Subglacial floods and the origin of low-relief ice-sheet lobes

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Author: Shoemaker, E. M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1992
• Subjects: Ice Sheet; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000009643; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000009643

Abstract The likely genesis of low-relief ice-sheet lobes is episodic subglacial floods which occur in the form of water sheets hundreds of kilometers wide. During the few weeks prior to termination, when the flood discharge is large, the average thickness of a water sheet beneath the Lake Michigan lobe likely exceeded 1 m and reached thicknesses in excess of 6 m. The release of a part of the basal shear stress during this period produced an elongation of the lobe of tens of kilometers.