A Comparison of Ice Fabrics and Textures at Camp Century, Greenland and Byrd Station, Antarctica

Abstract

A comparison of the crystalline texture and fabric of the two deep cores to bedrock from Camp Century, Greenland, and Byrd station, Antarctica, reveals striking similarities. Each core exhibits a fabric profile which progresses from depositional fabrics at shallow depths through multi-maxima transitional stages into single maximum distributions. The major difference between the two cores occurs near the base where the Camp Century fabrics maintain a high degree of orientation while the Byrd station fabrics break up into a diamond pattern. The most remarkable similarity between the two profiles occurs at the glacial-interglacial transition where crystal sizes decrease and crystal orientations strengthen significantly over a very short interval. Similar changes occur in other deep ice cores, thus indicating the possibility that the late Wisconsin ice has a unique crystallographic signature.