Abstract
Wegener's expeditions pioneered many measurements that are now essential for computer modelling of ice sheets. Advances in knowledge of accumulation, thickness, temperature, crystal fabric and surface mapping of ice sheets and of impurities, gas content and isotopic ratios of ice cores from these ice sheets are outlined before computer modelling work is discussed. The value of such studies in providing large scale tests of geophysical concepts is emphasized. The paper concludes by suggesting that the drag of continental ice sheets on the top of continental blocks might be of comparable magnitude and tend to balance forces on the base of these blocks by motion of the asthenosphere. Apart from providing a possible reason for the aseismic nature of the Antarctic and Greenland land masses, the hypothesis provides a suitable link for this volume between Wegener's interest in continental ice sheets and continental drift.
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