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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 28, NO. 18, PAGES 3493–3496, 2001

Subglacial Sediments: A Regional Geological Template for Ice Flow in West Antarctica

Michael Studinger

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York

Robin E. Bell

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York

Donald D. Blankenship

Institute for Geophysics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

Carol A. Finn

U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado

Robert A. Arko

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York

David L. Morse

Institute for Geophysics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

Ian Joughin

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California

Abstract

We use aerogeophysical data to estimate the distribution of marine subglacial sediments and fault-bounded sedimentary basins beneath the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS). We find that significant ice flow occurs exclusively in regions covered by subglacial sediments. The onsets and lateral margins of ice streams coincide with the limit of marine sediments. Lateral margins are also consistently linked with fault-bounded basins. We predict that the inland migration of ice streams B and C ₁ towards the ice divide outside the region covered by marine or rift sediments is unlikely. The subglacial geology has the potential to modulate the dynamic evolution of the ice streams and the WAIS.

Received 16 May 2000; accepted 29 June 2001.

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Citation: Studinger, M., R. E. Bell, D. D. Blankenship, C. A. Finn, R. A. Arko, D. L. Morse, and I. Joughin (2001), Subglacial Sediments: A Regional Geological Template for Ice Flow in West Antarctica, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28(18), 3493–3496.

Copyright 2001 by the American Geophysical Union.