CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Blake, E.W.; and Clarke, G.K.C.
Date : 1989
Title : In situ bed strain measurements beneath a surge-type glacier
Publication : EOS
Issue : 70(43):
Page(s) : 1084
Abstract
Trapridge Glacier is a surge-type glacier and our confirmations that it lies on an unlithified deformable bed points to the viability of a soft-bed surge mechanism. For soft-bedded glaciers, substrate deformation is likely to oppose the establishment of subglacial drainage paths. This could be the process that disables the subglacial water system during surges. Vertical strings of dual-axis tilt sensors were inserted beneath Trapridge Glacier, Yukon Territory, during the 1988 and 1989 summer field seasons. By measuring the tilt variation with time and depth we find that the glacier is underlain by -0.5 m of deforming material, presumably water-saturated till. The effective viscosity of this deforming layer varies temporally from 109 Pa's to infinity (zero strain rate) but this variation has no clear relationship to fluctuations in subglacial water pressure.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology