The Antarctic ice sheet mass budget is a very important factor for global sea level. An understanding of the glacial dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheet are essential for mass budget estimation. Utilizing a surface velocity field derived from Radarsat three-pass SAR interferometry, this study has investigated the strain rate, grounding line, balance velocity, and the mass balance of the entire Lambert Glacier – Amery Ice Shelf system, East Antarctica. The surface velocity increases abruptly from 350 m/year to 800 m/year at the main grounding line. It decreases as the main ice stream is floating, and increases to 1200 to 1500 m/year in the ice shelf front. The strain rate distribution defines the shear margins of ice flows. The major ice streams and their confluence area experience the most severe ice deformation. The width of the shear margin decreases as it flows downstream except for the convergent areas with tributary glaciers. The grounding line for the main ice stream and the boundary of Amery Ice Shelf and surrounding tributary glaciers is delineated. The total basal melting is estimated to be 87.82 ± 3.78 Gt/year for the entire Amery Ice Shelf. Compared with the ice flux (16.35 ± 3.11 Gt/year) at the ice shelf front, basal melting is apparently the dominant discharging process of the system. The melting rate for the Amery Ice Shelf decreases rapidly from the grounding zone (21.64 ± 2.17 m/year) to the ice shelf front (-0.95 ± 0.14 m/year). The Lambert Glacial Basin contributes the total ice mass of 95.64 ± 2.89 Gt/year to the ocean, which is equivalent to increasing the global sea level by 0.24 mm/year. Considering 90.54 ± 1.55 Gt/year of snow accumulation, the entire Lambert Glacier – Amery Ice Shelf system is slightly negatively imbalanced at -5.09 ± 3.46 Gt/year. Although the entire system is estimated to have a slight negative mass balance, three sub-glacial systems have a net positive mass balance due to a relatively high snow accumulation rate or relatively slow ice motion. Considering the large mass loss in West Antarctica, it is believed that the overall mass budget in Antarctica is negative based on this research.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-125). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

No description available.

Stratigraphic studies of layers of volcanic ash, or tephra, in buried soils have been used to date accurately Holocene glacier fluctuations in Southern Iceland. 132 stratigraphic sections up to 11m deep, and containing up to 78 tephra layers, were logged to a resolution of 0.25cm. The chronological framework was completed with 12 radiocarbon dates, and by examing the association of the tephra stratigraphy with moraines representing former ice margins, a chronology of Holocene glacier fluctuations was constructed. The forelands of five glaciers were studied: Seljavallajokull, Gigjokull and Steinholtsjokull (outlets of Eyjafjallajokull) and Solheimajokull and Klifurarjokull (outlets of Myrdalsjokull). This study has shown for the first time that large glaciers existed in mid-Holocene Iceland because after 700 BP and before 4500 BP Solheimajokull extended at least 4km beyond its present limits, and terminated at less than 100m above sea level. Other major advances of this glacier culminated before 3100 BP, and between 1400-1200 BP. In the tenth century AD Solheimajokull was also longer than during the late Little Ice Age (1700-1900 AD). In contrast, Klifurarjokull and all the outlets of Eyjafjallajokull reached a maximum Holocene extent during the late Little Ice Age. It is proposed that the anomalous behaviour of Solheimajokull may be explained as a result of catchment changes caused by the growth of the Myrdalsjokull ice cap. The great human impact on the landscape since the Norse Settlement (c870-930 AD) has also been assessed as a result of the extensive study of the aeolian sediments lying between numerous, accurately dated tephra layers. These studies show that a zone of chronic soil erosion developed in the natural upland pastures immediately after the Norse Settlement and slowly swept down hill to reach lowlying areas during the last 400 years.

No description available.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Toledo, 2006. / Typescript. "Submitted as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Science degree in Geology." Bibliography: leaves 57-65.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1939. / Vita. "Reprint of Colby monographs, no. 7, 1938." Bibliography: p. 62-64.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Michigan, 1931. / Cover title. "From American Journal of Science, vol. XXXIV, August, 1937." Bibliography: p. 123-124.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Columbia University, 1939. / Vita. "Reprint of Colby monographs, no. 7, 1938." Bibliography: p. 62-64.

Thesis (M.Sc.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland. / Typescript. Bibliography: leaves 185-197. Also available online.