Topographic controls on channelized meltwater in the subglacial environment

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Simkins, L. M., Greenwood, S. L., Garcia, S. Munevar, Eareckson, E. A., Anderson, J. B., Prothro, L. O.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: AGU 2021
• Subjects: topographic; meltwater; subglacial environment; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1969.6/90523; https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL094678

Realistic characterization of subglacial hydrology necessitates knowledge of the range in form, scale, and spatiotemporal evolution of drainage networks. A relict subglacial meltwater corridor on the deglaciated Antarctic continental shelf encompasses 80 convergent and divergent channels, many of which are hundreds of meters wide and several of which lack a definable headwater source. Without significant surface-melt contributions to the bed like similarly described landforms in the Northern Hemisphere, channelized drainage capacity varies non-systematically by three orders of magnitude downstream. This signifies apparent additions and losses of basal water to the bed-channelized system that relates to bed topography. Larger magnitude grounding-line retreat events occurred while the channel system was active than once channelized drainage had ceased. Overall, this corridor demonstrates that meltwater drainage styles co-exist in time and space in response to bed topography, with prolonged impacts on grounding-line behavior.