Artificially Induced Thermokarst in Active Glacier Ice: An Example from North-West British Columbia, Canada

Abstract

AbstractWarm waste water, at 30°C, has been discharged from a copper concentrater on to the active terminal ice of Berendon Glacier, British Columbia, since 1970. As a result, rapid basal ice melt causes the formation of caverns and subsequent collapse features referred to as glacier thermokarst. A review of the literature reveals that such features have been described elsewhere from active ice, and the usual conditions assumed for the development of glacier thermokarst (stagnant, heavily debris-covered ice) should be redefined to include these examples.