Stick–slip sliding behaviour at the base of a glacier

Measurement of basal sliding is an important component in studying the mechanical and hydrological coupling between a glacier and its bed. During the 1992 summer field season we used a “drag spool” to measure sliding at the ice/bed interface of Trapridge Glacier, a small surge-type glacier in the St Elias Mountains, Yukon Territory, Canada. Measured diurnal variations in sliding appear to be correlated to subglacial water pressure fluctuations. In contrast to other observations where peak subglacial water pressure and glacier motion appear to coincide, our data imply that maximum sliding rates coincide with rises in water pressure. If the growth of water-filled cavities at the glacier bed is associated with these pressure increases, then our observations may correspond to numerical results by Iken (1981) which indicate that the largest sliding velocity occurs during cavity growth and not when the steady-state size of cavitation is attained. However, our data suggest the idea that a localized stick–slip relaxation process is at work. As the water pressure rises, a local strain build-up in the ice is released, resulting in a momentary increase in sliding rate; once the finite relaxation has occurred, further rises in water pressure do not produce additional enhancement of basal sliding, and the stick–slip cycle begins again by accumulation of elastic strain. We have developed a theoretical model for the sliding motion of ice over a surface having a basal drag that varies temporally in response to changes in subglacial water pressure. Our model results support the proposed stick–slip sliding process at the glacier base, whereby accumulated elastic strain in the ice is released as the rising water pressure decouples the ice from the bed.