Hostname: page-component-7bb8b95d7b-2h6rp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-09-06T02:27:14.517Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Numerical modeling of valley glacier stagnation as a paleoclimatic indicator

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

David A. Vacco ,
Richard B. Alley ,
David Pollard  and
David B. Reusch
David A. Vacco*
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
Richard B. Alley
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
David Pollard
Affiliation:
Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
David B. Reusch
Affiliation:
Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
*
*Corresponding author.E-mail address:dvacco@geosc.psu.edu (D.A. Vacco).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Stagnation of the terminal region of a glacier occurs in response to sufficiently large and rapid climatic warming, so the presence of stagnation deposits provides quantitative information on the climate change that forced retreat. Here we use a simple flow-line glacier model to investigate the relationship between stagnation, climate forcing and aspects of the glacier bed. For climatic warming greater than the threshold to cause stagnation, larger or faster warming events cause longer regions of a glacier to stagnate. Smaller or slower warming episodes, below the threshold for stagnation, cause retreat while active flow persists along the entire glacier length. The threshold for stagnation depends not only on the climatic forcing but also on many other aspects of the glacier, with stagnation favored by factors including a lower mean bed slope with greater roughness. Quantitative determination of the climatic forcing consistent with the occurrence or absence of stagnation deposits requires that these site-specific characteristics be incorporated in modeling.

Keywords

GlaciersStagnationClimate proxyGlacial geologyModelingGlaciologyValley glacier
Type
Original Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 73 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 403 - 409
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Boone, S.J., Eyles, N., (2001). Geotechnical model for Great Plains hummocky moraine formed by till deformation below stagnant ice. Geomorphology 38, 1-2, 109–124.Google Scholar
Braun, D.D., (2006). Deglaciation of the Appalachian Plateau, northeastern Pennsylvania-till shadows, till knobs forming “beaded valleys”: revisiting systematic stagnation-zone retreat. Geomorphology 75, 248–265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, D.G., Lusch, D.P., Duda, K.A., (1998). Supervised classification of types of glaciated landscapes using digital elevation data. Geomorphology 21, 233–250.Google Scholar
Budd, W.F., (1968). The longitudinal velocity profile of large ice masses. International Association of Scientific Hydrology-Association Internationale d'Hydrologie Scientifique (International Union of Geodesy and Geophysics-Union de Geodesie et de Geophysique Internationale), Publication 79, 58–77.Google Scholar
Clarke, G.K.C., (1976). Thermal regulation of glacier surging. J. Glaciol. 16, 74, 231–250.Google Scholar
Clayton, L., (1964). Karst topography on stagnant glaciers. J. Glaciol. 5, 625–656.Google Scholar
Clebnik, S.M., Mulholland, J.W., (1979). Regional stagnation of ice in northeastern Connecticut: an alternative model of deglaciation for part of New England: discussion and reply. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 90, 117–120.Google Scholar
Deline, P., Kirkbride, M.P., (2009). Rock avalanches on a glacier and morainic complex in Haut Val Ferret (Mont Blanc Massif, Italy). Geomorphology 103, 80–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Denton, G.H., Alley, R.B., Comer, G.C., Broecker, W.S., (2005). The role of seasonality in abrupt climate change. Quat. Sci. Rev. 24, 1159–1182.Google Scholar
de Saussure, H.-B., (1786). Voyages dans les Alpes, Précédés d'un Essai sur l'HistoireNaturelle des Environs de Genève. Tome second. Barde, Manguet & Compagnie, Genève. Google Scholar
Eyles, N., Boyce, J.I., Barendregt, R.W., (1999). Hummocky moraine; sedimentary record of stagnant Laurentide ice sheet lobes resting on soft beds. Sediment. Geol. 123, 3-4, 163–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gravenor, C.P., Kupsch, W.O., (1959). Ice-disintegration features in western Canada. J. Geol. 67, 48–64.Google Scholar
Ham, N.R., Mickelson, D.M., (1994). Basal till fabric and deposition and Burroughs Glacier, Glacier Bay, Alaska. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull. 106, 1552–1559.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haselton, G.M., (1966). Glacial Geology of Muir Inlet, Southeast Alaska. Institute of Polar Studies Report, Ohio State University, 18.Google Scholar
Hutter, K., (1983). Theoretical Glaciology; Material Science of Ice and the Mechanics of Glaciers and Ice Sheets. D. Reidel Publishing Co, Tokyo. Google Scholar
Huybrechts, P., Payne, A.J., (1996). EISMINT Intercomparison Group. The EISMINT benchmarks for testing ice-sheet models. Ann. Glaciol. 23, 1–12.Google Scholar
Johnson, M.D., Mickelson, D.M., Clayton, L., Attig, J.W., (1995). Composition and genesis of glacial hummocks, western Wisconsin, USA. Boreas 24, 2, 97–116.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamb, B., Echelmeyer, K.A., (1986). Stress-gradient coupling in glacier flow. 1. Longitudinal averaging of the influence of ice thickness and surface slope. J. Glaciol. 32, 111, 267–284.Google Scholar
Kopczynski, S., (2008). Satellite predictions of subglacial hydrology transitions, and final ice collapse of the anchorage lowland, Alaska. PhD Thesis, Lehigh University, Bethlehem, , PA, USA. Google Scholar
LeMeur, E., Gagliardini, O., Zwinger, T., Ruokolainen, J., (2004). Glacier flow modelling: a comparison of the shallow ice approximation and the full-Stokes solution. Comptes Rendus Physique 5, 709–722.Google Scholar
Mannerfelt, C.M., (1961). Stagnation or activity in the last ice remnants?. Geogr. Ann. 63, 3-4, 139–147.Google Scholar
McKenzie, G.D., (1970). Glacial Geology of the Adams Inlet. Institute of Polar Studies Report, Ohio State University, 25.Google Scholar
Mickelson, D.M., (1971). Glacial Geology of the Burroughs Glacier Area, Southeastern Alaska. Institute of Polar Studies Report, Ohio State University, 40.Google Scholar
Oerlemans, J., (2001). Glaciers and climate change. A.A. Balkema Publishers, Lisse/Abingdon/Exton (PA)/Tokyo. Google Scholar
Oerlemans, J., (2003). A quasi-analytical ice-sheet model for climate studies. Nonlinear Process. Geophys. 10, 4/5, 441–452.Google Scholar
Paterson, W.S.B., (1994). The Physics of Glaciers. 3rd ed. Pergamon, , Oxford. Google Scholar
Pattyn, F., (2002). Transient glacier response with a higher-order numerical ice-flow model. J. Glaciol. 48, 162, 467–477.Google Scholar
Paul, M.A., Eyles, N., (1990). Constraints on the preservation of diamict facies (melt-out tills) at the margins of stagnant glaciers. Quat. Sci. Rev. 9, 51–69.Google Scholar
Sharp, R.P., (1988). Living Ice. Understanding Glaciers and Glaciation. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar
Small, E.E., (1995). Hypsometric forcing of stagnant ice margins: Pleistocene valley glaciers, San Juan Mountains, Colorado. Geomorphology 14, 109–121.Google Scholar
Tuthill, S.J., (1966). Earthquake origin of superglacial drift on the glaciers of the Martin River area, south-central Alaska. J. Glaciol. 6, 43, 83–88.Google Scholar
Vacco, D.A., (2009). Modeling of Glacier Response to Climate Change, Including Moraine Deposition and Stagnation Events: Doctoral Dissertation. Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, . Google Scholar
van der Veen, C.J., (1999). Fundamentals of Glacier Dynamics. Balkema, Rotterdam. Google Scholar