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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS,
VOL. 33,
L24504,
5 PP., 2006
doi:10.1029/2006GL028467
Rapid erosion of soft sediments by tidewater glacier advance: Taku Glacier, Alaska, USA
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Taku Glacier in southeast Alaska has advanced 7.5 km over the last 115 years, overriding its own glaciomarine and outwash
sediments. We have documented rapid erosion of these sediments by comparing radio echo soundings (RES) along five transects
(2003–2005) to earlier RES surveys (1989 and 1994) and to early bathymetric surveys of the proglacial fjord. Erosion rates,
, reached 3.9 ± 0.8 m a−1 (1989–2003) at a distance, L, of 5.4 km from the 2003 terminus, where ice thickness, H, is 610 m. averaged 2.0 ± 0.1 m a−1 (1940–2005) at L = 3 km (H = 350 m), and 1.5 ± 0.2 m a−1 (1952–2005) at L = 1.5 km (H = 250 m). Detailed mapping over a 4 km2 area of the terminus revealed a deeply incised channel in line with a major outlet stream. Glaciofluvial processes must play
the dominant role in the subglacial erosion and removal of these unlithified sediments.
Received 13 October 2006; accepted 14 November 2006; published 22 December 2006.
Citation: (2006), Rapid erosion of soft sediments by tidewater glacier advance: Taku Glacier, Alaska, USA, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L24504, doi:10.1029/2006GL028467.
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