Geology topics

N.R. Iverson

Publications and source records attributed to N.R. Iverson.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2017

A laboratory study of particle ploughing and pore-pressure feedback: A velocity-weakening mechanism for soft glacier beds

If basal-water discharge and pressure are sufficiently high, a soft-bedded glacier will slip over its bed by ploughing, the process in which particles that span the ice-bed interface are dragged across the bed surface. Results of laboratory experiments indicate that resistance to ploughing can decrease with increasing ploughing velocity (velocity weakening). During ploughing at various velocities (15-400 ma-1), till was compacted in front of idealized particles, causing pore pressures there that were orders of magnitude higher than the ambient value. This excess pore pressure locally weakened the till in shear, thereby decreasing ploughing resistance by a factor of 3.0-6.6 with a six-fold increase in ploughing velocity. Characteristic timescales of pore-pressure diffusion and compaction down-glacier from ploughing particles depend on till diffusivity, ploughing velocity and sizes of ploughing particles. These timescales accurately predict the ranges of these variables over which excess pore pressure and velocity weakening occurred. Existing ploughing models do not account for velocity weakening. A new ploughing model with no adjustable parameters predicts ploughing resistance to no worse than 38% but requires that excess pore pressures be measured. Velocity weakening by this mechanism may affect fast glacier flow, sediment transport by bed deformation and basal seismicity.

Journal of Glaciology↗

USGS2017

Deformation of the Batestown till of the Lake Michigan lobe, Laurentide ice sheet

Deep, pervasive shear deformation of the bed to high strains (>100) may have been primarily responsible for flow and sediment transport of the Lake Michigan lobe of the Laurentide ice sheet. To test this hypothesis, we sampled at 0.2 m increments a basal till from one advance of the lobe (Batestown till) along vertical profiles and measured fabrics due to both anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility and sand-grain preferred orientation. Unlike past fabric studies, interpretations were guided by results of laboratory experiments in which this till was deformed in simple shear to high strains. Fabric strengths indicate that more than half of the till sampled has a <5% probability of having been sheared to moderate strains (7-30). Secular changes in fabric azimuth over the thickness of the till, probably due to changing ice-flow direction as the lobe receded, indicate that the bed accreted with time and that the depth of deformation of the bed did not exceed a few decimeters. Orientations of principal magnetic susceptibilities show that the state of strain was commonly complex, deviating from bed-parallel simple shear. Deformation is inferred to have been focused in shallow, temporally variable patches during till deposition from ice.

Journal of Glaciology↗

USGS2008

Magnetic fabric of sheared till: A strain indicator for evaluating the bed deformation model of glacier flow

Wet-based portions of ice sheets may move primarily by shearing their till beds, resting in high sediment fluxes and the development of subglacial landforms. This model of glacier movement, which requires high bed shear strains, can be tested using till microstructural characteristics that evolve during till deformation. Here we examine the development of magnetic fabric using a ring shear device to defom two Wisconsin-age basal tills to shear strains as high as 70. Hysteresis experiments and the dependence of magnetic susceptibility of these tills on temperature demonstrate that anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) develops during shear due to the rotation of primarily magnetite particles that are silt sized or smaller. At moderate shear strains (???6-25), principal axes of maximum magnetic susceptibility develop a strong fabric (S1 eignevalues of 0.83-0.96), without further strengthening at higher strains, During deformation, directions of maximum susceptibility cluster strongly in the direction of shear and plunge 'up-glacier,' consistent with the behavior of pebbles and sand particles studied in earlier experiments. In contrast, the magnitude of AMS does not vary systematically with strain and is small relative to its variability among samples; this is because most magnetite grains are contained as inclusions in larger particles and hence do not align during shear. Although processes other than pervasive bed deformation may result in strong flow parallel fabrics, AMS fabrics provide a rapid and objective means of identifying basal tills that have not been sheared sufficiently to be compatible with the bed deformation model. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface↗

USGS2008

The experimental basis for interpreting particle and magnetic fabrics of sheared till

Particle fabrics of basal tills may allow testing of the bed-deformation model of glacier flow, which requires high bed shear strains (>100). Field studies, however, have not yielded a systematic relationship between shear-strain magnitude and fabric development. To isolate this relationship four basal tills and viscous putty were sheared in a ring-shear device to strains as high as 714. Fabric was characterized within a zone of shear deformation using the long-axis orientations of fine-gravel and sand particles and the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) of small (???5-8 cm3) intact samples. Results indicate that till particles rotate toward the plane of shearing with long-axis orientations that become tightly clustered in the direction of shear (0??78 < S1 < 0??94 for three-dimensional data). These strong, steady-state fabrics are attained at shear strains of 7-30, with no evidence of fabric weakening with further strain, regardless of the specific till or particle-size fraction under consideration. These results do not support the Jeffery model of particle rotation, which correctly describes particle rotation in the viscous putty but not in the tills, owing to fluid-mechanical assumptions of the model that are violated in till. The sensitivity of fabric development to shear-strain magnitude indicates that, for most till units where shear-strain magnitude is poorly known, attributing fabric variations to spatial differences in other variables, such as till thickness or water content, will be inherently speculative. Attributing fabric characteristics to particular basal till facies is uncertain because shear-strain magnitude is unlikely to be closely correlated to till facies. Weak or spatially variable fabrics, in the absence of post-depositional disturbance or major deviations from unidirectional simple shear, indicate that till has not been pervasively sheared to the high strains required by the bed-deformation model. Strong flow-parallel fabrics are a necessary but insufficient criterion for confirming the model. Copyright ?? 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Earth Surface Processes and Landforms↗

USGS2006

Role of transient water pressure in quarrying: A subglacial experiment using acoustic emissions

Probably the most important mechanism of glacial erosion is quarrying: the growth and coalescence of cracks in subglacial bedrock and dislodgement of resultant rock fragments. Although evidence indicates that erosion rates depend on sliding speed, rates of crack growth in bedrock may be enhanced by changing stresses on the bed caused by fluctuating basal water pressure in zones of ice-bed separation. To study quarrying in real time, a granite step, 12 cm high with a crack in its stoss surface, was installed at the bed of Engabreen, Norway. Acoustic emission sensors monitored crack growth events in the step as ice slid over it. Vertical stresses, water pressure, and cavity height in the lee of the step were also measured. Water was pumped to the lee of the step several times over 8 days. Pumping initially caused opening of a leeward cavity, which then closed after pumping was stopped and water pressure decreased. During cavity closure, acoustic emissions emanating mostly from the vicinity of the base of the crack in the step increased dramatically. With repeated pump tests this crack grew with time until the step's lee surface was quarried. Our experiments indicate that fluctuating water pressure caused stress thresholds required for crack growth to be exceeded. Natural basal water pressure fluctuations should also concentrate stresses on rock steps, increasing rates of crack growth. Stress changes on the bed due to water pressure fluctuations will increase in magnitude and duration with cavity size, which may help explain the effect of sliding speed on erosion rates. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface↗

USGS2005

Debris-bed friction of hard-bedded glaciers

[1] Field measurements of debris-bed friction on a smooth rock tablet at the bed of Engabreen, a hard-bedded, temperate glacier in northern Norway, indicated that basal ice containing 10% debris by volume exerted local shear traction of up to 500 kPa. The corresponding bulk friction coefficient between the dirty basal ice and the tablet was between 0.05 and 0.08. A model of friction in which nonrotating spherical rock particles are held in frictional contact with the bed by bed-normal ice flow can account for these measurements if the power law exponent for ice flowing past large clasts is 1. A small exponent (n < 2) is likely because stresses in ice are small and flow is transient. Numerical calculations of the bed-normal drag force on a sphere in contact with a flat bed using n = 1 show that this force can reach values several hundred times that on a sphere isolated from the bed, thus drastically increasing frictional resistance. Various estimates of basal friction are obtained from this model. For example, the shear traction at the bed of a glacier sliding at 20 m a-1 with a geothermally induced melt rate of 0.006 m a-1 and an effective pressure of 300 kPa can exceed 100 kPa. Debris-bed friction can therefore be a major component of sliding resistance, contradicting the common assumption that debris-bed friction is negligible. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface↗

USGS2004

Assessing subglacial processes from diatom fragmentation patterns

Reconstructing the size and glacial style of past ice-sheet advances requires interpreting complex glacial sedimentary facies. We use diatoms, a major component of Antarctic continental shelf deposits, to infer the physical conditions under which these deposits were emplaced. The degree of diatom fragmentation and the presence of diatoms of varying stratigraphic age in glacial sediments provide means to qualitatively gauge glacial mixing and transport. Here we report an experimentally calibrated index of diatom fragmentation that provides a simple but objective method of assessing the degree of subshearing imparted on marine glacial sedimentary deposits. By using a ring-shear device to subject diatomaceous sediment to stresses comparable to those beneath the Ross ice streams, we quantitatively assess patterns of diatom comminution resulting from compaction and from progressive shear stress. Elongate pennate diatoms are found to break disproportionately to discoid centric diatoms when subjected to shear stress; thus, a simple ratio of unbroken centric to pennate diatoms provides a reliable gauge of past shearing. Comparison of ring-shear results with a suite of previously analyzed sediments that represent a variety of glacial, glacial-marine, and hemipelagic settings of the Ross Sea and subglacial Ross Embayment demonstrates that this index can be employed for estimating relative subglacial stresses in this setting. ?? 2004 Geological Society of America.

Geology↗

USGS2000

Acute sensitivity of landslide rates to initial soil porosity

Some landslides move imperceptibly downslope, whereas others accelerate catastrophically. Experimental landslides triggered by rising pore water pressure moved at sharply contrasting rates due to small differences in initial porosity. Wet sandy soil with porosity of about 0.5 contracted during slope failure, partially liquefied, and accelerated within 1 second to speeds over I meter per second. The same soil with porosity of about 0.4 dilated during failure and supped episodically at rates averaging 0.002 meter per second. Repeated slip episodes were induced by gradually rising pore water pressure and were arrested by pore dilation and attendant pore pressure decline.

Science↗

USGS2000

Clast-fabric development in a shearing granular material: Implications for subglacial till and fault gouge

Elongate clasts in subglacial till and in fault gouge align during shearing, but the relation between clast-fabric strength and cumulative shear strain for such materials is effectively unknown. This relation was explored in experiments with a large ring-shear device in which a till and a viscous putty that contained isolated clasts were sheared to high strains. As expected, rotation of clasts in the putty is closely approximated by the theory of G.B. Jeffrey, who derived the orbits of rigid ellipsoids in a slowly shearing fluid. Clast rotation in the till, however, is strikingly different. Rather than orbiting through the shear plane as predicted by Jeffery, most clasts rotate into the shear plane and remain there, resulting in strong fabrics regardless of the aspect ratios and initial orientations of clasts. This divergent behavior is likely due to slip of the till matrix along the surfaces of clasts, which is a natural expectation in a granular material but violates the no-slip condition of Jeffery's model. These results do not support the widespread belief that subglacial till deformation results in weak clast fabrics. Thus, many tills with weak fabrics thought to have been sheared subglacially to high strains, like many basal tills of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, may have been sheared only slightly with little effect on either ice-sheet dynamics or sediment transport. In addition, these results indicate that in simple shear the rotation of clasts in till and in fault gouge is best analyzed with the model of A. March, who treated inclusions as passive markers.

Geological Society of America Bulletin↗