Annals of Glaciology 45 2007 163 Cauldron subsidence and subglacial floods
ABSTRACT. Ice cauldrons are depressions which form at the surface of ice sheets when an underlying subglacial lake empties, in particular when subglacial volcanic eruptions occur. Notable examples of such cauldrons occur on the surface of the Vatnajökull ice cap in Iceland. More generally, cauldrons...
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| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.429.7298 http://www.igsoc.org/annals/45/a45a038.pdf |
| Summary: | ABSTRACT. Ice cauldrons are depressions which form at the surface of ice sheets when an underlying subglacial lake empties, in particular when subglacial volcanic eruptions occur. Notable examples of such cauldrons occur on the surface of the Vatnajökull ice cap in Iceland. More generally, cauldrons will form when a subglacial lake empties during a jökulhlaup. The rate of subsidence of the ice surface is related to the rate at which the subglacial water empties from the lake. We use a viscous version of classical beam theory applied to the ice sheet to determine the relation between the subsidence rate and flood discharge. We use the results to make inferences concerning ring fracture spacings in cauldrons, the consequent effect on flood discharge dynamics and the likely nature of subsidence events in the Antarctic Ice Sheet. 1. |
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