Analysis and application of ERTS-1 data for regional geological mapping

Combined visual and digital techniques of analysing ERTS-1 data for geologic information have been tried on selected areas in Pennsylvania. The major physiolographic and structural provinces show up well. Supervised mapping, following the imaged expression of known geologic features on ERTS band 5 enlargements (1:250,000) of parts of eastern Pennsylvania, delimited the Diabase Sills and the Precambrian rocks of the Reading Prong with remarkable accuracy. From unsupervised mapping, transgressive linear features are apparent in unexpected density, and exhibit strong control over river valley and stream channel directions. They are unaffected by bedrock type, age, or primary structural boundaries, which suggests they are either rejuvenated basement joint directions on different scales, or they are a recently impressed structure possibly associated with a drifting North American plate. With ground mapping and underflight data, 6 scales of linear features have been recognized

Depth-dependent artifacts resulting from ApRES signal clipping

Several autonomous phase-sensitive radio-echo sounders (ApRES) were deployed at Greenland glaciers to investigate ice deformation. Different attenuation settings were tested and it was observed that, in the presence of clipping of the deramped ApRES signal, each setting produced a different result. Specifically, higher levels of clipping associated with lower attenuation produced an apparent linear increase of diurnal vertical cumulative displacement with depth, and obscured the visibility of the basal reflector in the return amplitude. An example with a synthetic deramped signal confirmed that these types of artifacts result from the introduction of harmonics from square-wave-like features introduced by clipping. Apparent linear increase of vertical displacement with depth occurs when the vertical position of a near-surface internal reflector changes in time. Artifacts in the return amplitude may obscure returns from internal reflectors and the basal reflector, making it difficult to detect thickness evolution of the ice and to correctly estimate vertical velocities. Variations in surface melt during ApRES deployments can substantially modulate the received signal strength on short timescales, and we therefore recommend using higher attenuator settings for deployments in such locations

Ice-Shelf Flexure and Tidal Forcing of Bindschadler Ice Stream, West Antarctica

Viscoelastic models of ice-shelf flexure and ice-stream velocity perturbations are combined into a single efficient flowline model to study tidal forcing of grounded ice. The magnitude and timing of icestream response to tidally driven changes in hydrostatic pressure and/or basal drag are found to depend significantly on bed rheology, with only a perfectly plastic bed allowing instantaneous velocity response at the grounding line. The model can reasonably reproduce GPS observations near the grounding zone of Bindschadler Ice Stream (formerly Ice Stream D) on semidiurnal time scales; however, other forcings such as tidally driven ice-shelf slope transverse to the flowline and flexurally driven till deformation must also be considered if diurnal motion is to be matche

Ice-Shelf Tidal Flexure and Subglacial Pressure Variations

We develop a model of an ice shelf-ice stream system as a viscoelastic beam partially supported by an elastic foundation. When bed rock near the grounding line acts as a fulcrum, leverage from the ice shelf dropping at low tide can cause significant (approx 1 cm) uplift in the first few kilometers of grounded ice.This uplift and the corresponding depression at high tide lead to basal pressure variations of sufficient magnitude to influence subglacial hydrology.Tidal flexure may thus affect basal lubrication, sediment flow, and till strength, all of which are significant factors in ice-stream dynamics and grounding-line stability. Under certain circumstances, our results suggest the possibility of seawater being drawn into the subglacial water system. The presence of sea water beneath grounded ice would significantly change the radar reflectivity of the grounding zone and complicate the interpretation of grounded versus floating ice based on ice-penetrating radar observations

Paleoenvironmental implications of authigenic magnesian clay formation sequences in the Barra Velha formation (Santos Basin, Brazil)

The characterization of Mg-clays in rock samples (well P1) from the Barra Velha Formation (Early Cretaceous) allowed the establishment of mineral assemblages on the basis of their kerolite and Mg-smectite (stevensite and saponite) content. Kerolite-rich assemblages (A and B) rarely con-tain saponite. Assemblage B is composed of kerolite-stevensite mixed layers, while assemblage A consists of more than 95% kerolite. Mg-smectite-rich assemblages (C and CB) are made up of both Mg-smectites. The predominance of stevensite in the lower interval of the stratigraphic succession suggests evaporative conditions, higher salinity and pH, which would favor its authigenesis by neoformation. In the upper portion, the occurrence of thick kerolite-rich intervals suggests regular water inputs, contributing with a decreasing in salinity and pH, favoring the neoformation of kero-lite and later kerolite-stevensite mixed layering. The saponite would be the result of the transfor-mation from Al-smectite into Mg-smectite in a Mg2+ rich medium. The results indicate that lake hydrochemical processes would have allowed the establishment of a basic depositional sequence, from base to top, as follows: (i) initial lake expansion stage marked by the occurrence of saponite, (ii) later kerolite neoformation, (iii) formation of kerolite-stevensite mixed layer with increasing sa-linity, and (iv) neoformation of stevensite, marking a final stage of maximum salinity (evaporation) and alkalinity of the lak

Insights into Spatial Sensitivities of Ice Mass Response to Environmental Change from the SeaRISE Ice Sheet Modeling Project I: Antarctica

Atmospheric, oceanic, and subglacial forcing scenarios from the Sea-level Response to Ice Sheet Evolution (SeaRISE) project are applied to six three-dimensional thermomechanical ice-sheet models to assess Antarctic ice sheet sensitivity over a 500 year timescale and to inform future modeling and field studies. Results indicate (i) growth with warming, except within low-latitude basins (where inland thickening is outpaced by marginal thinning); (ii) mass loss with enhanced sliding (with basins dominated by high driving stresses affected more than basins with low-surface-slope streaming ice); and (iii) mass loss with enhanced ice shelf melting (with changes in West Antarctica dominating the signal due to its marine setting and extensive ice shelves; cf. minimal impact in the Terre Adelie, George V, Oates, and Victoria Land region of East Antarctica). Ice loss due to dynamic changes associated with enhanced sliding and/or sub-shelf melting exceeds the gain due to increased precipitation. Furthermore, differences in results between and within basins as well as the controlling impact of sub-shelf melting on ice dynamics highlight the need for improved understanding of basal conditions, grounding-zone processes, ocean-ice interactions, and the numerical representation of all three

Investigation of land ice-ocean interaction with a fully coupled ice-ocean model, Part 1: Model description and behavior

Antarctic ice shelves interact closely with the ocean cavities beneath them, with ice shelf geometry influencing ocean cavity circulation, and heat from the ocean driving changes in the ice shelves, as well as the grounded ice streams that feed them. We present a new coupled model of an ice stream-ice shelf-ocean system that is used to study this interaction. The model is capable of representing a moving grounding line and dynamically responding ocean circulation within the ice shelf cavity. Idealized experiments designed to investigate the response of the coupled system to instantaneous increases in ocean temperature show ice-ocean system responses on multiple timescales. Melt rates and ice shelf basal slopes near the grounding line adjust in 12 years, and downstream advection of the resulting ice shelf thinning takes place on decadal timescales. Retreat of the grounding line and adjustment of grounded ice takes place on a much longer timescale, and the system takes several centuries to reach a new steady state. During this slow retreat, and in the absence of either an upward-or downward-sloping bed or long-term trends in ocean heat content, the ice shelf and melt rates maintain a characteristic pattern relative to the grounding line

Evidence of an active volcanic heat source beneath the Pine Island Glacier

Tectonic landforms reveal that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) lies atop a major volcanic rift system. However, identifying subglacial volcanism is challenging. Here we show geochemical evidence of a volcanic heat source upstream of the fast-melting Pine Island Ice Shelf, documented by seawater helium isotope ratios at the front of the Ice Shelf cavity. The localization of mantle helium to glacial meltwater reveals that volcanic heat induces melt beneath the grounded glacier and feeds the subglacial hydrological network crossing the grounding line. The observed transport of mantle helium out of the Ice Shelf cavity indicates that volcanic heat is supplied to the grounded glacier at a rate of ~ 2500 ± 1700 MW, which is ca. half as large as the active Grimsvötn volcano on Iceland. Our finding of a substantial volcanic heat source beneath a major WAIS glacier highlights the need to understand subglacial volcanism, its hydrologic interaction with the marine margins, and its potential role in the future stability of the WAIS