Subglacial Channels Research Articles

Estuaries beneath ice sheets

Interactions between subglacial hydrology and the ocean make the existence of estuaries at the grounding zones of ice sheets likely. Here we present geophysical observations of an estuary at the downstream end of the hydrologic system that links the active subglacial lakes beneath Whillans Ice Stream to the ocean beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. This subglacial estuary consists of a hydropotential low upstream of the grounding zone, which is linked to the ocean by a hydropotential trough and a large subglacial channel. This subglacial channel, which is imaged using active source seismic methods, has an apparent width of 1 km and a maximum depth of 7 m. The hydropotential trough continues upstream of the grounding zone and results from an along-flow depression in surface elevations. Pressure differences along the trough axis are within a range that can be overcome by tidally induced processes, making the interaction of subglacial and ocean water likely.

Subaqueous melting of Store Glacier, west Greenland from three‐dimensional, high‐resolution numerical modeling and ocean observations

We present three‐dimensional, high‐resolution simulations of ice melting at the calving face of Store Glacier, a tidewater glacier in West Greenland, using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology general circulation model. We compare the simulated ice melt with an estimate derived from oceanographic data. The simulations show turbulent upwelling and spreading of the freshwater‐laden plume along the ice face and the vigorous melting of ice at rates of meters per day. The simulated August 2010 melt rate of 2.0±0.3 m/d is within uncertainties of the melt rate of 3.0±1.0 m/d calculated from oceanographic data. Melting is greatest at depth, above the subglacial channels, causing glacier undercutting. Melt rates increase proportionally to thermal forcing raised to the power of 1.2–1.6 and to subglacial water flux raised to the power of 0.5–0.9. Therefore, in a warmer climate, Store Glacier melting by ocean may increase from both increased ocean temperature and subglacial discharge.

Winter motion mediates dynamic response of the Greenland Ice Sheet to warmer summers

AbstractWe present ice velocities from a land‐terminating transect extending >115 km into the western Greenland Ice Sheet during three contrasting melt years (2009–2011) to determine whether enhanced melting accelerates dynamic mass loss. We find no significant correlation between surface melt and annual ice flow. There is however a positive correlation between melt and summer ice displacement, but a negative correlation with winter displacement. This response is consistent with hydro‐dynamic coupling; enhanced summer ice flow results from longer periods of increasing surface melting and greater duration ice surface to bed connections, while reduced winter motion is explicable by drainage of high basal water pressure regions by larger more extensive subglacial channels. Despite mean interannual surface melt variability of up to 70%, mean annual ice velocities changed by <7.5%. Increased summer melting thereby preconditions the ice‐bed interface for reduced winter motion resulting in limited dynamic sensitivity to interannual variations in surface melting.

Architecture of Late Ordovician glacial valleys in the Tassili N'Ajjer area (Algeria)

The architecture of three Late Ordovician glacial valleys was studied in detail in the Tassili N'Ajjer (SE Algeria) outcrops. The valleys are oriented south–north, 2 to 5km wide, and up to 250m deep. The valley-fills revealed a very complex sedimentary architecture with significant lateral facies changes. Several glacial cycles induced the formation of Glacial Erosion Surfaces (GES) at the base and within the glacial valleys.The first type of GES shows a sharp and steep-angled contact without striations or associated syn-sedimentary deformation, suggesting that subglacial meltwater was the dominant erosive agent. A second type associated with the deformation of pre-glacial and syn-glacial sediment, suggests that ice was in contact with the valley floor. Four facies associations are proposed: FA1: subglacial tillite; FA2: Sub-to pro-glacial ice contact fans; FA3: Proglacial sub-aqueous gravity flows; and FA4: outwash fans.The stratigraphic architecture of three of the main valleys reveals a complex polyphase infill. At least two main cycles of ice-sheet advance and retreat can be interpreted from the sedimentary succession of each valley. Minor glacial cycles by ice oscillations also occur locally. GES morphology and the facies sequence suggest that the Iherir valleys were initiated by meltwater erosion in subglacial channels, whereas the Dider and Ouarsissen valleys were part of a large ice stream pathway. Above the valley-fill and the interfluves, a sand-rich unit of stacked lobes and channels is interpreted as submarine outwash fans deposited during final ice retreat.A glacial sequence found between two GES comprises fluvio-glacial or ice-contact fan deposits, fluvio-glacial eskers and tills. These sediments were deposited subglacially or at the glacier front during the ice maximum phase and/or the early ice retreat phase. During the ice retreat, interbedded subaqueous gravity flow deposits and diamictites filled the glacially cut topography as the sea invaded the valleys. Maximum ice retreat was associated with high water fluxes and sediment discharge, causing a sand-dominated outwash fan to prograde out over the valleys and interfluves. This outwash fan was supplied mainly by flood activity at the ice front, involving high-density sustained flows. The dominant facies consists of giant aggrading climbing dunes filling channels or constructing sandy lobes downstream.

Modelling the coupling of flood discharge with glacier flow during jökulhlaups

AbstractWe explore a mathematical model that couples together a thermomechanically evolving subglacial channel, distributed cavity drainage, and basal sliding along a subglacial flood path fed by a jökulhlaup lake. It allows water transfer between channel and cavities and a migrating subglacial water divide or ‘seal’ to form between floods. Notably, it accounts for full coupling between the lake and subglacial drainage in terms of both discharge and pressure, unlike models that neglect the pressure coupling by imposing a known history of lake discharge at the channel inlet. This means that flood hydrographic evolution and its impact on glacier motion are consistently determined by our model. Numerical simulations for a model alpine lake yield stable limit cycles simulating repeating jökulhlaups, with the channel drawing water from the cavities at a varying rate that modulates basal sliding during each flood. A wave of fast sliding propagates down-glacier at flood initiation, followed by deceleration as the growing channel sucks water from the cavities. These behaviours cannot be correctly simulated without the full coupling. We show that the flood’s peak discharge, its initiation threshold and the magnitude of the ‘fast sliding’ wave decrease with the background water supply to the cavities.

Large melt channels discovered underneath Antarctic ice shelves

New radar observations reveal melt channels 500 meters to 3 kilometers wide and up to 200 meters deep underneath the ice shelf buttressing the Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica; researchers suggest that these subglacial channels could be a “prelude to eventual collapse” of the ice shelves, which cover about 10% of the areal extent of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). A complete collapse of WAIS could increase global sea level by at least 3–4 meters. Taking advantage of a dense network of radar lines designed to penetrate ice thicknesses of more than 2 kilometers, Vaughan et al. combine indirect satellite observations with direct echo‐sounding measurements from submersibles to show what scientists have suspected: Thinning ice shelves lead to crevassing of the ice shelves. Echo sounding reveals 50‐to 100‐meter‐wide crevasses aligned with the subglacial channels; the basal crevasses penetrate up to one third of the ice thickness in the shelves buttressing the Pine Island Glacier, even leaving their mark on the surface of the glacier. Melting at the base of floating ice shelves creates subglacial channels. Using stress models, the authors show that when the subglacial channels form sufficiently rapidly, they create crevasses, which the authors found on the surface and at the base of the ice shelf bordering the Pine Island Glacier.

Subglacial melt channels and fracture in the floating part of Pine Island Glacier, Antarctica

A dense grid of ice‐penetrating radar sections acquired over Pine Island Glacier, West Antarctica has revealed a network of sinuous subglacial channels, typically 500 m to 3 km wide, and up to 200 m high, in the ice‐shelf base. These subglacial channels develop while the ice is floating and result from melting at the base of the ice shelf. Above the apex of most channels, the radar shows isolated reflections from within the ice shelf. Comparison of the radar data with acoustic data obtained using an autonomous submersible, confirms that these echoes arise from open basal crevasses 50–100 m wide aligned with the subglacial channels and penetrating up to 1/3 of the ice thickness. Analogous sets of surface crevasses appear on the ridges between the basal channels. We suggest that both sets of crevasses were formed during the melting of the subglacial channels as a response to vertical flexing of the ice shelf toward the hydrostatic condition. Finite element modeling of stresses produced after the formation of idealized basal channels indicates that the stresses generated have the correct pattern and, if the channels were formed sufficiently rapidly, would have sufficient magnitude to explain the formation of the observed basal and surface crevasse sets. We conclude that ice‐shelf basal melting plays a role in determining patterns of surface and basal crevassing. Increased delivery of warm ocean water into the sub‐ice shelf cavity may therefore cause not only thinning but also structural weakening of the ice shelf, perhaps, as a prelude to eventual collapse.

Subglacial hydraulic scouring and deposition during surge-related outburst floods, Bering Glacier, Alaska

Fed by a persistent conduit system, three outburst floods released pressurized water from subglacial conduits midway through the 1993–95 surge of Bering Glacier, Alaska. The foreland substrate was mobilized and streamlined by overriding ice, but the effects of hydraulic erosion and deposition were far more effective in altering overridden terrain. Two sub-kilometer basins were scoured decameters into foreland terrain immediately up-glacier from outburst flood sites. These emerged fully formed from beneath the retreating glacier. Flood deposits in scoured subglacial channels consist of meter-size lag boulders beneath meters of well-sorted, graded gravel couplets. Eskers consisting of flood deposits formed within subglacial conduits during outburst flood events were exposed during retreat. Knowledge of pre-surge topography combined with foreland stratigraphy provides a basis for the recognition of subglacial, paleo-flood landforms and deposits.

Development of Fluvio-Lacustrine Systems in the Young Glacial Area in Poland Based on the Research in the Valleys of the Rivers Wierzyca and WDA

Development of Fluvio-Lacustrine Systems in the Young Glacial Area in Poland Based on the Research in the Valleys of the Rivers Wierzyca and WDA Both rivers presented in the article, the Wierzyca River and the Wda River, flow along typical polygenic valleys in young glacial areas. Their valleys include a number of postglacial basins, mainly subglacial channels connected by gap sections. The course of fluvial processes in postglacial basins was determined by the Late Glacial melting and the development of lakes. In Holocene, on the lacustrine and delta deposits, which were filling up the lake basins, wide meander zones with meandering river beds developed. In Late Glacial erosive processes dominated at the gap sections, which ended up with the development of slide meanders. Since the beginning of Holocene, lateral erosion has been dominant due to stabilization of the river bed. This has lead to the widening of the floodplain. Despite this, along the major course of both valleys the width of the floodplains is insufficient for free development of river channels. This is the case of constrained meandering.

The Brampton kame belt and Pennine escarpment meltwater channel system (Cumbria, UK): Morphology, sedimentology and formation

The Brampton kame belt represents one of the largest glaciofluvial complexes within the UK. It is composed of an array of landform-sediment assemblages, associated with a suite of meltwater channels and situated within a palimpsest landscape of glacial features in the heart of one of the most dynamic parts of the British–Irish Ice Sheet. Glacial geomorphological mapping and sedimentological analysis have allowed a detailed reconstruction of both the morphological features and the temporal evolution of the Brampton kame belt, with processes informed by analogues from modern ice margins. The kame belt demonstrates the development of a complex glacier karst typified by the evolution of subglacial meltwater tunnels into an englacial and supraglacial meltwater system dominated by ice-walled lakes and migrating ice-contact drainage networks. Topographic inversion led to the extensive reworking of sediments, with vertical collapse and debris flows causing partial disintegration of the morphology. The resultant landform comprises a series of kettle holes, discontinuous ridges and flat-topped hills. The Pennine escarpment meltwater network, which fed the Brampton kame belt, is composed of an anastomosing subglacial channel system and flights of lateral channels. The Brampton kame belt is envisaged to have formed during the stagnation of ice in the lee of the Pennines as ice retreated westwards into the Solway Lowlands. The formation of the Brampton kame belt also has particular conceptual resonance in terms of constraining the nature of kame genesis, whereby an evolving glacier karst is a key mechanism in the spatial and temporal development of ice-contact sediment-landform associations.

Modeling the diurnal variation of tracer transit velocity through a subglacial channel

Tracer injections into a moulin connecting to a subglacial channel at Unteraargletscher were repeated at intervals of about two hours over two diurnal discharge cycles in August and September 2000. The pronounced hysteresis in the relationships between tracer transit velocity and proglacial discharge may be explained by adjustments of the channel cross section in response to discharge variations or alternatively by modulation of inflow from the tributary moulin into a main subglacial channel. To test these hypotheses, we employ a physically based, time‐dependent model of channelized subglacial drainage. In a series of numerical experiments, we explore the general characteristics of each mechanism before the model is applied to diurnal discharge variations measured during the tracer tests at Unteraargletscher. We found that the ability of a Röthlisberger channel to adjust its size to the prevailing hydraulic conditions can contribute to the hysteresis in the velocity‐discharge relationships. However, using plausible parameter values, R channel hydraulics alone is not satisfactory in reproducing the magnitude of observed transit velocities. The model further confirms that retardation of the tracer in the tributary moulin due to inflow modulation has major effects on transit velocities both in magnitude and timing. With appropriate assumptions on channel sinuosity and moulin size, a combination of both mechanisms can be found that is capable of reproducing the observed transit velocities.

Subglacial channels of Northern Germany a brief review

Subglacial channels of Northern Germany a brief review

Stratigraphy and sedimentation of the stratotype sections of the Catfish Creek Drift Formation between Bradtville and Plum Point, north shore, Lake Erie, southwestern Ontario, Canada

Dreimanis, A. & Gibbard, P. 2005 (May): Stratigraphy and sedimentation of the stratotype sections of the Catfish Creek Drift Formation between Bradtville and Plum Point, north shore, Lake Erie, southwestern Ontario, Canada. Boreas, Vol. 34, pp. 101–122. Oslo. ISSN 0300–9483. The Catfish Creek Drift Formation is a significant and extensive lithostratigraphical marker unit in SW Ontario. Here the stratotype, exposed in the Lake Erie bluffs of the Plum Point-Bradtville (Grandview) area south of London, Ontario, Canada, is proposed. It consists of subglacial and proglacial sediments deposited at the beginning of the Nissouri Phase of the Wisconsinan glaciation. In the 2.5-km-long stratotype section, the Catfish Creek Drift consists of 9 members. Five of them, the Dunwich and Grandview I-IV members, mainly consist of till, with minor components of stratified drift. The Dunwich till was deposited by the Huron-Georgian Bay lobe, but the Grandview I-IV tills by the Erie lobe. The Zettler Farm Member consists of co-lobal till in the central part of the section and of a proglacial waterlain flow diamicton and a subglacial undermelt diamicton in the SW part. Three members consist entirely of stratified drift; the glaciolacustrine silty and clayey Waite Farm Member, the ice-marginal deltaic Oosprink Farm Member and the Boy Scout Camp Member — deposited by meltwater streams in subglacial channels. The sequence of interbedded till and stratified drift represents the oscillating advance of the Laurentide Ice Sheet in the Lake Erie basin.

Geomorphic traces of a Weichselian ice stream in the Wielkopolska Lowland, western Poland

Geomorphological analysis of a digital elevation model reveals an extensive zone with uniformly oriented elongated landforms in the middle and eastern Wielkopolska Lowland, directly to the north of the maximum extent of the Weichselian Ice Sheet. Individual linear landforms are up to 10 km long, a few hundred metres wide, and with only a few metres of relief. The belts of linear landforms visible on the surfaces of the uplands are disrupted by subglacial channels and younger river valleys. The character and distribution of both landform types, in relation to the outlines of marginal zones of the Weichselian ice lobes, indicate that their origin was subglacial. The elongated landforms are interpreted as mega‐scale glacial lineations (MSGLs) characteristic of palaeo‐ice stream zones. The MSGLs occur in a zone 70 km long and 80 km wide and are distinctly divergent towards the maximum extent of the ice sheet. This arrangement demonstrates that they are the record of the terminal zone of the ice stream, whose full size was likely in the order of a few hundred kilometres in length.

Terrestrial environments during MIS 11: evidence from the Palaeolithic site at West Stow, Suffolk, UK

Multidisciplinary investigations of the sequence at Beeches Pit, West Stow (Suffolk, UK), have a direct bearing the age of the Hoxnian Interglacial and its correlation with the continental Holsteinian and with the global marine record. At this site, glacial deposits (till and outwash gravels) referable to the Anglian Lowestoft Formation fill a subglacial channel cut in Chalk bedrock. Above these glacial deposits a series of interglacial sediments occurs, consisting of limnic, tufaceous and colluvial silts, lacking pollen but rich in shells, ostracods and vertebrates. Lower Palaeolithic flint artefacts of Acheulian character have also been recovered, including refitting examples. Charred material is abundant at certain horizons and many of the bones have been burned. Several discrete areas of burnt sediment are interpreted as hearths. The molluscan fauna comprises some 78 taxa and includes species of considerable zoogeographical and biostratigraphical importance. The land snail assemblage from the tufa consists of woodland taxa with no modern analogue, including species that are either extinct (e.g. Zonitoides sepultus) or which no longer live in Britain (e.g. Platyla polita, P. similis, Neniatlanta pauli). This is also the type locality of Retinella ( Lyrodiscus) skertchlyi, which belongs to a subgenus of zonitid land snail now living only on the Canary Islands. There are indications from this fauna (‘the Lyrodiscus biome’) that the climate was wetter and perhaps warmer than the present day. The vertebrate fauna is also noteworthy with species of open habitats, such as rabbit ( Oryctolagus cf . cuniculus), and of closed forest, such as squirrel ( Sciurus sp.) and garden dormouse ( Eliomys quercinus) present at different times. The occurrence of southern thermophiles, such as Aesculapian snake ( Zamenis longissimus), indicates temperatures warmer than those of eastern England today. The upper levels include much material reworked from the interglacial sediments, although there is clear faunal evidence for climatic deterioration. Both the molluscan and vertebrate faunas suggest correlation of the interglacial sediments with the Hoxnian. Uranium series dates from the tufa (∼455 ka BP), TL dates from burnt flints (414±30 ka BP) and a range of amino acid racemization data all support correlation of this interglacial with MIS 11. However, four OSL dates from sand beneath the interglacial sequence yield a mean age of 261±31 ka BP, far younger than all other age determinations and far younger than implied by the biostratigraphy. Archaeologically the site is unusual in showing prolonged human occupation within closed deciduous forest and evidence for controlled use of fire in a Lower Palaeolithic context. Biostratigraphical correlations with other Lower Palaeolithic sites support the suggestion that Acheulian and Clactonian industries both occurred in southern Britain during the same substage of the Hoxnian, although not necessarily at precisely the same time. The characteristics of the MIS 11 interglacial in Britain are discussed in the light of evidence from Beeches Pit and elsewhere.

Subglacial drainage by groundwater-channel coupling, and the origin of esker systems: Part 1—glaciological observations

Overall This work is presented in two parts. Part I presents observations on the coupling between subglacial channel flow and groundwater flow in determining subglacial hydraulic regime and creating eskers from an Icelandic glacier that is suggested as an analogue for many parts of Pleistocene ice sheets. Part II develops a theory of perennial subglacial stream flow and the origin of esker systems, and models the evolution of the subglacial stream system and associated groundwater flow in a glacier of the type described in Part I. It is suggested that groundwater flow may be the predominant mechanism whereby meltwater at the glacier bed finds its way to the major subglacial streams that discharge water to glacier margins. Part I Boreholes drilled through an Icelandic glacier into an underlying till and aquifer system have been used to measure variations in head in the vicinity of a perennial subglacial stream tunnel during late summer and early winter. They reveal a subglacial groundwater catchment that is drained by a subglacial stream along its axis. The stream tunnel is characterised by low water pressures, and acts as a drain for the groundwater catchment, so that groundwater flow is predominantly transverse to ice flow, towards the channel. These perennial streams flow both in summer and winter. Their portals have lain along the same axes for the 5 km of retreat that has occurred since the end of the Little Ice Age, 100 years ago, suggesting that the groundwater catchments have been relatively stable for at least this period. In the winter season, stream discharges are largely derived from basal melting, but during summer, water derived from the glacier surface finds its way, via fractures and moulins, to the glacier bed, where it dominates the meltwater flux. Additional subglacial streams are created in summer to help drain this greater flux from beneath the glacier, through poorly integrated and unstable networks. Summer streams cease to flow during winter and tend not to form in the same places in the following summer. Perennial streams are the stable component of the system and are the main sources of extensive esker systems. Strong flow of groundwater towards low-pressure areas along channels and the ice margin is a source of major upwelling that can produce sediment liquefaction and instability. A theory is developed to show how this could have a major effect on subglacial sedimentary processes.

Genesis of transverse kame trains in eastern Poland

Transverse kames, forming trains perpendicular to the direction of ice-sheet advance, are rare morphological elements in previously glaciated areas. The genesis of an example from the ice-contact zone of the Wartanian glaciation in eastern Poland is discussed. The transverse kames there form two main, distinctly separated, sub-parallel trains. Their sedimentary successions fill erosional troughs incised in the pre-Wartanian deposits on northern slopes. They consist of thick glaciofluvial sand and glaciofluvial/glaciolacustrine sandy/silty units that are covered with a thin, usually discontinuous, glacial till succession. The genesis of this kame type has been modelled. It is concluded that transverse kames developed in two phases: (1) erosion of the substratum in subglacial channels during initial deglaciation, and (2) glaciofluvial deposition in crevasses during advanced deglaciation (in the form of low-energy fans periodically submerged under stagnant water), followed locally by a cover of flowtills. Both the ablation of the ice and the accumulation of the kame deposits were controlled by the co-occurrence of ice zones either enriched or impoverished with sediment. Zonal enrichment of ice with debris was determined by the development of shear zones over substratum elevations that were inclined up-ice. The formation and subsequent infilling of crevasses both took place in zones of relatively clean ice, so that the resulting kames form a train perpendicular to the direction of ice movement.

The role of meltwater in glacial processes

Water plays a dominant role in many glacial processes and the erosional, depositional and climatic significance of meltwaters and associated fluvioglacial processes cannot be overemphasized. At its maximum extent c. 20,000 years ago, the volume of the Laurentide ice sheet was 33 × 10 6 km 3 (about the same as the volume of all ice present today on planet Earth). The bulk of this was released as water in little more than 10,000 years. Pulses of meltwater flowing to the Atlantic Ocean from large ice dammed lakes altered thermohaline circulation of the world's oceans and global climate. One such discharge event via Hudson Bay at 8200 years BP released 160,000 km 3 of water in 12 months. Global sea levels recovered from glacial maximum low stands reached at about 20,000 years ago at an average rate of 15 m per thousand years but estimates of shorter term rates suggest as much as 20 m sea level rise in 1000 years and for short periods, rates as high as 4 m per hundred years. Meltwaters played a key role in lubricating ice sheet motion (and thus areal abrasion) across the inner portions of the ice sheet where it slid over rigid crystalline bedrock of the Canadian Shield. The recharge of meltwater into the ice sheets bed was instrumental in generating poorly sorted diamict sediments (till) by sliding-induced shearing and deformation of overpressured sediment and soft rock. The transformation of overpressured till into hyperconcentrated slurries in subglacial channels may have generated a highly effective erosional tool for selective overdeepening and sculpting of bedrock substrates. Some workers credit catastrophic subglacial ‘megafloods’ with the formation of drumlins and flutes on till surfaces. Subglacial melt river systems were instrumental in reworking large volumes of glaciclastic sediment to marine basins; it has been estimated that less than 6% of the total volume of glaciclastic sediment produced during the Pleistocene remains on land. Fluvioglacial and glaciolacustrine sediments and landforms dominate large tracts of the ‘glacial’ landscape in North America. The recharge of subglacial meltwater into underlying bedrock and sediment aquifers created transient reversals in the long-term equilibrium flow directions of basinal fluids. With regard to pre-Pleistocene glacial record, meltwaters moved enormous volumes of terrestrial ‘glaciclastic’ sediment to marine basins and thus played a key role in preserving a record of glaciation, a record otherwise almost entirely lost on land.

Time-lapse imaging of subglacial drainage conditions using three-dimensional inversion of borehole electrical resistivity data

AbstractWe recorded electrical resistivity data at the base of four boreholes drilled through Haut Glacier d’Arolla, Switzerland. The data were acquired repetitively every hour over two diurnal hydrological cycles in the late melt season, separated by 10 days. Constrained three-dimensional (3-D) data inversion allowed reconstruction of hourly variations in bulk resistivity in the subglacial sediment layer. Inverted resistivity models reflect the establishment of channelized subglacial drainage in the study area between the two hydrological cycles, in agreement with previous work. Daily variations in bulk and water resistivity are in phase, and bulk resistivity amplitudes decrease away from the subglacial channel. Using selected electrical–hydraulic relationships, we estimate metre-scale changes in the hydraulic conductivity and porosity of the subglacial sediment layer, accounting for increasing clay content and decreasing median grain radius with distance from the channel. Hydraulic conductivity and porosity were respectively calculated to decrease from (6.4 ± 2.1) × 10–2ms–1 and 0.34 ± 0.01 at the channel to (3.3 ± 2.2) × 10–2ms–1 and 0.26 ± 0.01 at a distance of 5m from it. The hydraulic conductivity estimates are in agreement with previously inferred values, and the porosity estimates fall within the expected range for unlithified subglacial sediments. We conclude that collection and inversion of repeat 3-D subglacial resistivity data is feasible and has the capacity to generate multidimensional images of subglacial hydraulic processes and properties.

Hydraulic impacts of glacier advance over a sediment bed

AbstractA sedimentary sequence of till overlying a gravel aquifer was instrumented with water-pressure transducers prior to a small, anticipated surge of the margin of the glacier Breiðamerkurjökull in Iceland. The records of water pressure at each transducer site show a well-defined temporal sequence of hydraulic regimes that reflect the changing recharge of surface-derived meltwater, the pressure drop along the drainage pathway and the pattern of ice loading. The poroelastic and water-pressure response of glacially overridden sediments to the recharge rate is determined in the frequency domain through an analytic solution. This permits the in situ conductivity, compressibility and consolidation states of subglacial sediments to be derived, and reveals aquifer-scale compressibility that produces an important water-pressure wave associated with the advancing glacier. The model is then used to explore how varying conductivity/compressibility, largely determined by granulometry, can determine drainage states and instabilities that may have a large impact on glacier/ice-sheet dynamics, and how the drainage time of surface water to the bed can determine the frequency response of subglacial groundwater regimes and their influence on subglacial sediment stability. Mismatches between model predictions and specific events in water-pressure records are used to infer processes that are not incorporated in the model: hydrofracturing that changes the hydraulic properties of subglacial sediments; the impact on groundwater pressure of subglacial channel formation; upwelling beyond the glacier margin; and rapid variations in the state of consolidation. The poroelastic model also suggests how seismic methods can be developed further to monitor hydraulic conditions at the base of an ice sheet or glacier.