Mechanical Properties of Dye 3 Greenland Deep Ice Cores

Uniaxial compression tests were carried out with specimens cut from several deep ice cores obtained at Dye 3, Greenland, in 1980 and 1981. The power law relationship of = Ασηwas obtained between the uniaxial strain-rate and the uniaxial stress σ. In a range of strain-rates between 10−8and 10−7s−1, the value of the power n for samples with strong single maximum fabric was approximately 4, significantly larger than the value of 3 which has been generally accepted from experiments using artificial polycrystalline ice. A work-hardening effect was found in the ice-core samples taken from a depth of 1900 m, which had a smaller grain size than the others. Recrystallization occurred when the temperature of the specimen was raised during the test and this ultimately caused the formation of the so-called diamond pattern ice fabric.