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A Surge Affected, Tidewater Glacier Environment

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Glaciated Continental Margins
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Abstract

Austfonna ice cap on the island Nordaustlandet in the Svalbard archipelago (Fig.1) terminates in the open Barents Sea along a nearly 200 km long tidewater glacier front. 28% of the 8,120 km2 ice cap is grounded below sea level. The ice cap comprises 19 drainage basins [Dowdeswell, 1986], of which Bråsvellbreen (1,109 km2) is the second largest. Bråsvellbreen had a major surge between 1936 and 1938, during which the terminus advanced up to 15 km over sea floor with depths varying between 30 m and 100 m. The glacier has experienced a post-surge retreat of up to 5 km, exposing a large area of sea floor that was recently covered by grounded, surged ice. Detailed investigations in this area include single channel 3 kJ sparker seismic, 3.5 kHz echo sounding and 50 kHz side scan sonar profiling [Solheim, 1991]

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References

  • Dowdeswell, J.A., Drainage basin characteristics of the Nordaustlandet ice caps. J. Glaciol. 32, 31–38, 1986.

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  • Solheim, A., The depositional environment of surging sub-polar tidewater glaciers. Norsk Polarinstitutt Skrifter, 194, 97pp., 1991.

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  • Kamb, B., Raymond, C.F., Harrison, W.D., Engelhardt, H., Echelmeyer, K.A., Humphrey, N., Brugman, M M & Pfeffer, T., Glacier surge mechanism: 1982–1983 surge of Variegated Glacier, Alaska. Science, 227, 469–479, 1985.

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© 1997 Chapman & Hall

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Solheim, A. (1997). A Surge Affected, Tidewater Glacier Environment. In: Davies, T.A., et al. Glaciated Continental Margins. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5820-6_75

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5820-6_75

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-412-79340-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-5820-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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