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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.

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Entry ID
DOI
https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.22663/KOPRI-KPDC-00000301.1
Copyright
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.

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