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Alley RB, Lawson DE, Larson GJ, et al. Stabilizing feedbacks in glacier-bed erosion. Nature. 2003;424(6950):758-60doi: 10.1038/nature01839.
Alley, R. B., Lawson, D. E., Larson, G. J., Evenson, E. B., & Baker, G. S. (2003). Stabilizing feedbacks in glacier-bed erosion. Nature, 424(6950), 758-60. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01839
Alley, R B, et al. "Stabilizing feedbacks in glacier-bed erosion." Nature vol. 424,6950 (2003): 758-60. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01839
Alley RB, Lawson DE, Larson GJ, Evenson EB, Baker GS. Stabilizing feedbacks in glacier-bed erosion. Nature. 2003 Aug 14;424(6950):758-60. doi: 10.1038/nature01839. PMID: 12917679.
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Nature. 2003 Aug 14;424(6950):758-60. doi: 10.1038/nature01839.

Stabilizing feedbacks in glacier-bed erosion.

Nature

R B Alley, D E Lawson, G J Larson, E B Evenson, G S Baker

Affiliations

  1. Department of Geosciences and EMS Environment Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA. [email protected]

PMID: 12917679 DOI: 10.1038/nature01839

Abstract

Glaciers often erode, transport and deposit sediment much more rapidly than nonglacial environments, with implications for the evolution of glaciated mountain belts and their associated sedimentary basins. But modelling such glacial processes is difficult, partly because stabilizing feedbacks similar to those operating in rivers have not been identified for glacial landscapes. Here we combine new and existing data of glacier morphology and the processes governing glacier evolution from diverse settings to reveal such stabilizing feedbacks. We find that the long profiles of beds of highly erosive glaciers tend towards steady-state angles opposed to and slightly more than 50 per cent steeper than the overlying ice-air surface slopes, and that additional subglacial deepening must be enabled by non-glacial processes. Climatic or glaciological perturbations of the ice-air surface slope can have large transient effects on glaciofluvial sediment flux and apparent glacial erosion rate.

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