Hard rock landforms generate 130 km ice shelf channels through water focusing in basal corrugations

Hafeez Jeofry, Neil Ross, Anne Le Brocq, Alastair G.C. Graham, Jilu Li, Prasad Gogineni, Mathieu Morlighem, Thomas Jordan and Martin J. Siegert ()
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Hafeez Jeofry: Imperial College London
Neil Ross: Newcastle University
Anne Le Brocq: University of Exeter
Alastair G.C. Graham: University of Exeter
Jilu Li: University of Kansas
Prasad Gogineni: The University of Alabama
Mathieu Morlighem: University of California
Thomas Jordan: Stanford University
Martin J. Siegert: Imperial College London

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Satellite imagery reveals flowstripes on Foundation Ice Stream parallel to ice flow, and meandering features on the ice-shelf that cross-cut ice flow and are thought to be formed by water exiting a well-organised subglacial system. Here, ice-penetrating radar data show flow-parallel hard-bed landforms beneath the grounded ice, and channels incised upwards into the ice shelf beneath meandering surface channels. As the ice transitions to flotation, the ice shelf incorporates a corrugation resulting from the landforms. Radar reveals the presence of subglacial water alongside the landforms, indicating a well-organised drainage system in which water exits the ice sheet as a point source, mixes with cavity water and incises upwards into a corrugation peak, accentuating the corrugation downstream. Hard-bedded landforms influence both subglacial hydrology and ice-shelf structure and, as they are known to be widespread on formerly glaciated terrain, their influence on the ice-sheet-shelf transition could be more widespread than thought previously.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-06679-z

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