Basal Freeze-on Research Articles

Basal freeze-on generates complex ice-sheet stratigraphy

Large, plume-like internal ice-layer-structures have been observed in radar images from both Antarctica and Greenland, rising from the ice-sheet base to up to half of the ice thickness. Their origins are not yet understood. Here, we simulate their genesis by basal freeze-on using numerical ice-flow modelling and analyse the transient evolution of the emerging ice-plume and the surrounding ice-layer structure as a function of both freeze-on rate and ice flux. We find good agreement between radar observations, modelled ice-plume geometry and internal layer structure, and further show that plume height relates primarily to ice-flux and only secondarily to freeze-on. An in-depth analysis, performed for Northern Greenland of observed spatial plume distribution related to ice flow, basal topography and water availability supports our findings regarding ice flux and suggests freeze-on is controlled by ascending subglacial water flow. Our results imply that widespread basal freeze-on strongly affects ice stratigraphy and consequently ice-core interpretations.

Distribution of ice thickness and subglacial topography of the “Chinese Wall” around Kunlun Station, East Antarctica

As fundamental parameters of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, ice thickness and subglacial topography are critical factors for studying the basal conditions and mass balance in Antarctica. During CHINARE 24 (the 24th Chinese National Antarctic Research Expedition, 2007/08), the research team used a deep ice-penetrating radar system to measure the ice thickness and subglacial topography of the “Chinese Wall” around Kunlun Station, East Antarctica. Preliminary results show that the ice thickness varies mostly from 1600 m to 2800 m along the “Chinese Wall”, with the thickest ice being 3444 m, and the thinnest ice 1255 m. The average bedrock elevation is 1722 m, while the minimum is just 604 m. Compared with the northern side of the ice divide, the ice thickness is a little greater and the subglacial topography lower on the southern side, which is also characterized by four deep valleys. We found no basal freeze-on ice in the Gamburtsev Subglacial Mountains area, subglacial lakes, or water bodies along the “Chinese Wall”. Ice thickness and subglacial topography data extracted from the Bedmap 2 database along the “Chinese Wall” are consistent with our results, but their resolution and accuracy are very limited in areas where the bedrock fluctuates intensely. The distribution of ice thickness and subglacial topography detected by ice-penetrating radar clarifies the features of the ice sheet in this “inaccessible” region. These results will help to advance the study of ice sheet dynamics and the determination of future locations of the GSM’s geological and deep ice core drilling sites in the Dome A region.

Assessment of historical changes (1959-2012) and the causes of recent break-ups of the Petersen ice shelf, Nunavut, Canada

AbstractAerial photography and satellite imagery of the Petersen ice shelf, Nunavut, Canada, from 1959 to 2012 show that it was stable until June 2005, after which a series of major calving events in the summers of 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2012 resulted in the loss of ∼61% of the June 2005 ice-shelf area. This recent series of calving events was initiated by the loss of extensive regions of ˃50-year-old multi-year landfast sea ice from the front of the ice shelf in summer 2005. Each subsequent calving event has been preceded by open-water conditions and resulting loss of pack-ice pressure across the front of the ice shelf, and most occurred during record warm summers. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) ice thickness measurements and RADARSAT-2 derived observations of surface motion indicate that tributary glaciers provided total ice input of 1.19-5.65 Mta–1 to the ice shelf from 2011 to 2012, far below the mean surface loss rate of 28.45 Mta–1. With recent losses due to calving and little evidence for current basal freeze-on, this suggests that the Petersen ice shelf will no longer exist by the 2040s, or sooner if further major calving events occur.

Understanding removal and basal transport of glaciotectonic megablocks and rafts in Bjørnøyrenna, SW Barents Sea: Can basal freeze-on explain it?

Understanding removal and basal transport of glaciotectonic megablocks and rafts in Bjørnøyrenna, SW Barents Sea: Can basal freeze-on explain it?

Debris entrainment by basal freeze‐on and thrusting during the 1995–1998 surge of Kuannersuit Glacier on Disko Island, west Greenland

AbstractKuannersuit Glacier, a valley glacier on Disko Island in west Greenland, experienced a major surge from 1995 to 1998 where the glacier advanced 10·5 km and produced a ∼65 m thick stacked sequence of debris‐rich basal ice and meteoric glacier ice. The aim of this study is to describe the tectonic evolution of large englacial thrusts and the processes of basal ice formation using a multiproxy approach including structural glaciology, stable isotope composition (δ18O and δD), sedimentology and ground‐penetrating radar. We argue that the major debris layers that can be traced in the terminal zone represent englacial thrusts that were formed early during the surge. Thrust overthrow was at least 200–300 m and this lead to a 30 m thick repetition of basal ice at the ice margin. It is assumed that the englacial thrusting was initiated at the transition between warm ice from the interior and the cold snout. The basal debris‐rich ice was mainly formed after the thrusting phase. Two sub‐facies of stratified basal ice have been identified; a lower massive ice facies (SM) composed of frozen diamict enriched with heavy stable isotopes overlain by laminated ice facies (SL) consisting of millimetre thick lamina of alternating debris‐poor and debris‐rich ice. We interpret the stratified basal ice as a continuum formed mainly by freeze‐on processes and localized regelation. First laminated basal ice is formed and as meltwater is depleted more sediment is entrained and finally the glacier freezes to the base and massive diamict is frozen‐on. The increased ability to entrain sediments may partly be associated with higher basal freezing rates enhanced by loss of frictional heat from cessation of fast flow and conductive cooling through a thin heavily crevassed ice during the final phase of the glacier surge. The dispersed basal ice facies (D) was mainly formed by secondary processes where fine‐grained sediment is mobilized in the vein system of ice. Our results have important implications for understanding the significance of basal ice formation and englacial thrusting beneath fast‐flowing glaciers and it provides new information about the development of landforms during a glacier surge. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Submarine push moraine formation during the early Fennoscandian Ice Sheet deglaciation

The glacial history in the topographically confined paleo-ice stream drainage route of Vestfjorden, North Norway, was analysed based on bathymetric data, high-resolution seismology and 14C AMS-dated gravity cores. The inner part of the fjord is characterised by axial-parallel mega-scale lineations whereas the outer part is dominated by two marginal morainal bank systems. The Værøy (inner) and Røst (outer) marginal moraine systems comprise several transverse, zigzag-shaped ridges. Seismic records show thrusted and folded sediment blocks within the ridges. The landforms are inferred to reflect basal processes and the transition from warm-based (inner fjord) to cold-based (outer fjord) conditions, i.e. fast flow followed by basal freeze-on, sediment deformation and morainal bank formation. The moraines formed during the final part of two paleo-ice sheet re-advances. 14C AMS dating indicates a maximum age of 13.7 14C ka BP (16.2 cal ka BP) for the Røst system whereas the Værøy system is inferred to be slightly older than 12.5 14C ka BP (14.5 cal ka BP). This demonstrates that the northern part of the Fennoscandian Ice Sheet behaved in a much more dynamic way during the early deglaciation than previously assumed.

Geomorphological Map of Ribbed Moraines on the Dubawnt Lake Palaeo-Ice Stream Bed: A Signature of Ice Stream Shut-down?

Please click here to download the map associated with this article. The beds of active ice streams in Greenland and Antarctica are largely inaccessible, hindering a full understanding of the processes that initiate, sustain and inhibit fast ice flow in ice sheets. Detailed mapping of the glacial geomorphology of palaeo-ice stream tracks is, therefore, a valuable tool for exploring the basal processes that control their behaviour. In this paper we present a map that shows detailed glacial geomorphology from a part of the Dubawnt Lake Palaeo-Ice Stream bed on the north-western Canadian Shield (Northwest Territories), which operated at the end of the last glacial cycle. The map (centred on 63° 55″ 42′N, 102° 29″ 11′W, approximate scale 1:90,000) was compiled from digital Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus satellite imagery and digital and hard-copy stereo-aerial photographs. The ice stream bed is dominated by parallel mega-scale glacial lineations (MGSL), whose lengths exceed several kilometres but the map also reveals that they have, in places, been superimposed with transverse ridges known as ribbed moraines. The ribbed moraines lie on top of the MSGL and appear to have segmented the individual lineaments. This indicates that formation of the ribbed moraines post-date the formation of the MSGL. The presence of ribbed moraine in the onset zone of another palaeo-ice stream has been linked to oscillations between cold and warm-based ice and/or a patchwork of cold-based areas which led to acceleration and deceleration of ice velocity. Our hypothesis is that the ribbed moraines on the Dubawnt Lake Ice Stream bed are a manifestation of the process that led to ice stream shut-down and may be associated with the process of basal freeze-on. The precise formation of ribbed moraines, however, remains open to debate and field observation of their structure will provide valuable data for formal testing of models of their formation.

Signature of palaeo‐ice‐stream stagnation: till consolidation induced by basal freeze‐on

A combination of glaciological theory and geological observations was used to investigate the possibility of till consolidation being driven by basal freeze‐on beneath a stagnating, mid‐latitude palaeo‐ice stream. We focused on the case of the Baltic Ice Stream that advanced into Denmark at c. 15ka BP and which left behind a characteristic till sequence consisting of a strong and well‐consolidated till crust underlain by weak and poorly consolidated till. Our hypothesis is that basal freezing caused the markedly higher consolidation of the uppermost till layer. The freezing may have either triggered or simply just accompanied ice‐stream stoppage. To test the feasibility of this hypothesis, we have developed a numerical model that couples ice‐stream dynamics to time‐dependent changes of till properties. Despite relatively mild palaeo‐climatic conditions in this area during Late Pleistocene deglaciation (˜0°C), the ice‐stream model is capable of producing basal freezing when the effect of horizontal advection of cold ice is included. Our simulations of till response to basal freezing are based on thermodynamic concepts adapted from permafrost studies. Dewatering of till by basal freeze‐on may lead to overconsolidation (OCR>10). Based on the history of effective pressure changes in the till, we can predict postglacial till strength profiles using the SHANSEP method. In a series of numerical experiments we have examined the response of till strength to basal freeze‐on induced beneath a decaying ice sheet. We have come reasonably close to reproducing shear strength profiles for till deposited by the Baltic Ice Stream. These observations are most consistent with palaeo‐ice‐stream stagnation triggered by basal freezing and followed by abrupt retreat (<100 years) due to high surface ablation rates (>10 ma‐1).

Thermodynamics of basal freeze-on: predicting basal and subglacial signatures of stopped ice streams and interstream ridges

AbstractWe have constructed a numerical model that simulates the response of subglacial sediments to basal freeze-on. The model is set up to emulate the basal zone of drilling sites in the Ross Sea sector of the West Antarctic ice sheet. We treat basal freeze-on at an ice–sediment interface as a thermodynamic process that couples the flow of water, heat and solutes in unfrozen subglacial sediments underlying a freezing ice base. The coupling of these flows occurs through the Clapeyron equation, which specifies the dependence of the basal freezing/melting temperature on ice pressure, water pressure, solute concentration and surface tension effects. Thermally driven water flow is induced when an ice base becomes supercooled below the pressure-melting point because ice–water surface tension inhibits ice growth in small pore spaces of fine-grained subglacial sediments. Our model results show that basal freeze-on is capable of inducing considerable changes in the basal zone of both ice streams and interstream ridges. These changes are associated with specific signatures that compare with borehole observations and geophysical surveys. Water-pressure levels are reduced, and thick layers of debris-laden basal ice develop. These basal ice layers and underlying sediments contain a distinct isotopic signal. The predicted stable-isotope ratios reflect Rayleigh-type isotopic fractionation whose significance increases with increasing freezing rates. Supercooling of the ice base induces also measurable changes in the ice-temperature profile of the glacier. Till porosity represents another quantity whose evolution is influenced strongly by basal freeze-on. In particular, measurements of vertical porosity distribution beneath stopped ice streams could be used to back-calculatethe timing of the onset of basal freezing. Our model results show that the basal zone of ice streams and interstream ridges responds sensitively to changes in basal melting/freezing rates. This sensitivity may allow reconstruction of past conditions beneath ice streams and interstream ridges from measurements made on basal ice samples and subglacial sediment samples. Our model results also indicate that meltwater from fast-flowing ice streams may be driven towards the freezing ice base of interstream ridges.

Signature of palaeo-ice-stream stagnation: till consolidation induced by basal freeze-on

Signature of palaeo-ice-stream stagnation: till consolidation induced by basal freeze-on

Subglacial thermal balance permits ongoing grounding-line retreat along the Siple Coast of West Antarctica

AbstractChanges in the discharge of West Antarctic ice streams are of potential concern with respect to global sea level. The six relatively thin, fast-flowing Ross ice streams are of interest as low-slope end-members among Antarctic ice streams. Extensive research has demonstrated that these “rivers of ice” have a history of relatively high-frequency , asynchronous discharge variations with evolving lateral boundaries. Amidst this variability, a ∼1300 km grounding-line retreat has occurred since the Last Glacial Maximum. Numerical studies of Ice Stream D (Parizek and others, 2002) indicate that a proposed thermal-regulation mechanism (Clarke and Marshall, 1998; Hulbe and MacAyeal, 1999; Tulaczyk and others, 2000a, b), which could buffer the West Antarctic ice sheet against complete collapse, may be over-ridden by latent-heat transport within melt-water from beneath inland ice. Extending these studies to Ice Stream A, Whillans Ice Stream and Ice Stream C suggests that further grounding-line retreat contributing to sea-level rise is possible thermodynamically However, the efficiency of basal water distribution may be a constraint on the system. Because local thermal deficits promote basal freeze-on (especially on topographic highs), observed short-term variability is likely to persist.