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Published October 9, 2015 | Supplemental Material
Journal Article Open

Erosion by an Alpine glacier

Abstract

Assessing the impact of glaciation on Earth's surface requires understanding glacial erosion processes. Developing erosion theories is challenging because of the complex nature of the erosion processes and the difficulty of examining the ice/bedrock interface of contemporary glaciers. We demonstrate that the glacial erosion rate is proportional to the ice-sliding velocity squared, by quantifying spatial variations in ice-sliding velocity and the erosion rate of a fast-flowing Alpine glacier. The nonlinear behavior implies a high erosion sensitivity to small variations in topographic slope and precipitation. A nonlinear rate law suggests that abrasion may dominate over other erosion processes in fast-flowing glaciers. It may also explain the wide range of observed glacial erosion rates and, in part, the impact of glaciation on mountainous landscapes during the past few million years.

Additional Information

© 2015 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 31 March 2015; accepted 3 September 2015. The authors thank B. Anderson for field support. F.H., M.B., and S.L thank the Fonds d'Investissement from the Faculty of Geosciences and Environnement at the University of Lausanne. F.H. was funded by Swiss National Science Foundation grant PP00P2_138956. S.L, J.Y.Y.L., and J.-P.A. were funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation through grant GBM 2808 and NSF Earth Sciences grant 1348704. O.B. was funded by the City of Paris (Emergence Program), Institut National des Sciences de l'Univers, and Sorbonne Universités (Per-SU program). Three anonymous reviewers are thanked for their constructive reviews. K. Cuffey is thanked for his feedback. Data are available in the supplementary materials.

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Supplemental Material - aab2386-Herman-SM.TableS1.xlsx

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August 22, 2023
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