On the incorporation of unconsolidated sediments in basal ice: present-day examples

The resistance of saprolites to glacier erosion has been ascribed either to their previous frozen character or to their high permeability. A study of basal ice exposures in the Alps and in the Canadian Arctic sheds some light on the incorporation processes of unconsolidated sediments. In the case st...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Tison, Jean-Louis, Souchez, Roland, Lorrain, Reginald
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 1989
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/2013/ULB-DIPOT:oai:dipot.ulb.ac.be:2013/29500
Description
Summary:The resistance of saprolites to glacier erosion has been ascribed either to their previous frozen character or to their high permeability. A study of basal ice exposures in the Alps and in the Canadian Arctic sheds some light on the incorporation processes of unconsolidated sediments. In the case studied where the ice-bed interface is at the pressure-melting point, fluctuations in the subglacial water film related to grain size changes in the sediments play a major role in their incorporation into the ice. The other examples, taken from areas where the bed is frozen, show that the removal of subglacial sediments can efficiently be carried out by the freezing on process. -Authors SCOPUS: NotDefined.j info:eu-repo/semantics/published