Glacial geomorphology: towards a convergence of glaciology and geomorphology

Bingham, Robert G.; King, Edward C. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3793-3915; Smith, Andrew M. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8577-482X; Pritchard, Hamish D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2936-1734. 2010 Glacial geomorphology: towards a convergence of glaciology and geomorphology. Progress in Physical Geography, 34 (3). 327-355. 10.1177/0309133309360631

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Abstract/Summary

This review presents a perspective on recent trends in glacial geomorphological research, which has seen an increasing engagement with investigating glaciation over larger and longer timescales facilitated by advances in remote sensing and numerical modelling. Remote sensing has enabled the visualization of deglaciated landscapes and glacial landform assemblages across continental scales, from which hypotheses of millennial-scale glacial landscape evolution and associations of landforms with palaeo-ice streams have been developed. To test these ideas rigorously, the related goal of imaging comparable subglacial landscapes and landforms beneath contemporary ice masses is being addressed through the application of radar and seismic technologies. Focusing on the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, we review progress to date in achieving this goal, and the use of radar and seismic imaging to assess: (1) subglacial bed morphology and roughness; (2) subglacial bed reflectivity; and (3) subglacial sediment properties. Numerical modelling, now the primary modus operandi of 'glaciologists' investigating the dynamics of modern ice sheets, offers significant potential for testing 'glacial geomorphological' hypotheses of continental glacial landscape evolution and smaller-scale landform development, and some recent examples of such an approach are presented. We close by identifying some future challenges in glacial geomorphology, which include: (1) embracing numerical modelling as a framework for testing hypotheses of glacial landform and landscape development; (2) identifying analogues beneath modern ice sheets for landscapes and landforms observed across deglaciated terrains; (3) repeat-surveying dynamic subglacial landforms to assess scales of formation and evolution; and (4) applying glacial geomorphological expertise more fully to extraterrestrial cryospheres.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	10.1177/0309133309360631
Programmes:	BAS Programmes > Polar Science for Planet Earth (2009 - ) > Ice Sheets
ISSN:	0309-1333
Additional Keywords:	Antarctica; geophysics; glacial geomorphology; glaciers; glaciology; ice sheets; numerical modelling; remote sensing
NORA Subject Terms:	Glaciology Earth Sciences
Date made live:	04 Mar 2011 15:38 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/13704

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