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Livingstone SJ, Utting DJ, Ruffell A, et al. Discovery of relict subglacial lakes and their geometry and mechanism of drainage. Nat Commun. 2016;7:ncomms11767doi: 10.1038/ncomms11767.
Livingstone, S. J., Utting, D. J., Ruffell, A., Clark, C. D., Pawley, S., Atkinson, N., & Fowler, A. C. (2016). Discovery of relict subglacial lakes and their geometry and mechanism of drainage. Nature communications, 7ncomms11767. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11767
Livingstone, Stephen J, et al. "Discovery of relict subglacial lakes and their geometry and mechanism of drainage." Nature communications vol. 7 (2016): ncomms11767. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms11767
Livingstone SJ, Utting DJ, Ruffell A, Clark CD, Pawley S, Atkinson N, Fowler AC. Discovery of relict subglacial lakes and their geometry and mechanism of drainage. Nat Commun. 2016 Jun 13;7:ncomms11767. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11767. PMID: 27292049; PMCID: PMC4909952.
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Nat Commun. 2016 Jun 13;7:ncomms11767. doi: 10.1038/ncomms11767.

Discovery of relict subglacial lakes and their geometry and mechanism of drainage.

Nature communications

Stephen J Livingstone, Daniel J Utting, Alastair Ruffell, Chris D Clark, Steven Pawley, Nigel Atkinson, Andrew C Fowler

Affiliations

  1. Department of Geography, Sheffield University, Winter Street, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
  2. Alberta Geological Survey, Edmonton, Alberta T6B 2X3, Canada.
  3. School of Geography, Archaeology and Palaeoecology, Queen's University Belfast, Northern Ireland BT9 6AY, UK.
  4. Mathematics Applications Consortium for Science and Industry (MACSI), University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
  5. Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK.

PMID: 27292049 PMCID: PMC4909952 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11767

Abstract

Recent proxy measurements reveal that subglacial lakes beneath modern ice sheets periodically store and release large volumes of water, providing an important but poorly understood influence on contemporary ice dynamics and mass balance. This is because direct observations of how lake drainage initiates and proceeds are lacking. Here we present physical evidence of the mechanism and geometry of lake drainage from the discovery of relict subglacial lakes formed during the last glaciation in Canada. These palaeo-subglacial lakes comprised shallow (<10 m) lenses of water perched behind ridges orientated transverse to ice flow. We show that lakes periodically drained through channels incised into bed substrate (canals). Canals sometimes trend into eskers that represent the depositional imprint of the last high-magnitude lake outburst. The subglacial lakes and channels are preserved on top of glacial lineations, indicating long-term re-organization of the subglacial drainage system and coupling to ice flow.

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