POSTPONED — [12.571] Kasia Warburton (Dartmouth)
Date: Tuesday, April 23, 2024 Time: 10:00 - 11:00am Location: 54-915 | MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA“Tide-sediment interactions beneath Antarctica”
Abstract: The majority of ice in Antarctica reaches the ocean through fast-flowing ice streams, which slide over a layer of water-saturated subglacial sediment (till). Understanding the dynamics of the sediment is therefore key to understanding the behaviour of Antarctic glaciers. In this talk, I will discuss two ways in which tidal processes shed light on the rheology of till. First, I will describe how the morphology of tidally-modulated ribbed landforms observed close Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica, constrain sediment fluxes and ice retreat rates in the recent past. I will then switch to the microscale, and using ideas from granular mechanics, discuss the tidally-driven grain-water interactions in the till, and how this explains velocity patterns in present-day West Antarctic glaciers.
[12.571] Seminar in Geophysics
Lecture portion of EAPS graduate-level class in geophysics, 12.571. All members of the MIT community are welcome to join for presentations by guest speakers, held approximately every two weeks during the term.
Contact: erl-info@mit.edu