Examining the effects of glacial erosion on the extent of glaciation
Abstract
Landscapes modified by warm-based glacial activity in alpine settings show a distinct distribution of surface area with elevation (hypsometry), with a maximum in surface area just below the local snowline altitude. The emergence of this distinct hypsometric signature seems to be a consequence of effective glacial and periglacial erosion above the local snowline. Here we examine the response of mountain range glaciations to this distinct topographic distribution, and investigate how its formation influences patterns of glacial extent, and therefore also patterns of glacial erosion, over several glacial cycles. We use numerical modeling experiments, and show first how the hypsometry of characteristic natural landscapes affects glaciations for a simple climate forcing. The results suggest that glacial extent is highly sensitive to the hypsometry of glacially modified landscapes in addition to the climate forcing. Secondly, we show, using a synthetic landscape, how the gradual development of the distinct glacial hypsometric maximum influences the extent of glaciations on a timescale comparable to the Quaternary period. A Quaternary-like climate forcing results in two different phases of glacial erosion, suggesting a first phase of cirque formation followed by a phase of main valley deepening after the mid-Pleistocene transition. The numerical modeling experiments therefore suggest a significant increase in glacial extent and glacial erosion across the mid-Pleistocene transition. The results are obtained using iSOSIA, a higher-order ice sheet model approach, for simulating the flow of ice. Glacial erosion, represented by abrasion and quarrying processes, is approximated as functions of both sliding velocity, the amount of entrained sediment in the ice, and the bed slope in the direction of sliding. Temperature is linked to elevation through a constant lapse rate, ablation is a linear function of positive temperatures, and accumulation is a linear function of negative temperatures up to a maximum value.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2012
- Bibcode:
- 2012AGUFMEP51F..07P
- Keywords:
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- 0798 CRYOSPHERE / Modeling;
- 1625 GLOBAL CHANGE / Geomorphology and weathering