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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 2005; v. 242; p. 99-109;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.2005.242.01.09
© 2005 Geological Society of London

Proglacial and Ice Marginal Processes

Melt rates at calving termini: a study at Glaciar León, Chilean Patagonia

Eleanor Haresign & Charles R. Warren

School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, Fife KY16 9AL, Scotland, UK ech{at}st-andrews.ac.uk

Glaciar León, a temperate, grounded outlet of the North Patagonian Icefield, terminates at an active but stable calving margin in Lago Leones. Glaciological and limnological data gathered during 2001 and 2002 are used to examine the relative contributions of calving and melting to mass loss at the terminus, and the interplay between glacier and lake processes. The calving rate of 880 m/a in a mean water depth of 65 m is high for lake-calving glaciers. Subaerial melt rates at the terminus are small compared with calving rates, but melting at the waterline facilitates calving by undercutting the subaerial calving cliff. Ice-proximal surface water temperatures of 6–7°C allow waterline melt notches to grow at rates of c. 0.8 m/day, suggesting that melt-driven calving accounts for c. 23% of ice loss at the terminus. The significance of melting at calving termini decreases with increasing calving speeds, but is greater than simple calculations of melt losses suggest because of the process-linkage with calving.





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