Seismic Measurement of the Gross Crystalline Structure of a West Antarctic Ice Stream (Abstract)

Abstract

Both in the interior of West Antarctica and on Ross Ice Shelf the ice column is dominated by ice with a distinct preferred c-axis orientation. An understanding of the dynamics of the West Antarctic ice sheet requires that we know the gross crystalline structure that characterizes each of its glaciological regimes (i.e. ice sheet, ice stream, and ice shelf). An important question is whether the strong fabric of the interior ice is preserved when this ice passes through the zone in which it is accelerated from sheet flow to stream flow, a zone that must be marked by strong longitudinal extension. Using generalized inverse techniques we have inverted seismic-reflection travel times observed at Upstream Β camp (on Ice Stream B) to obtain the gross crystalline structure of the ice column at that location. We find that the strong fabrics of the interior are indeed destroyed; only a slight preferred orientation remains. The evidence at Upstream Β camp is particularly strong because shear waves of both polarizations, which are particularly sensitive indicators of anisotropy, were analyzed as well as P-waves.