CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Author : Blake, E.W.; and Clarke, G.K.C.
Date : 1988.
Title : Subglacial electrical phenomena
Publication : Paper presented at the American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting, San Francisco, Calif., 5-9 Dec., 1988.
Issue :
Page(s) :
Abstract
Measurement of subglacial electrical phenomena offers a new approach to observing changes in the subglacial water system. Using hotwater drilling we have installed arrays of electrodes at the bed of Trapridge Glacier, a surge-type glacier in Yukon. Active geoelectric sounding using these arrays yields information about water content, electrical anisotropy, and resistivity structure of the glacier bed, and how these characteristics vary. These may be attributed to geomagnetically-induced telluric currents flowing through the glacier substrate. These may be attributed to geomagnetically-induced telluric currents and to streaming potentials generated by ionic water flow through electrostatically active material, for example matrix clay in glacial till. Variations in streaming potentials can be linked with changes in the morphology and flow rate of the subglacial water system. Both active and passive measurements are sensitive to electrodeposition, thus borehole inclinometry is an essential prerequisite to quantitative interpretation.
Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology