Erosion by an Alpine glacier

• DOI: 10.1126/science.aab2386
• Publication Date: 2015-10-08T18:29:04Z
• Authors: Frédéric Herman; Olivier Beyssac; Mattia Brughelli; Stuart N. Lane; Sébastien Leprince; Thierry Adatte; Jiao Y. Y. Lin; Jean-Philippe Avouac; Simon C. Cox
• Keywords: 550; 13. Climate action; 15. Life on land; 01 natural sciences; 333; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

The glacial way of wearing awayThe rate at which glaciers erode landscapes is an important but poorly constrained relationship. Hermanet al.tackle this issue by considering the Franz Josef alpine glacier in New Zealand. The amount of sediment piling up at the edge of the glacier provided erosion rates, whereas remote sensing allowed for simultaneous tracking of glacial motion. The result was a nonlinear relationship, suggesting that fast glaciers are much more effective at gouging landscapes. This could explain the paradox of why long-term erosion rates are so much lower in polar regions with more permanent glaciers.Science, this issue p.193