Abstract. Ice streams are corridors of fast-flowing ice that control mass transfers from continental ice sheets to oceans. Their flow speeds are known to accelerate and decelerate, their activity can switch on and off, and even their locations can shift entirely. Our analogue physical experiments reveal that a life cycle incorporating evolving subglacial meltwater routing and bed erosion can govern this complex transitory behaviour. The modelled ice streams switch on and accelerate when subglacial water pockets drain as marginal outburst floods (basal decoupling). Then they decelerate when the lubricating water drainage system spontaneously organizes itself into channels that create tunnel valleys (partial basal recoupling). The ice streams surge or jump in location when these water drainage systems maintain low discharge but they ultimately switch off when tunnel valleys have expanded to develop efficient drainage systems. Beyond reconciling previously disconnected observations of modern and ancient ice streams into a single life cycle, the modelling suggests that tunnel valley development may be crucial in stabilizing portions of ice sheets during periods of climate change.

Abstract. Conceptual ice stream land systems derived from geomorphological and sedimentological observations provide constraints on ice–meltwater–till–bedrock interactions on palaeo-ice stream beds. Within these land systems, the spatial distribution and formation processes of ribbed bedforms remain unclear. We explore the conditions under which these bedforms may develop and their spatial organization with (i) an experimental model that reproduces the dynamics of ice streams and subglacial land systems and (ii) an analysis of the distribution of ribbed bedforms on selected examples of palaeo-ice stream beds of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. We find that a specific kind of ribbed bedform can develop subglacially through soft-bed deformation, where the ice flow undergoes lateral or longitudinal velocity gradients and the ice–bed interface is unlubricated; oblique ribbed bedforms develop beneath lateral shear margins, whereas transverse ribbed bedforms develop below frontal lobes. We infer that (i) ribbed bedforms strike orthogonally to the compressing axis of the horizontal strain ellipse of the ice surface and (ii) their development reveals distinctive types of subglacial drainage patterns: linked cavities below lateral shear margins and efficient meltwater channels below frontal lobes. These ribbed bedforms may act as convenient geomorphic markers to reconstruct lateral and frontal margins, constrain ice flow dynamics, and infer meltwater drainage characteristics of palaeo-ice streams.

Tunnel valleys are elongated hollows commonly found in formerly glaciated areas and interpreted as resulting from subglacial meltwater erosion beneath ice sheets. Over the past two decades, the number of studies of terrestrial tunnel valleys has continuously increased, and their existence has been hypothesized also on Mars, but their formation mechanisms remain poorly understood. We introduce here an innovative experimental approach to examine erosion by circulation of pressurized meltwater within the substratum and at the ice/substratum interface. We used a permeable substratum (sand) partially covered by a viscous, impermeable, and transparent cap (silicon putty), below which we applied a central injection of pure water. Low water pressures led to groundwater circulation in the substratum only, while water pressures exceeding a threshold that is larger than the sum of the glaciostatic and lithostatic pressures led to additional water circulation and formation of drainage landforms at the cap/substratum interface. The formation of these drainage landforms was monitored through time, and their shapes were analyzed from digital elevation models obtained by stereo-photogrammetry. The experimental landforms include valleys that are similar to natural tunnel valleys in their spatial organization and in a number of diagnostic morphological criteria, such as undulating longitudinal profiles and "tunnel" shapes. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that overpressurized subglacial water circulation controls the formation of tunnel valleys.Tunnel valleys are elongated and overdeepened hollows, up to hundreds of kilometers long, several kilometers wide and hundreds of meters deep, and their formation is generally attributed to subglacial meltwater erosion [Ó Cofaigh, 1996;Huuse and Lykke-Andersen, 2000]. They are generally exposed at the emplacement of former ice sheet margins

<p>Over the three last decades, great efforts have been undertaken by the glaciological community to characterize the behaviour of ice streams and better constrain the dynamics of ice sheets. Studies of modern ice stream beds reveal crucial information on ice-meltwater-till-bedrock interactions, but are restricted to punctual observations limiting the understanding of ice stream dynamics as a whole. Consequently, theoretical ice stream landsystems derived from geomorphological and sedimentological observations were developed to provide wider constraints on those interactions on palaeo-ice stream beds. Within these landsystems, the spatial distribution and formation processes of subglacial periodic bedforms transverse to the ice flow direction – ribbed bedforms – remain unclear. The purpose of this study is (i) to explore the conditions under which these ribbed bedforms develop and (ii) to constrain their spatial organisation along ice stream beds.  </p><p>We performed physical experiments with silicon putty (to simulate the ice), water (to simulate the meltwater) and sand (to simulate a soft sedimentary bed) to model the dynamics of ice streams and produce analog subglacial landsystems. We compare the results of these experiments with the distribution of ribbed bedforms on selected examples of palaeo-ice stream beds of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. Based on this comparison, we can draw several conclusions regarding the significance of ribbed bedforms in ice stream contexts:</p><ul><li>Ribbed bedforms tend to form where the ice flow undergoes high velocity gradients and the ice-bed interface is unlubricated. Where the ribs initiate, we hypothesize that high driving stresses generate high basal shear stresses, accommodated through bed deformation of the active uppermost part of the bed.</li> <li>Ribbed bedforms can develop subglacially from a flat sediment surface beneath shear margins (i.e., lateral ribbed bedforms) and stagnant lobes (i.e., submarginal ribbed bedforms) of ice streams, while they do not develop beneath surging lobes.</li> <li>The orientation of ribbed bedforms reflects the local stress state along the ice-bed interface, with transverse bedforms formed by compression beneath ice lobes and oblique bedforms formed by transgression below lateral shear margins.</li> <li>The development of ribbed bedforms where the ice-bed interface is unlubricated reveals distinctive types of discontinuous basal drainage systems below shear and lobe margins: linked-cavities and efficient meltwater channels respectively.</li> </ul><p>Ribbed bedforms could thus constitute convenient geomorphic markers for the reconstruction of palaeo-ice stream margins, palaeo-ice flow dynamics and palaeo-meltwater drainage characteristics.</p>

Surging and streaming of glaciers are modulated by meltwater availability and pressure which controls mechanical coupling at their beds. Using laboratory-scale experimental modelling and palaeoglaciological mapping, we explore how subglacial drainage landsystems control meltwater drainage efficiency and ice flow velocities for terrestrial-based ice lobes resting on flat horizontal and permeable beds. Two end-members regimes, surging and streaming, appear in our experiments. The surge regime is characterised by a rapid increase of drainage efficiency through development of tunnel valleys and their tributaries, thus reducing the duration of ice flow speed-up events by lowering water pressures and increasing ice-bed coupling. Tunnel valleys connected to ice lobe margins, submarginal thrust moraines, reduced ice lobe extensions and ephemeral shear margins are the most distinctive characteristics of this regime. The stream regime is characterised by disconnected channels of smaller dimensions unable to evacuate all the meltwater: this prolonged drainage inefficiency leads to sustained high ice flow velocity and steady shear margins. Small and rectilinear meltwater channels devoid of tributaries, often disconnected from ice lobe margins, and lineation swarms are diagnostic of this regime.

Abstract. Ice streams are corridors of fast-flowing ice that control mass transfers from continental ice sheets to oceans. Their flow speeds are known to accelerate and decelerate, their activity to switch on and off, and even their locations to shift entirely. Our analogue physical experiments reveal that a lifecycle incorporating evolving subglacial meltwater routing and bed erosion can govern this complex transitory behaviour. The model ice streams switch on when subglacial water pockets drain as marginal outburst floods. Then they decelerate as basal coupling increases as a consequence of the lubricating water drainage system spontaneously organising itself into channels that erode tunnel valleys. They surge or jump in location when these water drainage systems maintain low discharge but they ultimately switch off when tunnel valleys have expanded to develop efficient drainage systems. Beyond reconciling previously disconnected observations of modern and ancient ice streams into a single lifecycle, the modelling suggests that tunnel valley development may be crucial in stabilising portions of ice sheets during periods of climate change.

Observation and modelling have long contributed to associate surging and streaming of glaciers with glacier thermal regime, variations in meltwater availability and pressure and mechanical coupling at their beds. Using experimental modelling and palaeoglaciological mapping, we explore how the development of subglacial drainage landsystems controls variations in drainage efficiency and ice flow velocities for terrestrial-based ice lobes on flat horizontal beds. We observe that the achievement or not of efficient subglacial drainage landsystems determines the fast-flow regime of these glaciers. In the surge regime, rapid increase of drainage efficiency through development of tunnel valleys and their tributaries reduces the duration of ice flow speed-up events by lowering water pressures and increasing ice-bed coupling. Tunnel valleys connected to ice lobe margins, submarginal thrust moraines, reduced ice lobe extensions and ephemeral shear margins are the most distinctive characteristics of this regime. In the stream regime, disconnected channels of smaller dimensions develop, but they are unable to evacuate all the meltwater: this prolonged drainage inefficiency leads to sustained high ice flow velocity and steady shear margins. Small and rectilinear meltwater channels devoid of tributaries, often disconnected from ice lobe margins and lineation swarms are diagnostic of this regime.

Abstract. Conceptual ice stream landsystems derived from geomorphological and sedimentological observations provide constraints on ice-meltwater-till-bedrock interactions on palaeo-ice stream beds. Within these landsystems, the spatial distribution and formation processes of ribbed bedforms remain unclear. We explore the conditions under which these bedforms develop and their spatial organisation with (i) an experimental model that reproduces the dynamics of ice streams and subglacial landsystems and (ii) an analysis of the distribution of ribbed bedforms on selected examples of paleo-ice stream beds of the Laurentide Ice Sheet. We find that a specific kind of ribbed bedforms can develop subglacially from a flat bed beneath shear margins (i.e., lateral ribbed bedforms) and lobes (i.e., submarginal ribbed bedforms) of ice streams. These bedforms initiate where the ice flow undergoes high velocity gradients and the ice-bed interface is unlubricated. We suggest that (i) their orientation reflects the local stress state along the ice-bed interface and (ii) their development reveals distinctive types of subglacial drainage patterns below these two kinds of margins: linked-cavities and efficient meltwater channels respectively. These ribbed bedforms are thus convenient geomorphic markers to reconstruct palaeo-ice stream margins and constrain palaeo-ice flow dynamics and palaeo-meltwater drainage characteristics.