formation and persistence of glaciovolcanic voids explored with analytical and numerical models |
title_sort |
formation and persistence of glaciovolcanic voids explored with analytical and numerical models |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2024.8 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S002214302400008X |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-125.003,-125.003,54.000,54.000) |
geographic |
Canada British Columbia |
geographic_facet |
Canada British Columbia |
genre |
Journal of Glaciology |
genre_facet |
Journal of Glaciology |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology page 1-15 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2024.8 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
15 |
_version_ |
1795669754864730112 |