Quantifying the past glacial movements in Schirmacher Oasis, East Antarctica

Abstract

Glacier Striations are the scratches and grooves formed by abrasion on the surface of bedrock over which a glacier moves. In the Schirmacher Oasis, central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica systematic observations were made to collect the orientation data of well-preserved glacial striations. Orientation data for 276 glacial striations at 20 locations were collected and further analysed for quantification of the direction of past glacial movements. The majority of the data is unidirectional with few having bidirectional orientation suggesting changes in the movement of glaciers with time. The data shows NNW-NNE direction for the advance of palaeoglaciers which are in agreement with the present movement of glaciers deduced from the Global Positioning System reported earlier. The Moving Average Rose Diagram (MARD) calculated resultant direction for the flow of glacier in the Schirmacher Oasis deduced at 15°E. It is also in concordance with the earlier reported subsurface geo-electrical structural trend inferred from magnetotelluric (MT) study and hence hints towards the possible link between the subsurface structures and processes as guiding control for the movement of glaciers.