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Seismic and radar investigations of Fourcade Glacier on King George Island, Antarctica
To determine P- and S-wave velocities, elastic properties and subglacial topography of the polythermal Fourcade Glacier, surface seismic and radar surveys were conducted along a 470-m profile in November 2006. P- and S-wave velocity structures were determined by travel-time tomography and inversion of Rayleigh wave dispersion curves, respectively. The average P- and S-wave velocities of ice are 3466 and 1839 m s-1, respectively. Radar velocities were obtained by migration velocity analysis of 112 diffraction events. An estimate of 920 kg m-3 for the bulk density of wet ice corresponds to water contents of 5.1 and 3.2%, which were derived from the average P-wave and radar velocities, respectively. Using this density and the average P- and S-wave velocities, we estimate that the corresponding incompressibility and rigidity of the ice are 6.925 and 3.119 GPa, respectively. Synergistic interpretation of the radar profile and P- and S-wave velocities indicates the presence of a fracture zone above a subglacial high. Here, the P- and S-wave velocities are approximately 5 and 3% less than in the ice above a subglacial valley, respectively. The S-wave velocities indicate that warmer and less rigid ice underlies 10–15 m of colder ice near the surface of the glacier. Such layering is characteristic of polythermal glaciers. As a relatively simple non-invasive approach, integration of P-wave tomography, Rayleigh wave inversion and ground-towed radar is effective for various glaciological studies, including the elastic properties of englacial and subglacial materials, cold/warm ice interfaces, topography of a glacier bed and location of fracture zones.
- Entry ID
- KOPRI-KPDC-00000301
- KPDC_SRIFG_KGI_2006 (Old ID)
- Science Keyword
- ISO Topic
- CLIMATOLOGY/METEOROLOGY/ATMOSPHERE
- Platforms
- GPR(ground-penetrating radar)
- Seismic(Seismic)
- Personnel
- Joohan Lee (joohan@kopri.re.kr)
- Project
- Create/Update Date
- 2013-02-21 / 2013-02-21
- Location
- Continent > Antarctica > King George Island
- Dataset
- Seismic and radar investigations of Fourcade Glacier on King George Island, Antarctica Formation, evolution and neotectonics of Antarctica Lee,Joohan
- Seismic and radar investigations of Fourcade Glacier on King George Island, Antarctica `07 Antarctic Marine Geological Survey Lee,Joohan
- Citation
- The data(KOPRI-KPDC-00000301) used in this work was provided by the Korea Polar Research Institute.