Viscous flow lobes in central Taylor Valley, Antarctica: Origin as remnant buried glacial ice

Elevated East Antarctic outlet glaciers during warmer-than-present climates in southern Victoria Land

“…Although we cannot preclude some level of basal entrainment beneath cold-based ice (e.g., Cuffey et al, 2000;Atkins et al, 2002) the absence of dirty basal ice at the margin of Taylor Glacier alongside Kennar Valley suggests that basal plucking is likely insignificant in the upper reaches of the modern Taylor Glacier. The noted debris carried at the surface of Taylor Glacier today most likely arises from direct rock fall onto the ice surface and from windblown sands (Marchant et al, 1994;Staiger et al, 2006; see also Swanger et al, 2010).…”

Extensive Middle Amazonian mantling of debris aprons and plains in Deuteronilus Mensae, Mars: Implications for the record of mid-latitude glaciation

“…Glacial retreat and downwasting will therefore be largely driven by sublimation of ice. If a supply of debris from rockfall or atmospheric sources is available, cold-based glaciation can produce a number of depositional geomorphic features as seen on Earth, including drop moraines, lateral moraines, sublimation tills, and, if localized melting exists, erosional lateral melt-water channels (Evans, 2003;Swanger et al, 2010;Atkins, 2013). Other unique landforms can be produced from the retreat and deposition of glacial sediments over down-wasting, buried glacial ice.…”

Preservation of Late Amazonian Mars ice and water-related deposits in a unique crater environment in Noachis Terra: Age relationships between lobate debris tongues and gullies

“…Recent work in the Antarctic Dry Valleys has helped to clarify some of these questions. Documentation of the characteristics of debris-covered glaciers in Beacon Valley, Antarctica (Shean et al, 2007b;Levy et al, 2007;Marchant et al, 2010;Shean and Marchant, 2010), and criteria for distinguishing these from other lobate/viscous-flow features formed there Swanger et al, 2010), leads to a further understanding of the range of candidates and an appropriate nomenclature. We prefer to use the term ''debris-covered glacier" where geological evidence supports the presence of subsurface ice that is significantly in excess of pore space and that is demonstrably related to glacier formation (see Head et al, 2010).…”

“…We prefer to use the term ''debris-covered glacier" where geological evidence supports the presence of subsurface ice that is significantly in excess of pore space and that is demonstrably related to glacier formation (see Head et al, 2010). Evidence supporting debris-covered glaciers includes laterally continuous and converging flow textures and structures (Head et al, 2006a,b), large sublimation pits and unusual superposed craters (Kress and Head, 2008), sublimation polygon structures and their geometry (Marchant et al, 2002;Levy et al, 2006), topographic profiles (Li et al, 2005), detection of abundant subsurface ice by radar (Holt et al, 2008;Plaut et al, 2009) or seismic surveys (Shean et al, 2007b), and experimental and rheological considerations (Mangold and Allemand, 2001;Mangold, 2003;Swanger et al, 2010). We prefer to use the term ''rock glacier" where rocky viscous-flow features do not meet these criteria.…”