scholarly journals Ice Streams of the Laurentide Ice Sheet

2006 ◽  
Vol 58 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 269-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monica C.M. Winsborrow ◽  
Chris D. Clark ◽  
Chris R. Stokes
Keyword(s):  
Aerial Photography ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Major Influence ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Spatial Organisation ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Strength Of Evidence ◽  
Fast Ice ◽  
The Stability

Abstract Ice streams had a major influence on the configuration and the stability of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Their identification is crucial for an understanding of ice sheet behaviour and their importance is reflected by the recent increase in paleo-ice stream research. This paper provides a synopsis of Laurentide paleo-ice streams, compiled from published sources and our mapping from satellite imagery and aerial photography. In total, 49 hypothesised ice streams are reviewed, and categorised according to the strength of evidence for streaming and knowledge of their extent. A map of Laurentide paleo-ice streams is presented, along with tables documenting the nature of evidence on which streaming behaviour has been invoked. The distribution of ice streams demonstrates the spatial organisation of fast ice flow, and overlapping imprints document major changes in ice flow during retreat. We note that Laurentide paleo-ice streams exhibit a much greater range in size than those currently operating in Antarctica.

scholarly journals Of isbræ and ice streams

2003 ◽  
Vol 36 ◽  
pp. 66-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Truffer ◽  
Keith A. Echelmeyer
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
West Antarctica ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Bed Topography ◽  
Ice Stream ◽  
Fast Ice ◽  
Fast Flow ◽  
End Members

AbstractFast-flowing ice streams and outlet glaciers provide the major avenues for ice flow from past and present ice sheets. These ice streams move faster than the surrounding ice sheet by a factor of 100 or more. Several mechanisms for fast ice-stream flow have been identified, leading to a spectrum of different ice-stream types. In this paper we discuss the two end members of this spectrum, which we term the “ice-stream” type (represented by the Siple Coast ice streams in West Antarctica) and the “isbræ” type (represented by Jakobshavn Isbræ in Greenland). The typical ice stream is wide, relatively shallow (∼1000 m), has a low surface slope and driving stress (∼10 kPa), and ice-stream location is not strongly controlled by bed topography. Fast flow is possible because the ice stream has a slippery bed, possibly underlain by weak, actively deforming sediments. The marginal shear zones are narrow and support most of the driving stress, and the ice deforms almost exclusively by transverse shear. The margins seem to be inherently unstable; they migrate, and there are plausible mechanisms for such ice streams to shut down. The isbræ type of ice stream is characterized by very high driving stresses, often exceeding 200 kPa. They flow through deep bedrock channels that are significantly deeper than the surrounding ice, and have steep surface slopes. Ice deformation includes vertical as well as lateral shear, and basal motion need not contribute significantly to the overall motion. The marginal shear zone stend to be wide relative to the isbræ width, and the location of isbræ and its margins is strongly controlled by bedrock topography. They are stable features, and can only shut down if the high ice flux cannot be supplied from the adjacent ice sheet. Isbræs occur in Greenland and East Antarctica, and possibly parts of Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers, West Antarctica. In this paper, we compare and contrast the two types of ice streams, addressing questions such as ice deformation, basal motion, subglacial hydrology, seasonality of ice flow, and stability of the ice streams.

scholarly journals Objective Reconstructions of the Late Wisconsinan Laurentide Ice Sheet and the Significance of Deformable Beds

2007 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-238 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. A. Fisher ◽  
N. Reeh ◽  
K. Langley
Keyword(s):  
Yield Stress ◽  
Flow Direction ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Hudson Bay ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Surface Slopes ◽  
Late Wisconsinan

ABSTRACT A three dimensional steady state plastic ice model; the present surface topography (on a 50 km grid); a recent concensus of the Late Wisconsinan maximum margin (PREST, 1984); and a simple map of ice yield stress are used to model the Laurentide Ice Sheet. A multi-domed, asymmetric reconstruction is computed without prior assumptions about flow lines. The effects of possible deforming beds are modelled by using the very low yield stress values suggested by MATHEWS (1974). Because of low yield stress (deforming beds) the model generates thin ice on the Prairies, Great Lakes area and, in one case, over Hudson Bay. Introduction of low yield stress (deformabie) regions also produces low surface slopes and abrupt ice flow direction changes. In certain circumstances large ice streams are generated along the boundaries between normal yield stress (non-deformable beds) and low yield stress ice (deformabie beds). Computer models are discussed in reference to the geologically-based reconstructions of SHILTS (1980) and DYKE ef al. (1982).

Drift carbonate on the Canadian Shield. II: Carbonate dispersal and ice-flow patterns in northern Manitoba

1988 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 783-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. A. Dredge
Keyword(s):  
Acid Rain ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Flow Patterns ◽  
Canadian Shield ◽  
Lake Acidification ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Dispersal Pattern ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Natural Lake

In northern Manitoba, carbonates were glacially dispersed westwards for distances up to 260 km beyond the limit of carbonate bedrock. The dispersal pattern in the surface till reflects the interaction of Keewatin and Hudson – Labrador ice in the region during the Wisconsin glaciation and suggests the presence of ice streams within the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Pre-Wisconsinan tills show different dispersal and ice-flow patterns. In unfrozen terrain, carbonate till sheets on the Shield buffer the effects of natural lake acidification and acid rain; however, their ability to buffer appears to be severely limited in permafrost terrain.

scholarly journals PISM-LakeCC: Implementing an adaptive proglacial lake boundary into an ice sheet model

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sebastian Hinck ◽  
Evan J. Gowan ◽  
Xu Zhang ◽  
Gerrit Lohmann
Keyword(s):  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Hudson Bay ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Glacial Retreat ◽  
Proglacial Lakes ◽  
Lake Model ◽  
Ice Sheet Dynamics

Abstract. Geological records show that vast proglacial lakes existed along the land terminating margins of palaeo ice sheets in Europe and North America. Proglacial lakes impact ice sheet dynamics by imposing marine-like boundary conditions at the ice margin. These lacustrine boundary conditions include changes in the ice sheet’s geometry, stress balance and frontal ablation and therefore affect the entire ice sheet’s mass balance. This interaction, however, has not been rigorously implemented in ice sheet models. In this study, the implementation of an adaptive lake boundary into the Parallel Ice Sheet Model (PISM) is described and applied to the glacial retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet (LIS). The results show that the presence of proglacial lakes locally enhances the ice flow. Along the continental ice margin, ice streams and ice lobes can be observed. Lacustrine terminating ice streams cause immense thinning of the ice sheet’s interior and thus play a significant role in the demise of the LIS. Due to the presence of lakes, a process similar to the marine ice sheet instability causes the collapse of the ice saddle over Hudson Bay, which blocked drainage via the Hudson Strait. In control experiments without a lake model, Hudson Bay is still glaciated at the end of the simulation. Future studies should target the development of parametrizations that better describe the glacial-lacustrine interactions.

scholarly journals Identifying fast ice flow from landform assemblages in the geological record: a discussion

1999 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 59-66 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane K. Hart
Keyword(s):  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Sediment Supply ◽  
Coarse Grained ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Land Form ◽  
Tidewater Glaciers ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Fast Ice ◽  
Fast Flow

AbstractDifferent types of fast ice flow (both spatial and temporal) in valley glaciers (surging glaciers, tidewater glaciers and deforming-bed glaciers) and ice sheets (ice streams and deforming-bed ice-sheet flow) are discussed briefly. Although there are unlikely to be any specific individual landforms associated with fast ice flow, there may be landform assemblages.At valley glacier scale, it is suggested that there are two landform assemblages: (1) an ice-thrust type, dominated by bulldozed push moraines and hummocky moraines (associated with glaciers with a high supraglacial sediment supply, a coarse-grained substrate and a coarse-grained proglacial sediment wedge); and (2) a bed-flow type dominated by “squeeze” push moraines, flutes and drumlins (associated with glaciers with a low supra- glacial sediment supply and fine-grained substrate). The ice-thrust type alone is only associated with discontinuous fast flow (on both rigid and deforming beds); whilst the bed-flow type is associated with both continuous and discontinuous fast flow.It is suggested that these two landform assemblages may also be indicative of fast ice flow at ice-sheet scale, in particular the bed-flow style. If that is the case, then discontinuous fast ice flow may be indicated by the ice-thrust landform assemblage and the bed-flow style where drumlins are present.It is also suggested that specific evidence for ice streams includes the distinctive land-form assemblages within valley or fan-like locations, and a predictable pattern of velocity reflected by drumlin elongation ratios.

scholarly journals Ice-sheet surging and ice-stream formation

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 68-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Fowler ◽  
C. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Type Equation ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Spontaneous Generation ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Diffusion Type ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Linear Diffusion ◽  
Sliding Dynamics

A simplified model of ice-sheet behaviour is described. It combines the assumptions of rapid ice flow, high viscous activation energy and realistic sediment-based sliding dynamics to form a non-linear diffusion-type equation which can display relaxation oscillations analogous to those of surging glaciers, and which may be relevant to large-scale surges of the Hudson Strait and Cabot Strait ice streams of the Laurentide ice sheet. When the physics of this model is applied to a laterally extensive unidirectional ice flow, such as that in the Siple Coast of Antarctica, an appropriate mechanism may exist for the spontaneous generation of ice streams.

scholarly journals Ice-sheet surging and ice-stream formation

1996 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 68-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. C. Fowler ◽  
C. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Type Equation ◽  
Laurentide Ice Sheet ◽  
Spontaneous Generation ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Diffusion Type ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Linear Diffusion ◽  
Sliding Dynamics

A simplified model of ice-sheet behaviour is described. It combines the assumptions of rapid ice flow, high viscous activation energy and realistic sediment-based sliding dynamics to form a non-linear diffusion-type equation which can display relaxation oscillations analogous to those of surging glaciers, and which may be relevant to large-scale surges of the Hudson Strait and Cabot Strait ice streams of the Laurentide ice sheet.When the physics of this model is applied to a laterally extensive unidirectional ice flow, such as that in the Siple Coast of Antarctica, an appropriate mechanism may exist for the spontaneous generation of ice streams.

scholarly journals Thermomechanical modelling of the Scandinavian ice sheet: implications for ice-stream formation

1999 ◽  
Vol 28 ◽  
pp. 83-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Payne ◽  
D.J. Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Ice Sheet ◽  
Ice Streams ◽  
Ice Flow ◽  
Low Viscosity ◽  
Ice Stream ◽  
Scandinavian Ice Sheet ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Stream Formation ◽  
Initial Results

AbstractThis work attempts to explain the fan-like landform assemblages observed in satellite images of the area covered by the former Scandinavian ice sheet (SIS). These assemblages have been interpreted as evidence of large ice streams within the SIS. If this interpretation is correct, then it calls into doubt current theories on the formation of ice streams. These theories regard soft sediment and topographic troughs as being the key determinants of ice-stream location. Neither can be used to explain the existence of ice streams on the flat, hard-rock area of the Baltic Shield. Initial results from a three-dimensional, thermomechanical ice-sheet model indicate that interactions between ice flow, form and temperature can create patterns similar to those mentioned above. The model uses a realistic, 20 km resolution gridded topography and a simple parameterization of accumulation and ablation. It produces patterns of maximum ice-sheet extent, which are similar to those reconstructed from the area’s glacial geomorphology. Flow in the maximum, equilibrium ice sheet is dominated by wedges of warm, low-viscosity, fast-flowing ice. These are separated by areas of cold, slow-flowing ice. This patterning appears to develop spontaneously as the modelled ice sheet grows.

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