Cold glaciers erode and deposit: Evidence from Allan Hills, Antarctica
- 1Antarctic Research Centre and School of Earth Sciences, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand
- 2Department of Earth Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario N6A 5B7, Canada
Abstract
Here we report previously undescribed features of erosion and deposition by a cold (polar) glacier. A recent study challenged the assumption that cold glaciers neither slide nor abrade their beds, but no geological evidence was offered. The features we describe include abrasion marks, subglacial deposits, glaciotectonically deformed substrate, isolated blocks, ice-cored debris mounds, and boulder trains, all products of a recent cold ice advance and retreat. Mapping these features elsewhere in Antarctica will document recent shifts in the East Antarctic Ice Sheet margin, providing new insight on regional mass-balance changes.
Footnotes
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↵GSA Data Repository item 2002070, Additional images of erosion and deposition by cold ice at Allan Hills, Antarctica, is available on request from Documents Secretary, GSA, P.O. Box 9140, Boulder, CO 80301-9140, USA, editinggeosociety.org, or at www.geosociety.org/pubs/ft2002.htm.
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- Accepted April 2, 2002.
- Received February 1, 2002.
- Revision received April 1, 2002.
- Geological Society of America
