Basal hydrofractures near sticky patches
Basal crevasses are macroscopic structural discontinuities at the base of ice sheets and glaciers that arise by fracture. Motivated by observations and by the mechanics of elastic fracture, we hypothesise that spatial variations in basal stress (in the presence of basal water pressure) can promote a...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2023-06-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Glaciology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143022000752/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1797821768379924480 |
|---|---|
| author | Hanwen Zhang Timothy Davis Richard F. Katz Laura A. Stevens Dave A. May |
| author_facet | Hanwen Zhang Timothy Davis Richard F. Katz Laura A. Stevens Dave A. May |
| author_sort | Hanwen Zhang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Basal crevasses are macroscopic structural discontinuities at the base of ice sheets and glaciers that arise by fracture. Motivated by observations and by the mechanics of elastic fracture, we hypothesise that spatial variations in basal stress (in the presence of basal water pressure) can promote and localise basal crevassing. We quantify this process in the theoretical context of linear elastic fracture mechanics. We develop a model evaluating the effect of shear-stress variation on the growth of basal crevasses. Our results indicate that sticky patches promote the propagation of basal crevasses, increase their length of propagation into the ice and, under some conditions, give them curved trajectories that incline upstream. A detailed exploration of the parameter space is conducted to gain a better understanding of the conditions under which sticky-patch-induced basal crevassing is expected beneath ice sheets and glaciers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:57:39Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-68bb383bd8964d56b06e7ffc46ce750d |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T09:57:39Z |
| publishDate | 2023-06-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Glaciology |
| spelling | doaj.art-68bb383bd8964d56b06e7ffc46ce750d2023-05-23T11:53:18ZengCambridge University PressJournal of Glaciology0022-14301727-56522023-06-016947548610.1017/jog.2022.75Basal hydrofractures near sticky patchesHanwen Zhang0Timothy Davis1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2302-5203Richard F. Katz2Laura A. Stevens3https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0480-8018Dave A. May4Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKDepartment of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UKScripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USABasal crevasses are macroscopic structural discontinuities at the base of ice sheets and glaciers that arise by fracture. Motivated by observations and by the mechanics of elastic fracture, we hypothesise that spatial variations in basal stress (in the presence of basal water pressure) can promote and localise basal crevassing. We quantify this process in the theoretical context of linear elastic fracture mechanics. We develop a model evaluating the effect of shear-stress variation on the growth of basal crevasses. Our results indicate that sticky patches promote the propagation of basal crevasses, increase their length of propagation into the ice and, under some conditions, give them curved trajectories that incline upstream. A detailed exploration of the parameter space is conducted to gain a better understanding of the conditions under which sticky-patch-induced basal crevassing is expected beneath ice sheets and glaciers.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143022000752/type/journal_articleCalvingcrevassesglacier modellingice-sheet modelling |
| spellingShingle | Hanwen Zhang Timothy Davis Richard F. Katz Laura A. Stevens Dave A. May Basal hydrofractures near sticky patches Journal of Glaciology Calving crevasses glacier modelling ice-sheet modelling |
| title | Basal hydrofractures near sticky patches |
| title_full | Basal hydrofractures near sticky patches |
| title_fullStr | Basal hydrofractures near sticky patches |
| title_full_unstemmed | Basal hydrofractures near sticky patches |
| title_short | Basal hydrofractures near sticky patches |
| title_sort | basal hydrofractures near sticky patches |
| topic | Calving crevasses glacier modelling ice-sheet modelling |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143022000752/type/journal_article |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT hanwenzhang basalhydrofracturesnearstickypatches AT timothydavis basalhydrofracturesnearstickypatches AT richardfkatz basalhydrofracturesnearstickypatches AT lauraastevens basalhydrofracturesnearstickypatches AT daveamay basalhydrofracturesnearstickypatches |