The Nature of the Ice-Rock Interface: The Results of Investigation on 20000m2 of the Rock Bed of Temperate Glaciers

Abstract

AbstractThis paper reviews the results of 10 years study of the only four subglacial sites which are permanently accessible due to activity by hydro-electrical companies. All the sites occur beneath temperate ice. The first part is devoted to the study of the ice-rock interface as a glaciological phenomenon, and emphasizes the dynamic conditions for separation of the ice from the rock bed. This glaciological cavitation phenomenon occurs when tan α >Vi/Hi. Another phenomenon, “regressive cavitation” refers to the existence up-stream of the large permanent cavities, of a series of small cavities which although they are not permanent are fundamentally important because they control the subglacial water drainage allowing the water to penetrate new routes. The second part analyses the sliding movement of the ice on the rock bed. The deformation of the cavities depends mainly on variations in the velocity of the glacier. The sliding velocity measured at the interface accounts for 60 to 80% of the surface movement of the glacier; 80 to 90% of the surface velocity movement is attained a few metres above the glacier-bed interface. The third part describes the characteristics of subglacial drainage which are necessary to understand the nature of the ice-rock interface. The fourth part is devoted to the precise description of the different types of interface as they appeared in the subglacial sites.