from 1.00-2.00pm.
Origin and Importance of Subglacial Basins
Simon Cook, MMU
Closed topographic basins are
common beneath modern glaciers and within deglaciated terrain. Deep basins are
produced by glacial erosion of rock and/or sediment and are known as
‘overdeepenings’. Subglacial basins have an important control on the routing of
water through glaciers, and on the mechanisms and dynamics of ice flow. It is
speculated that, in comparison to ice masses with no subglacial basins, those
with numerous or very large basins may respond vigorously to climatic changes.
In addition, processes of erosion and sediment transfer within overdeepenings
are poorly understood, but it is hypothesised that glacial sediment transfer
(i.e. sediment incorporated on/in the ice itself) will dominate over
glaciofluvial sediment evacuation (i.e. sediment carried within meltwater).
Understanding how sediment is exported from subglacial basins is fundamental to
assessing the depth of glacier-bed overdeepening. This in turn has important
implications for long-term burial of nuclear waste in regions where future
glaciations might excavate such waste through bed overdeepening.
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