Seismic evidence for a water-filled canal in deforming till beneath Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica

Seismic data from Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica show high amplitude, reversed‐polarity reflections from parts of the bed. Only interfaces between ice and water, or between water and sediment have the acoustic properties to produce such strong reflections – ice/sediment interfaces produce much...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inGeophysical research letters Vol. 31; no. 20; pp. L20401 - n/a
Main Authors King, Edward C., Woodward, John, Smith, Andrew M.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published American Geophysical Union 01.10.2004
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
Subjects
Acoustic properties
Antarctica
Exploration Geophysics
Glaciology
Hydrology
Information Related to Geographic Region
Physical Properties of Rocks
Seismic methods
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Summary:Seismic data from Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica show high amplitude, reversed‐polarity reflections from parts of the bed. Only interfaces between ice and water, or between water and sediment have the acoustic properties to produce such strong reflections – ice/sediment interfaces produce much weaker echoes. The evidence suggests that an area of the ice stream measuring at least 1 km by 0.2 km is underlain by water with a depth of less than 1 m. The data are consistent with the presence of a sub‐ice drainage system comprising shallow canals cut into the sedimentary substrate, as predicted by theory.
Bibliography:ark:/67375/WNG-KB99GXT9-9
istex:3D077E72B31289A1D61F9ACEEC8AD5E355A5ED55
ArticleID:2004GL020379
ObjectType-Article-2
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-1
content type line 23
ISSN:0094-8276
1944-8007
DOI:10.1029/2004GL020379