Glacial Erosion

Deglaciation and glacial erosion: A joint control on magma productivity by continental unloading

Glacial-interglacial cycles affect the processes through which water and rocks are redistributed across the Earth’s surface, thereby linking the solid Earth and climate dynamics. Regional and global scale studies suggest that continental lithospheric unloading due to ice melting during the transition to interglacials leads to increased continental magmatic, volcanic, and degassing activity. Suc...

Selective glacial erosion and weathering zones in the coastal mountains of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica

In the coastal mountains of Marie Byrd Land, Antarctica, there is a juxtaposition of ice moulded landforms at lower altitudes and upstanding summits with weathered surfaces bearing tors. This paper uses geomorphological mapping and exposure dating to test two hypotheses commonly used to explain such a landscape contrast: either the pattern reflects contrasts in glacial erosion related to the ba...

Mid-latitude glacial erosion hotspot related to equatorial shifts in southern Westerlies

Glaciation has affected the shape of mountain ranges and has induced a global increase in erosion rates during the past 2 m.y. The observed increase in erosion rates appears to vary with latitude, reaching a maximum at mid-latitudes that is particularly well defined in the Southern Hemisphere. Although it is likely that climate played an important role, the processes responsible for such latitu...

The influence of glacial erosion on landscape evolution and basin morphology in the Bitterroot Mountains Montana

The relative efficacy of fluvial and glacial erosion over modern to orogenic timescales

Since the late nineteenth century, it has been debated whether rivers or glaciers are more effective agents of erosion1. The dramatic landscapes associated with glaciated terrain have often led to the argument that glaciers are more erosive than rivers, and recent studies have documented the topographic signature of an ice-controlled limit of mountain height known as the ‘glacial buzz-saw’2,3. ...