Author(s): Sean Fitzsimons; Paul Sirota
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Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: A progressive simple shear regime in a cold-based glacier in the McMurdo dry valleys has produced three shear domains and several sliding interfaces within a 4 m-thick basal ice sequence. Although the deformation structures produced in each of the strain domains form distinctive associations, it appears that the principal control on the style of deformation is material strength. Simultaneous development of ductile and brittle deformation structures in adjacent strain domains suggests that heterogeneous deformation may produce complex structural associations in glacial deposits. These conclusions have important implications for studies that seek to reconstruct strain behaviour from subglacial deformation structures because co-existence of ductile and brittle deformation may be the result of a single deformation episode.
Year: 2002