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Fast-flowing outlet glaciers of the Last Glacial Maximum Patagonian Icefield

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Neil F. Glasser  and
Krister N. Jansson
Neil F. Glasser*
Affiliation:
Centre for Glaciology, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Ceredigion SY23 3DB, Wales, United Kingdom
Krister N. Jansson
Affiliation:
Department of Physical Geography and Quaternary Geology, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
*
*Corresponding author.E-mail addresses:nfg@aber.ac.uk (N.F. Glasser), krister@natgeo.su.se (K.N. Jansson).
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Abstract

Glacial geomorphology around the Northern Patagonian Icefield indicates that a number of fast-flowing outlet glaciers (the continuation of ice streams further upglacier) drained the icefield during the Last Glacial Maximum. These topographically controlled fast-flowing glaciers may have dictated the overall pattern of Last Glacial Maximum ice discharge, lowered the ice-surface profile, and forced the ice-divide westward. The influence of the fast-flowing outlet glaciers on icefield behavior also helps to explain why the configuration of the Patagonian Icefield at the Last Glacial Maximum is not accurately represented in existing numerical ice-sheet models. Fast-flowing outlet glaciers would have strongly influenced ice discharge patterns and therefore partially decoupled the icefield from climatically induced changes in thickness and extent.

Keywords

Northern Patagonian IcefieldSouth AmericaLast Glacial MaximumFast-flowing outlet glaciersIce dischargeGlacial lineationsIce-scoured bedrock
Type
Short Papers
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , March 2005 , pp. 206 - 211
Copyright
University of Washington

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