Subglacial drainage patterns of Devon Island, Canada: detailed comparison of rivers and subglacial meltwater channels

Galofre, Anna Grau; Jellinek, M.; Osinski, G. R.; Zanetti, M.; Kukko, Antero

doi:10.5194/tc-12-1461-2018

Cited by 22 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…An additional process that probably enters into the global surface weathering sink during the ice sheet retreats that we predict in section to occur during the Cretaceous and in the aftermaths of Neoproterozoic snowball events is glacial erosion. Because the mechanics and chemical weathering efficiency of this mode are complex and influenced by the details of glacier sliding (e.g., Egholm et al, ; Herman & Braun, ) as well as the meltwater drainage regime (Grau Galofre et al, ; Schoof, ), we neglect this process here.…”

Section: Mantle Thermal Isolation‐to‐remixing Weathering Sinks and mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ice, Fire, or Fizzle: The Climate Footprint of Earth's Supercontinental Cycles

Jellinek

Lenardic

Pierrehumbert

2020

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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Supercontinent assembly and breakup can influence the rate and global extent to which insulated and relatively warm subcontinental mantle is mixed globally, potentially introducing lateral oceanic‐continental mantle temperature variations that regulate volcanic and weathering controls on Earth's long‐term carbon cycle for a few hundred million years. We propose that the relatively warm and unchanging climate of the Nuna supercontinental epoch (1.8–1.3 Ga) is characteristic of thorough mantle thermal mixing. By contrast, the extreme cooling‐warming climate variability of the Neoproterozoic Rodinia episode (1–0.63 Ga) and the more modest but similar climate change during the Mesozoic Pangea cycle (0.3–0.05 Ga) are characteristic features of the effects of subcontinental mantle thermal isolation with differing longevity. A tectonically modulated carbon cycle model coupled to a one‐dimensional energy balance climate model predicts the qualitative form of Mesozoic climate evolution expressed in tropical sea‐surface temperature and ice sheet proxy data. Applied to the Neoproterozoic, this supercontinental control can drive Earth into, as well as out of, a continuous or intermittently panglacial climate, consistent with aspects of proxy data for the Cryogenian‐Ediacaran period. The timing and magnitude of this cooling‐warming climate variability depends, however, on the detailed character of mantle thermal mixing, which is incompletely constrained. We show also that the predominant modes of chemical weathering and a tectonically paced abiotic methane production at mid‐ocean ridges can modulate the intensity of this climate change. For the Nuna epoch, the model predicts a relatively warm and ice‐free climate related to mantle dynamics potentially consistent with the intense anorogenic magmatism of this period.

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Section: Mantle Thermal Isolation‐to‐remixing Weathering Sinks and mentioning

confidence: 99%

Ice, Fire, or Fizzle: The Climate Footprint of Earth's Supercontinental Cycles

Jellinek

Lenardic

Pierrehumbert

2020

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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“…7A) are all inconsistent with the pattern of channels formed by subaerial water flow (Grau Galofre et al . 2017). These westernmost channels might therefore represent subglacial or proglacial meltwater conduits.…”

Section: Results and Interpretationmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Late Pleistocene channelized subglacial meltwater system on the Atlantic continental shelf south of Ireland

Giglio

Benetti

Sacchetti

et al. 2021

Boreas

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The study of palaeo‐glacial landforms and sediments can give insights into the nature and dynamics of ice sheets. This is particularly the case with regards to the subglacial record, which is challenging to observe in contemporary glaciated settings and hence remains only partially understood. The subglacial hydrological system is an essential component of ice dynamics, where increased water pressure enhances ice motion and sediment deformation, thus reducing ice‐bed contact. Tunnel valleys are large, sinuous, steep‐sided incisions that, together with smaller scale meltwater channels, indicate subglacial meltwater discharge beneath large ice sheets. Through the use of high‐resolution marine geophysical data, a system of buried and exposed tunnel valleys, possible subglacial or proglacial meltwater channels and palaeo‐fluvial valleys have been identified across the shelf of the Celtic Sea between Ireland and Britain. The presence of steep‐sided and overdeepened tunnel valleys is indicative of a large channelized meltwater drainage system beneath the former Irish Sea Ice Stream, the most extensive ice stream to drain the last British–Irish Ice Sheet. After the rapid ice expansion across the Celtic Sea shelf around 28–26 ka, the tunnel valleys were carved into both bedrock and glacigenic sediments and are associated with rapid ice stream retreat northwards into the Irish Sea Basin between 25.6 and 24.3 ka. The presence of a major subglacial meltwater system on the relatively shallow shelf suggests that significant erosive meltwater discharge occurred during the last deglaciation and highlights the important contribution of meltwater to the retreat of the British–Irish Ice Sheet on the continental shelf.

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“…According to our results, the main fingerprints of Martian wet‐based glaciation are expected to be subglacial channels and their depositional features, eskers and fans. This has implications for the origin of some valley networks as well as younger valleys on Mars (Grau Galofre, Jellinek, & Osinski, 2020; Grau Galofre et al., 2018; Gulick, 2001; Hynek et al., 2010; Lee & Rice, 1999). Indeed, the particular morphology of subglacial channels may explain many of the puzzling characteristics of a large suite of Martian valleys.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These include the lack of intervalley incision, the presence of longitudinal profile undulations, the presence of inverted ridges inside a number of valleys, the presence of many hanging tributary valleys, anastomosing patterns, large first order tributaries, etc. (e.g., Grau Galofre et al., 2018; Grau Galofre, Jellinek, & Osinski, 2020; Gulick, 2001; Hynek et al., 2010; Lee & Rice, 1999). This type of landscape find terrestrial analogies in the high Arctic, where the retreat of thin, cold polar caps has exposed the remains of the drainage system with little evidence for glacial scouring.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Water pressure P w drops in the channels and in their vicinity, yielding an increase in ice-bed frictional stresses that inhibits basal sliding. Channelized water becomes the main erosional mechanism, incising channels and tunnel valleys in bedrock (Figure 1d1), in sedimentary "canals," with eskers and ice marginal deltas where sediment is deposited (e.g., Grau Galofre et al, 2018;Greenwood et al, 2007;Kehew et al, 2012;Ng, 1998;Storrar et al, 2014;Sugden et al, 1991;Walder & Fowler, 1994). Landscapes where these landforms dominate are comparatively rare, with examples in the Canadian Arctic, Antarctica, and northern Scandinavia (e.g., Grau Galofre et al, 2018;Greenwood et al, 2007;Dyke, 1999;Storrar et al, 2014;Sugden et al, 1991) (Figure 1d).…”

Section: Glacial Drainagementioning

confidence: 99%

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Valley Networks and the Record of Glaciation on Ancient Mars

Galofre

Whipple

Christensen

et al. 2022

Geophysical Research Letters

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The lack of evidence for large‐scale glacial landscapes on Mars has led to the belief that ancient glaciations had to be frozen to the ground. Here we propose that the fingerprints of Martian wet‐based glaciation should be the remnants of the ice sheet drainage system instead of landforms generally associated with terrestrial ice sheets. We use the terrestrial glacial hydrology framework to interrogate how the Martian surface gravity affects glacial hydrology, ice sliding, and glacial erosion. Taking as reference the ancient southern circumpolar ice sheet that deposited the Dorsa Argentea formation, we compare the theoretical behavior of identical ice sheets on Mars and Earth and show that, whereas on Earth glacial drainage is predominantly inefficient, enhancing ice sliding and erosion, on Mars the lower gravity favors the formation of efficient subglacial drainage. The apparent lack of large‐scale glacial fingerprints on Mars, such as drumlins or lineations, is to be expected.

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Subglacial drainage patterns of Devon Island, Canada: detailed comparison of rivers and subglacial meltwater channels

Cited by 22 publications

References 58 publications

Ice, Fire, or Fizzle: The Climate Footprint of Earth's Supercontinental Cycles

Ice, Fire, or Fizzle: The Climate Footprint of Earth's Supercontinental Cycles

A Late Pleistocene channelized subglacial meltwater system on the Atlantic continental shelf south of Ireland

Valley Networks and the Record of Glaciation on Ancient Mars

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