Thermoluminescence Techniques in Determination of the Stress and Crystallization History of Ice

Abstract

Abstract A series of glow-curve measurements were made to determine the general nature of the thermoluminescence of natural ice. The curves were made by subjecting the samples to ultraviolet radiation from a quartz-envelope mercury arc lamp while keeping the samples at liquid air temperature. The samples were then heated by passing a stream of air over the sample container. The resultant rise in temperature is non-linear but is nearly uniform from run to run. The light emitted was measured by the microphotometric portion of the standard apparatus for determination of mineral thermoluminescence. Curves were obtained on samples collected from the ice tunnel in the ice cap at Jungfraujoch and from freshly fallen and old snow at Bern in Switzerland. A systematic variation in glow-curve shape was found. This variation appears to be directly related to the stress history of the ice. Ice which has been subjected to high shearing stress can he readily distinguished from ice which has not.