Influence of the grounding zone on the internal structure of ice shelves

Miles, K. E., Hubbard, B., Luckman, A., Kulessa, B., Bevan, S., Thompson, S. and Jones, G. 2025. Influence of the grounding zone on the internal structure of ice shelves. Nature Communications 16 (1) , 4383. 10.1038/s41467-025-58973-2

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Abstract

Antarctic ice shelves typically comprise continental meteoric ice, in situ-accumulated meteoric ice, and marine ice accumulated at the shelf base. Using borehole optical televiewer logs from across Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctic Peninsula, we identify and report an intermediate ice unit, located between continental and in situ meteoric ice, that is tens of metres thick and formed of layers that progressively increase in dip (by ~60°) with depth. The unit’s stratigraphic position and depth, supported by flowline modelling, indicate formation at the grounding zone. We hypothesise that the unit forms due to changes in the surface slope of feeder glaciers at the grounding zone, resulting in both variable surface accumulation and intense deformation. The top of the unit also marks the depth at which lateral consistency in radar layering is lost from radargrams, which may, to some degree, mark the depth of grounding zone ice across all ice shelves.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Published Online
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Earth and Environmental Sciences
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/, Type: open-access
Publisher:	Nature Research
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 May 2025
Date of Acceptance:	4 April 2025
Last Modified:	16 May 2025 09:15
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/178315

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