CaltechAUTHORS
Published April 6, 1990 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

Physical Conditions at the Base of a Fast Moving Antarctic Ice Stream

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon California Institute of Technology

Abstract

Boreholes drilled to the bottom of ice stream B in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet reveal that the base of the ice stream is at the melting point and the basal water pressure is within about 1.6 bars of the ice overburden pressure. These conditions allow the rapid ice streaming motion to occur by basal sliding or by shear deformation of unconsolidated sediments that underlie the ice in a layer at least 2 meters thick. The mechanics of ice streaming plays a role in the response of the ice sheet to climatic change.

Additional Information

© 1990 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 16 November 1989; accepted 30 January 1990. This work was supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation under grant DPP-8519083. We thank R. P. Scherer and H. A. Lowenstam for paleontological information and J. Chadwick, M. Wumkes, J. Berkey, H. Aschmann, M. Blume, H. Conway, S. Duncan, T. Svitek, and J. Zachariasen for help in the field work. Contribution No. 4791, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
46197
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20140611-095003658

Related works

Describes
http://www.jstor.org/stable/2874047 (URL)

Funding

NSF
DPP-8519083

Dates

Created
2014-06-11
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-10
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Caltech Custom Metadata

Other Numbering System Name
Caltech Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
Other Numbering System Identifier
4791