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Ice-stream demise dynamically conditioned by trough shape and bed strength

Bradwell, Tom; Small, David; Fabel, Derek; Smedley, Rachel K.; Clark, Chris C.; Saher, Margot H.; Callard, S. Louise; Chiverrell, Richard C.; Dove, Dayton; Moreton, Steven G.; Roberts, David H.; Duller, Geoff A.T.; Ó Cofaigh, Colm

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Authors

Tom Bradwell

Derek Fabel

Rachel K. Smedley

Chris C. Clark

Margot H. Saher

S. Louise Callard

Richard C. Chiverrell

Dayton Dove

Steven G. Moreton

Geoff A.T. Duller



Abstract

Ice sheet mass loss is currently dominated by fast-flowing glaciers (ice streams) terminating in the ocean as ice shelves and resting on beds below sea level. The factors controlling ice-stream flow and retreat over longer time scales (>100 years), especially the role of three-dimensional bed shape and bed strength, remain major uncertainties. We focus on a former ice stream where trough shape and bed substrate are known, or can be defined, to reconstruct ice-stream retreat history and grounding-line movements over 15 millennia since the Last Glacial Maximum. We identify a major behavioral step change around 18,500 to 16,000 years ago—out of tune with external forcing factors—associated with the collapse of floating ice sectors and rapid ice-front retreat. We attribute this step change to a marked geological transition from a soft/weak bed to a hard/strong bed coincident with a change in trough geometry. Both these factors conditioned and ultimately hastened ice-stream demise.

Citation

Bradwell, T., Small, D., Fabel, D., Smedley, R. K., Clark, C. C., Saher, M. H., …Ó Cofaigh, C. (2019). Ice-stream demise dynamically conditioned by trough shape and bed strength. Science Advances, 5(4), Article eaau1380. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau1380

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Mar 7, 2019
Online Publication Date Apr 24, 2019
Publication Date Apr 24, 2019
Deposit Date Apr 30, 2019
Publicly Available Date May 1, 2019
Journal Science Advances
Publisher American Association for the Advancement of Science
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 5
Issue 4
Article Number eaau1380
DOI https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aau1380
Publisher URL https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/5/4/eaau1380

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Publisher Licence URL
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/

Copyright Statement
Copyright © 2019 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).





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