anchor ice formation in streams a field study in northern steep streams anchor ice is commonly observed during winter and plays a key role when considering in stream conditions the understanding however of the nature of anchor ice formation is less understood in particular under natural conditions in the following observations of anchor ice formation in three stream environments with different physical characteristics are presented results demonstrate that anchor ice not only form in riffle areas but also in shallow and slow running stream sections no linkage between spatial distribution of anchor ice and calculated dimensionless numbers froude and reynolds number was found furthermore analyses on growth and density showed that anchor ice may be distinguished by two main types 1 type i lower density forming on top of substrata 2 type ii higher density forming between the substrata filling interstitial spaces distribution of anchor ice types i and ii suggests a relation between intensity of turbulence expressed by the reynolds number growth pattern and density as anchor ice has both physical and biological implications on in stream environments findings from the present study may be of particular interest to cold region freshwater stream management copyright 2009 john wiley sons ltd

seismicity related to the glacier of cotopaxi volcano ecuador 1 significant seismic activity is generally recorded on volcanoes covered by an icecap this work was carried out in order to quantify the role of the glaciers in the generation of seismicity for cotopaxi volcano we compared the seismic activity registered on the glacier and on the rock near the snout of the north flank glacier we focused on the analysis of low frequency events 5 hz similar to volcanic lp events when recorded on rock base the particle motion analysis helps to estimate source locations which are distributed in crevasses areas high incident angles suggest a superficial origin these events are interpreted as icequakes for which we propose as source mechanism a fluid driven crack model triggered by ice cracking or hydraulic transients the low quality factor values estimated are consistent with the resonance of an ice crack filled with water this work shows that low frequency icequakes can be confusingly taken as volcanic lp events

experimental study of incipient motion in mixed size sediment transport rates of five sediments were measured in a laboratory flume three of these sediments had the same mean size the same size distribution shape and different values of grain size distribution standard deviation the critical shear stress for incipient motion of the individual size fractions within these sediments was estimated as that shear stress that produced a small dimensionless transport rate the sorting of the sediment mixture had little effect on the critical shear stress of individual fractions once the median size d50 of the mixture and a fraction s relative size di d50 are accounted for our data combined with previously published data show a remarkably consistent relation between the critical shear stress of individual fractions and the fraction s relative grain size despite a broad variation in the available data of mixture sorting grain size distribution shape mean grain size and grain shape all fractions in a size mixture begin moving at close to the same value of bed shear stress during steady state transport conditions this result is apparently true for transport systems where the transport rates of individual fractions are determined solely by the flow and bed sediment recirculating systems as well as for systems where the fractional transport rates are imposed on the system feed systems this equivalence in initial motion results is important because natural transporting systems often show attributes of both types of behavior in an unknown combination

jokulhlaups a reassessment of floodwater flow through glaciers 1 in glaciated catchments glacier generated floods jokulhlaups put human activity at risk with large sporadic jokulhlaups accounting for most flood related fatalities and damage to infrastructure in studies of jokulhlaup hydrodynamics the view predominates that floodwater travels within a distinct conduit eroded into the underside of a glacier however some jokulhlaups produce subglacial responses wholly inconsistent with the conventional theory of drainage by focusing on icelandic jokulhlaups this article reassesses how floodwater flows through glaciers it is argued that two physically separable classes of jokulhlaup exist and that not all jokulhlaups are an upward extrapolation of processes inherent in events of lesser magnitude and smaller scale the hydraulic coupling of multiple nonlinear components to the flood circuit of a glacier can induce extreme responses including pressure impulses in subglacial drainage representing such complexity in mathematical form should be the basis for upcoming research as future modeling results may help to determine the glaciological processes behind heinrich events moreover such an approach would lead to more accurate predictive models of jokulhlaup timing and intensity

the 2010 maule chile earthquake downdip rupture limit revealed by space geodesy radar interferometry from the alos satellite captured the coseismic ground deformation associated with the 2010 mw 8 8 maule chile earthquake the alos interferograms reveal a sharp transition in fringe pattern at 150 km from the trench axis that is diagnostic of the downdip rupture limit of the maule earthquake an elastic dislocation model based on ascending and descending alos interferograms and 13 near field 3 component gps measurements reveals that the coseismic slip decreases more or less linearly from a maximum of 17 m along strike average of 6 5 m at 18 km depth to near zero at 43 48 km depth quantitatively indicating the downdip limit of the seismogenic zone the depth at which slip drops to near zero appears to be at the intersection of the subducting plate with the continental moho our model also suggests that the depth where coseismic slip vanishes is nearly uniform along the strike direction for a rupture length of 600 km the average coseismic slip vector and the interseismic velocity vector are not parallel which can be interpreted as a deficit in strike slip moment release

tidal forcing of basal seismicity of ice stream c west antarctica observed far inland the seismicity rate beneath the downglacier 85 km of ice stream c west antarctica is modulated by the tide the tide beneath the ross ice shelf modifies the force balance of the ice stream basal environment enough to change the rate of basal microearthquake generation by an order of magnitude this tidal forcing travels up the ice stream as an attenuating wave at approximately 1 6m s 1 and is detectable 85km from the grounding line we successfully model this behavior as an elastic ice stream underlain by a viscous substrate of viscosity and thickness hb and calculate that the substrate has an apparent stiffness hb of o 108 pa s m 1 this finding suggests that the conditions of the till layer at the bed of ice stream c are similar to those of ice stream b and that the reason for the recent stagnation of ice stream c is other than loss of till we further find that the ice stream at the grounding line is more strongly affected by ice shelf processes than by the basal shear stress

what was the transport mode of large boulders in the campine plateau and the lower meuse valley during the mid pleistocene abstract the campine plateau in northeastern belgium a remnant of an alluvial fan deposited by the meuse river during the mid pleistocene is characterised by the presence of boulders with maximum dimensions of up to 2 m embedded in a gravel matrix these boulders originated in the ardennes region and are generally assumed to have been transported by ice rafting processes this paper investigates for the first time quantitatively the possibility of purely hydraulic transport of the boulders taking into account channel and flow characteristics in the boulder provenance area during the mid pleistocene empirical transport relations that describe incipient motion thresholds in nonuniform river beds as a function of the relative grain size or the ratio between the grain size of interest and the median grain size of the channel bed are applied in order to calculate critical water depths for transport of boulders of various sizes results indicate that hydraulic transport of boulders with intermediate diameters

earthquakes a chilean surprise initiation of the great 2010 chile earthquake occurred within the rupture zone of the 1835 event experienced by charles darwin however the peak fault slip was to the north of the epicentre not where it was expected to occur

source mechanism of volcanic tremor low frequency 10 hz volcanic earthquakes originate at a wide range of depths and occur before during and after magmatic eruptions the characteristics of these earthquakes suggest that they are not typical tectonic events physically analogous processes occur in hydraulic fracturing of rock formations low frequency icequakes in temperate glaciers and autoresonance in hydroelectric power stations we propose that unsteady fluid flow in volcanic conduits is the common source mechanism of low frequency volcanic earthquakes tremor the fluid dynamic source mechanism explains low frequency earthquakes of arbitrary duration magnitude and depth of origin as unsteady flow is independent of physical properties of the fluid and conduit fluid transients occur in both low viscosity gases and high viscosity liquids a fluid transient analysis can be formulated as generally as is warranted by knowledge of the composition and physical properties of the fluid material properties geometry and roughness of the conduit and boundary conditions to demonstrate the analytical potential of the fluid dynamic theory we consider a single phase fluid a melt of mount hood andesite at 1250 c in which significant pressure and velocity variations occur only in the longitudinal direction further simplification of the conservation of mass and momentum equations presents an eigenvalue problem that is solved to determine the natural frequencies and associated damping of flow and pressure oscillations for a simple constant pressure reservoir conduit orifice fluid system a change in orifice size can cause the source signal duration due to a single disturbance to change from several seconds to in excess of an hour fluid kinematic viscosity 0 412 m2 s is both included and neglected in the analysis to illustrate its effect upon system damping tremor magnitude is related to the magnitude of the conduit wall motion occurring in response to oscillating fluid pressures the entire volcanic fluid system does not generally experience a transient flow condition at a given time closed end and constant pressure fluid system boundaries reflect pressure waves and isolate components of the fluid system total fluid movement may not be accurately monitored by tremor data alone since steady state and slowly changing flows are aseismic

entrainment of gravel from naturally sorted riverbed material the critical dimensionless shear stress ci required to entrain a given size particle di was computed from extensive bedload transport measurements in three self formed rivers that have naturally sorted gravel and cobble bed material the value of ci was determined to be significantly affected by the size distribution of the riverbed material for bed particles between 0 3 to 4 2 times the median diameter of the subsurface bed material d50 the average critical dimensionless shear stress ci is equal to ci 0 0834 di d50 0 872 with a coefficient of determination of 0 980 for bed particles larger than 4 2 times d50 ci appears to approach a constant value of approximately 0 020 in a noneroding channel thus ci varies from 0 25 to 0 020 for a given particle depending on the ratio of di to d50 previous investigations of the hydraulic conditions required to entrain coarse riverbed material have reported critical shear stress values ranging from 0 25 to 0 020 for a given particle size this analysis indicates that virtually all of the variation is due to differences in the subsurface bed material size distribution this analysis shows that ci varies almost inversely proportional to the particle diameter for a nonuniform bed material therefore bed particles between 0 3 to 4 2 times d50 are entrained at nearly the same discharge an investigation of the hydraulic characteristics and bed material mobility of 24 self formed gravel bed rivers in colorado determined that particles as large as the median diameter of the bed surface were entrained by discharges equal to the bankfull stage or less particles as large as the 90th percentile fraction were entrained by the bankfull discharge in nine of the rivers studied consequently in these rivers a significant fraction of the riverbed was entrained rather frequently over a period of years although the transport rate was very small

effective discrimination of icequakes on seismic records from mawson station abstract the telemetered seismic station at mawson antarctica was one of the primary australian stations participating in the group of scientific experts technical test gsett experiment to test an international seismic monitoring system mawson signals are continuously transmitted to the national data center ndc in canberra and also forwarded to the international data centre idc in washington where further event analysis is performed numerous seismic signals are recorded on seismograms from the mawson station with a likely mechanism of sudden fracturing of ice the aim of this study was to find a procedure which will effectively discriminate seismic signals from these icequakes and thus speed up the analysis of the other detected events an automatic algorithm was designed to identify icequakes according to their characteristics frequency content duration azimuth inclination and magnitude the program was tested on a few datasets of randomly selected periods and one comprised of records of nuclear explosions detonated in the period of 1995 96 the preliminary results showed that this method was capable of distinguishing icequakes and could substantially improve the production of an automated event list

influence of sand on hydraulics and gravel transport in a braided gravel bed river measurements in a braided reach of the proglacial white river washington are used to compare the bed load capacity and competence of flow over the predominant gravel bed and over a narrow ribbon of mobile sand which extended alongside the talweg analysis of 144 velocity profiles and 222 bed load samples shows that shear stress and roughness height were significantly lower over sand than gravel but maximum bed load diameter and total gravel transport rate significantly higher as were transport rates of given size fractions at similar shear stresses these differences in competence and capacity are explained by relative size effects on the threshold shear stress for entrainment the influence on gravel transport of local variation in bed material size may explain the self sorting of bed load sheets described by other workers however in channels like that described here the continuous longitudinal ribbon of sand allows the flow to develop a lower shear stress over the smoother bed which partly offsets the relative size effects on competence and capacity

impact of topography on earthquake static slip estimates abstract our understanding of earthquakes is limited by our knowledge and our description of the physics of the earth when solving for subsurface fault slip it is common practice to assume minimum complexity for characteristics such as topography fault geometry and elastic properties these characteristics are rarely accounted for because our knowledge of them is often partial and they can be difficult to include in simulations however topography and bathymetry are known all over the earth s surface and recently developed software packages such as specfem x have simplified the process of including them in calculations here we explore the impact of topography on static slip estimates we also investigate whether the influence of topography can be accounted for with a zeroth order correction which accounts for variations in distance between subfaults and the surface of the domain to this end we analyze the 2015 mw 7 5 gorkha nepal and the 2010 mw 8 8 maule chile earthquakes within a bayesian framework the regions affected by these events represent different types of topography chile which contains both a deep trench and a major orogen the andes has a greater overall elevation range and steeper gradients than nepal where the primary topographic feature is the himalayan mountain range additionally the slip of the continental nepal event is well constrained whereas observations are less informative in a subduction context we show that topography has a non negligible impact on inferred slip models our results suggest that the effect of topography on slip estimates increases with limited observational constraints and high elevation gradients in particular we find that accounting for topography improves slip estimates where topographic gradients are large when topography has a significant impact on slip the zeroth order correction is not sufficient

episodic activity of a dormant fault in tectonically stable europe the rauw fault ne belgium abstract our knowledge about large earthquakes in stable continental regions comes from studies of faults that generated historical surface rupturing earthquakes or were identified by their recent imprint in the morphology here we evaluate the co seismic character and movement history of the rauw fault in belgium which lacks geomorphological expression and historical present seismicity this 55 km long normal fault with known neogene and possibly early pleistocene activity is the largest offset fault west of the active roer valley graben its trace was identified in the shallow subsurface based on high resolution geophysics all the layers within the late pliocene mol formation 3 6 to 2 59 ma are displaced 7 m vertically without growth faulting but deeper deposits show increasing offset a paleoseismic trench study revealed cryoturbated but unfaulted late glacial coversands overlying faulted layers of mol formation in between those deposits the fault tip was eroded along with evidence for individual displacement events fragmented clay gouge observed in a micromorphology sample of the main fault evidences co seismic faulting as opposed to fault creep based on optical and electron spin resonance dating and trench stratigraphy the 7 m combined displacement is bracketed to have occurred between 2 59 ma and 45 ka the regional presence of the sterksel formation alluvial terrace deposits limited to the hanging wall of the rauw fault indicates a deflection of the meuse rhine confluence 1 0 to 0 5 ma by the fault s activity suggesting that most of the offset occurred prior to at this time interval in the trench sterksel formation is eroded but reworked gravel testifies for its former presence hence the rauw fault appears as typical of plate interior context with an episodic seismic activity concentrated between 1 0 and 0 5 ma or at least between 2 59 ma to 45 ka possibly related to activity variations in the adjacent continuously active roer valley graben

coseismic slip of the 2010 mw 8 8 great maule chile earthquake quantified by the inversion of grace observations abstract the 27 february 2010 mw 8 8 maule chile earthquake ruptured over 500 km along a mature seismic gap between 34 s and 38 s the concepcion constitucion gap where no large megathrust earthquakes had occurred since the 1835 mw 8 5 event notable discrepancies exist in slip distribution and moment magnitude estimated by various models inverted using traditional observations such as teleseismic networks coastal river markers tsunami sensors global positioning system gps and interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar we conduct a spatio spectral localization analysis based on slepian basis functions of data from gravity recovery and climate experiment grace to extract coseismic gravity change signals of the maule earthquake with improved spatial resolution 350 km half wavelength our results reveal discernible differences in the average slip between the grace observation and predictions from various coseismic models the sensitivity analysis reveals that grace observation is sensitive to the size of the fault but unable to separate depth and slip here we assume the depth of the fault is known and simultaneously invert for the fault plane area and the average slip using the simulated annealing algorithm our grace inverted fault plane length and width are 429 6 km 146 5 km respectively the estimated slip is 8 1 1 2 m indicating that most of the strain accumulated since 1835 in the concepcion constitucion gap was released by the 2010 maule earthquake

shape and amount of the quaternary uplift of the western rhenish shield and the ardennes western europe article i nfo a good evaluation of the quaternary uplift of the rhenish shield is a key element for the understanding of the cenozoic geodynamics of the western european platform in front of the alpine arc previous maps of the massif uplift relied on fluvial incision data since the time of the rivers younger main terrace to infer a maximum post 0 73 ma uplift of 290 m in the se eifel here we propose a new interpretation of the incision data of the intra massif streams where anomalies in the terrace profiles would result from knickpoint retreat in the tributaries of the main rivers rather than from tectonic deformation we also use additional geomorphological data referring to 1 deformed tertiary planation surfaces 2 the history of stream piracy that severely affected the meuse basin in the last 1 ma and 3 incision data outside the rhenish shield a new map of the post 0 73 ma uplift of the rhenish shield is drawn on the basis of this enlarged dataset it reduces the maximum amount of tectonic uplift in the se eifel to 140 m and modifies the general shape of the uplift namely straightening its e w profile it is also suggested that an uplift wave migrated across the massif starting from its southern margin in the early pleistocene and currently showing the highest intensity of uplift in the northern ardennes and eifel these features seem to favour an uplift mechanism chiefly related to lithospheric folding and minimize the impact on the topography of a more local eifel plume

field based analysis of sediment entrainment in two high gradient streams located in alpine and andine environments abstract this paper presents an analysis of critical thresholds for bedload transport based on field measurements conducted in two small high gradient streams the rio cordon italian alps and the tres arroyos chilean andes the threshold of incipient motion was identified by using marked particles displacement and both flood and flow competence approaches the findings are expressed in terms of shields parameter dimensionless discharge and specific stream power and are used to identify the effects of relative grain size relative depth and bedform resistance overall particle entrainment tends to be size selective rather than exhibiting equal mobility and the high values of dimensionless critical shear stress observed at both study sites confirm the additional roughness effects of step pool morphologies that are very effective in reducing the bed shear stress and causing an apparent increase in critical shear stress

localized fault slip to the trench in the 2010 maule chile mw 8 8 earthquake from joint inversion of high rate gps teleseismic body waves insar campaign gps and tsunami observations the 27 february 2010 mw 8 8 maule earthquake ruptured 500 km along the plate boundary offshore central chile between 34 s and 38 5 s establishing whether coseismic fault offset extended to the trench is important for interpreting both shallow frictional behavior and potential for tsunami earthquakes in the region joint inversion of high rate gps teleseismic body waves interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar campaign gps and tsunami observations yields a kinematic rupture model with improved resolution of slip near the trench bilateral rupture expansion is resolved in our model with relatively uniform slip of 5 10 m downdip beneath the coast and two near trench high slip patches with 12 m displacements the peak slip is 17 m at a depth of 15 km on the central megathrust located 200 km north from the hypocenter and overlapping the rupture zone of the 1928 m 8 event the updip slip is 16 m near the trench another shallow near trench patch is located 150 km southwest of the hypocenter with a peak slip of 12 m checkerboard resolution tests demonstrate that correctly modeled tsunami data are critical to resolution of slip near the trench with other data sets allowing but not requiring slip far offshore large interplate aftershocks have a complementary distribution to the coseismic slip pattern filling in gaps or outlining edges of large slip zones two clusters of normal faulting events locate seaward along the plate motion direction from the localized regions of large near trench slip suggesting that proximity of slip to the trench enhanced extensional faulting in the underthrusting plate

unequal mobility of gravel and sand in weakly bimodal river sediments bed load was trapped during flood events over a 20 month period at the lower end of the allt dubhaig a small river in scotland with rapid downstream fining of gravel bed material on a slowly aggrading concave long profile the channel bed near the trap is predominantly gravel with a secondary sand mode total transport in each event depended mainly on peak shear stress rather than duration over a threshold bed load was mainly sand in smaller events bimodal in intermediate events and mainly gravel in the biggest floods mean and maximum grain diameter both increased with peak shear stress but in different ways analysis of fractional transport rates and maximum grain size in relation to peak shear stress suggests that gravel transport is slightly size selective but sand transport is close to equal mobility the slight selectivity in gravel transport is consistent with previous field studies of near equilibrium unimodal beds and supports assumptions made in the numerical model of hoey and ferguson 1994 which successfully simulates the observed amount of downstream fining over the 2 5 km upstream of the bed load trap

glacier generated earthquakes from prince william sound alaska analysis of seismic records from stations near the prince william sound supports the association of monochromatic low frequency signals with tidewater glaciers in the area thirty three of the larger better recorded signals with corresponding earthquake magnitudes of ml 1 5 to 2 5 were located using routine seismological techniques epicenters for these glacierquakes clustered in the vicinity of the harvard columbia yale and barry glaciers monthly counts from one station for 1975 1979 and part of 1976 range from less than 4 to 248 events a sudden decrease in the number of events per month in mid 1979 raises the possibility of a single source or a common source mechanism for these glacier related signals the monochromatic nondispersive waveforms which characterize these 1 to 2 hz signals may result from harmonic resonance of the glaciers in the epicentral region we speculate that a variety of source mechanisms within or near the glaciers may provide the initial impulse for these events however the characteristic observed waveform is most likely the result of seismic energy which is internally reflected within the ice at fundamental resonant frequencies boundary conditions associated with tidewater glaciers may also allow the ice body to act as a wave guide for shear or surface waves the signal we observe therefore appears to be a source site phenomenon

the diversity of large earthquakes and its implications for hazard mitigation with the advent of broadband seismology and gps significant diversity in the source radiation spectra of large earthquakes has been clearly demonstrated this diversity requires different approaches to mitigate hazards in certain tectonic environments seismologists can forecast the future occurrence of large earthquakes within a solid scientific framework using the results from seismology and gps such forecasts are critically important for long term hazard mitigation practices but because stochastic fracture processes are complex the forecasts are inevitably subject to large uncertainty and unexpected events will continue to surprise seismologists recent developments in real time seismology will help seismologists to cope with and prepare for tsunamis and earthquakes combining a better understanding of earthquake diversity with modern technology is the key to effective and comprehensive hazard mitigation practices

paleohydrology of arid southeastern maui hawaiian islands and its implications for prehistoric human settlement abstract arid slopes on the southeastern side of maui are densely covered with archaeological remains of hawaiian settlement from the late prehistoric to early postcontact period ca a d 1500 1860 permanent habitation sites agricultural features and religious structures indicate perennial occupation and farming in a subregion called kahikinui yet there is presently no year round water source we explore the possibility that postcontact deforestation led to the loss of either 1 perennial channel flow or 2 perennial springs or seeps to investigate the first possibility we estimated ancient peak flows on 11 ephemeral channels in kahikinui using field measurements and paleohydrology peak flow estimates 3 230 m3 s for a given drainage area are smaller than those for current perennial maui streams but are equivalent to gauged peak flows from ephemeral and intermittent streams in the driest regions of hawai i and maui islands this is consistent with the long term absence of perennial channel flow in kahikinui on the other hand others have shown that canopy fog drip in hawai i can be greater than rainfall and thus a large part of groundwater recharge using isolated live remnants and snags we estimate the former extent of the forest upstream from archaeological sites we use rough estimates of the loss of fog drip recharge caused by deforestation and apply a simple steady state hydrologic model to calculate potential groundwater table fall these order of magnitude estimates indicate that groundwater could have fallen by a minimum of several meters abandoning perennial seeps this is consistent with archaeological evidence for former perennial seeps such as stonewalls enclosing potential seeps to protect them although longer term reductions in rainfall cannot be ruled out as a factor deforestation and loss of fog drip recharge are obvious and more immediate reasons for a recent loss of perennial water in kahikinui maui

subduction zone slip variability during the last millennium south central chile abstract the arauco peninsula 37 38 s in south central chile has been proposed as a possible barrier to the along strike propagation of megathrust ruptures separating historical earthquakes to the south 1960 ad 1837 1737 and 1575 and north 2010 ad 1835 1751 1657 and 1570 of the peninsula however the 2010 mw 8 8 earthquake propagated into the arauco peninsula re rupturing part of the megathrust that had ruptured only 50 years earlier during the largest subduction zone earthquake in the instrumental record mw 9 5 to better understand long term slip variability in the arauco peninsula region we analyzed four coastal sedimentary sections from two sites tirua 38 3 s and quidico 38 1 s located within the overlap of the 2010 and 1960 ruptures to reconstruct a 600 year record of coseismic land level change and tsunami inundation stratigraphic lithologic and diatom results show variable coseismic land level change coincident with tsunami inundation of the tirua and quidico marshes that is consistent with regional historical accounts of coseismic subsidence during earthquakes along the valdivia portion of the subduction zone 1960 ad and 1575 and coseismic uplift during earthquakes along the maule portion of the subduction zone 2010 ad 1835 1751 in addition we document variable coseismic land level change associated with three new prehistoric earthquakes and accompanying tsunamis in 1470 1570 ad 1425 1455 and 270 410 the mixed record of coseismic subsidence and uplift that we document illustrates the variability of down dip and lateral slip distribution at the overlap of the 2010 and 1960 ruptures showing that ruptures have repeatedly propagated into but not through the arauco peninsula and suggesting the area has persisted as a long term impediment to slip through at least seven of the last megathrust earthquakes 600 years

source mechanics for monochromatic icequakes produced during iceberg calving at columbia glacier ak 1 seismograms recorded during iceberg calving contain information pertaining to source processes during calving events however locally variable material properties may cause signal distortions known as site and path effects which must be eliminated prior to commenting on source mechanics we applied the technique of horizontal vertical spectral ratios to passive seismic data collected at columbia glacier ak and found no dominant site or path effects rather monochromatic waveforms generated by calving appear to result from source processes we hypothesize that a fluid filled crack source model offers a potential mechanism for observed seismograms produced by calving and fracture processes preceding calving

critical specific stream power in gravel bed rivers experiments with marked pebbles were carried out on different sized rivers of the belgian ardenne catchment areas varying from less than 1 km2 to 2700 km2 specific stream power required to cause bedload movement was evaluated and critical values were obtained three types of relationship between critical specific stream power 0 and grain size d were established the values for 0 in the largest river the ourthe were the lowest and were close to the values obtained for mountainous rivers carrying large boulders in medium sized rivers catchment area between 40 and 500 km2 the critical unit stream power was higher it is likely that it is due to the bedform s greater resistance this resistance would use up some of the energy that can cause movement and transport of bedload the amount of resistance of the bedform can be expressed as bedform shear stress determined by the relationship between grain shear stress that determines movement and transport of the bedload and the total shear stress this ratio varies between 0 4 and 0 5 in the medium sized rivers compared to 0 7 in the ourthe in headwater streams less than 20 km2 there is greater loss of energy due to bedform resistance 0 3 critical specific stream power is higher in this third type of river than in the other two

teleseismic inversion for rupture process of the 27 february 2010 chile mw 8 8 earthquake the 27 february 2010 chile m w 8 8 earthquake is the fifth largest earthquake to strike during the age of seismological instrumentation the faulting geometry slip distribution seismic moment and moment rate function are estimated from broadband teleseismic p sh and rayleigh wave signals we explore some of the trade offs in the rupture process estimation due to model parameterizations limited teleseismic sampling of seismic phase velocities and uncertainty in fault geometry the average slip over the 81 500 km 2 rupture area is about 5 m with slip concentrations down dip up dip and southwest and up dip and north of the hypocenter relatively little slip occurred up dip offshore of the hypocenter the average rupture velocity is 2 0 2 5 km s

iceberg calving as a primary source of regional scale glacier generated seismicity in the st elias mountains alaska 1 since the installation of the alaska regional seismic network in the 1970s data analysts have noted nontectonic seismic events thought to be related to glacier dynamics while loose associations with the glaciers of the st elias mountains have been made no detailed study of the source locations has been undertaken we performed a two step investigation surrounding these events beginning with manual locations that guided an automated detection and event sifting routine results from the manual investigation highlight characteristics of the seismic waveforms including single peaked narrowband spectra emergent onsets lack of distinct phase arrivals and a predominant cluster of locations near the calving termini of several neighboring tidewater glaciers through these locations comparison with previous work analyses of waveform characteristics frequency magnitude statistics and temporal patterns in seismicity we suggest calving as a source for the seismicity statistical properties and time series analysis of the event catalog suggest a scale invariant process that has no single or simple forcing these results support the idea that calving is often a response to short lived or localized stress perturbations our results demonstrate the utility of passive seismic instrumentation to monitor relative changes in the rate and magnitude of iceberg calving at tidewater glaciers that may be volatile or susceptible to ensuing rapid retreat especially when existing seismic infrastructure can be used

the great sumatra andaman earthquake of 26 december 2004 the two largest earthquakes of the past 40 years ruptured a 1600 kilometer long portion of the fault boundary between the indo australian and southeastern eurasian plates on 26 december 2004 seismic moment magnitude mw 9 1 to 9 3 and 28 march 2005 mw 8 6 the first event generated a tsunami that caused more than 283 000 deaths fault slip of up to 15 meters occurred near banda aceh sumatra but to the north along the nicobar and andaman islands rapid slip was much smaller tsunami and geodetic observations indicate that additional slow slip occurred in the north over a time scale of 50 minutes or longer

the influence of sediment size relative grain size and channel slope on initiation of sediment motion in boulder bed rivers a lichenometric study sediment transport of four boulder bed rivers is studied using lichenometry the presence of lichens on boulders in the river channel is used to date the last mobilization of the blocks using size frequency diagrams and regional growth curves calibrated with dated reference points it is possible to determine the flood event responsible for the last mobilization of each boulder with lichens present the specific stream power of flood events over the last 60 years is then calculated and thresholds of sediment transport based on the sediment size are calculated the results from the four studied rivers are compared to similar relationships in the literature sediment motion thresholds appear to be very variable within the same type of river mountainous boulder bed rivers the critical specific stream power necessary to mobilize a particle of a given diameter may vary by up to 10 times from one river to the next bed sediment size and river slope may explain this large range of stream powers calculation of the relative size of the transported particles di d50 also shows that both hiding and protrusion effects as well as channels slope are important factors in sediment transport copyright 2010 john wiley sons ltd

grain sorting in gravel bed streams and the choice of particle sizes for flow competence evaluations flow competence assessments of floods have been based on the largest particle sizes transported and yield either the mean flow stress mean velocity or discharge per unit flow width the use of extreme particle sizes has potential problems in that they may have been transported by debris flows rather than by the flood it may be difficult to locate the largest particles within the flood deposits and there are questions concerning how representative one or a few large particles might be of the transported sediments and therefore of the flood hydraulics such problems would be eliminated for the most part if competence evaluations are based on median grain sizes of transported sediments or perhaps on some coarse percentile that is established by a reasonable number of grains in order to examine such issues the gravel transport data of milhous from oak creek oregon and of carling from great eggleshope beck england have been analysed in terms of changing grain size percentiles with varying flow stresses a comparison between these two data sets is of added interest because the bed material in oak creek is segregated into well developed pavement and subpavement layers while such a layering of bed materials is largely absent in great eggleshope beck the analyses show that the trend of increasing sizes of the largest particles in the bedload samples diameter dm with increasing flow stresses is consistent with similar dependencies based on sieve percentiles ranging from the medians d50 to the 95th percentiles d95 this indicates that the largest particles are an integral part of the overall distributions of bedload grain sizes and respond to changing flow hydraulics along with the rest of the size distribution in oak creek the median grain size shows the largest change with increasing flow stresses followed by d60 and so on to d95 which shows the smallest change the variations in dm continue this trend and are similar to those for d95 this systematic variation of grain size percentiles in oak creek is consistent with changes in the overall distributions which tend to be symmetrical and gaussian for low discharges but become skewed rosin distributions for high discharges in contrast in great eggleshope beck the several percentiles and dm show the same rate of shift to coarser sizes as flow stresses increase this results in part from differences in sampling techniques wherein the bedload samples from great eggleshope beck represent a complete flood event while shorterterm samples at a specific flow stage were obtained in oak creek as a result of the integrated sampling in great eggleshope beck the bedload grain size distributions are more complex commonly with a bimodal pattern however after accounting for differences in sampling schemes in the two streams contrasting patterns in changing grain size distributions remain and these are concluded to reflect grain sorting differences as the bedload grain size distributions approach the distributions of the bed materials it is surprising that if criteria commonly employed to demonstrate the equal mobility of different grain sizes are used in the comparison then great eggleshope beck is far closer to this condition in spite of its minimal development of a pavement it is concluded that the respective shapes of the bed material grain size distributions in particular their degrees of skewness are more important to the observed sorting patterns than are the effects of a pavement layer regulating grain entrapment to produce an equal mobility of different grain sizes therefore the comparison has established that flow competence relationships will differ from one stream to another depending on the pattern of grain sorting which is a function of the bedmaterial grain size distribution

selective grain entrainment by a current from a bed of mixed sizes a reanalysis the selective entrainment of grains by a current from a bed of mixed sizes and densities is important to grain sorting processes that lead to the formation of placers in sands and to armored beds in gravels existing field and laboratory measurements of selective entrainment depart systematically from the standard threshold curves such as that of shields which are based on experiments with nearly uniform grain sizes entrainment measurements from beds of mixed sizes form trends which obliquely cross the threshold curves for uniform grains the crossing point being roughly at the median diameter of the size distribution due to this crossover the coarser size fractions of the distribution require lower flow stresses for their entrainment than if they formed uniform beds while the finer size fractions require higher stresses than uniform beds with deposits having medians in the range of medium sand through gravel the larger the individual particle within the mixed sizes the greater the flow stress required for its entrainment in this case the smaller grains are preferentially entrained possibly leading to bed armoring in contrast if the median is in the fine to medium sand range the smallest grains in the bed of mixed sizes are the most difficult to entrain due to sheltering by the larger grains where grain density is also involved this sorting can lead to the formation of placers a variety of empirical relationships is considered to quantify the evaluation of selective entrainment from deposits of mixed sizes but no single formulation is satisfactory for all data sets

a comparison between shields threshold criterion and the movement of loosely packed gravel in a tidal channel observations of the threshold of movement of loosely packed gravel in a tidal current are described for gravel with equivalent spherical diameters d in the range 0 2 d 5 0cm the critical friction velocity u c corresponding to the initiation of sediment transport is given by u c 7 0 d0 2 at large values of d within the quoted range the value u c is significantly lower than would be obtained by a shields experiment u c d0 5 by comparing our values of u c with those obtained under well controlled laboratory conditions the discrepancy with shields is shown to be due to the open spacing between and exposure of individual pebbles on the seabed by comparing our results with those from upland gravel streams and flume experiments it is suggested that shields assumed an excessively large water depth to particle size ratio as a constraint within which the critical sediment entrainment number 0c is valid

possible mechanisms for glacial earthquakes the large glacial earthquakes reported on by ekstrom et al 2003 2006 and tsai and ekstrom 2007 have previously been evaluated in terms of their seismic characteristics in this paper we attempt to take constraints such as known glacial ice properties outlet glacier size calving style and meltwater variability to construct a self consistent physical model of the glacial earthquake process since many glaciological parameters are poorly constrained we parameterize a number of important processes and estimate a wide range of possible values for some properties the range of model outputs is thus fairly large but it is still difficult to match observational constraints under most conditions we find that only a small class of models is able to satisfy the major observational constraints these models are characterized by 1 lost basal resistance coupled to viscoelastic deformation with extensive internal crevassing or with low effective elastic modulus and possibly low effective viscosity or 2 by nonequilibrium calving such as having large icebergs capsize into the glacier front although observational constraints cannot definitively rule out any of the proposed classes of mechanisms the calving model has much stronger support fortunately the various models make different predictions regarding observables that can potentially be measured in the near future

critical discharge for entrainment of poorly sorted gravel entrainment criteria for gravel sized particles on river beds are usually defined in terms of shear stress but some workers have proposed that critical discharge relationships are more reliable and more convenient the critical shear stress in poorly sorted gravels is known from recent work to depend much more on relative than absolute grain size it is shown that this effect can be included in a semi theoretical equation for the critical unit discharge to move individual grain sizes in a poorly sorted bed comparisons with published data on critical discharges in a variety of rivers show that both the sensitivity of critical discharge to grain size and the absolute levels of critical discharge are predicted quite well however any prediction of critical discharge is sensitive to the assumptions made first about flow resistance and secondly about the critical stress to move average sized particles

predicting rupture arrests rupture jumps and cascading earthquakes the devastation inflicted by recent earthquakes demonstrates the danger of under predicting the size of earthquakes unfortunately earthquakes may rupture fault sections larger than previously observed making it essential to develop predictive rupture models we present numerical models based on earthquake physics and fault zone data that determine whether a rupture on a segmented fault could cascade and grow into a devastating multisegment earthquake we demonstrate that weakened damaged fault zones and bi material interfaces promote rupture propagation and greatly increase the risk of cascading ruptures and triggered seismicity this result provides a feasible explanation for the outstanding observation of a very large 10 km rupture jump documented in the mw7 8 2001 kunlun china earthquake however enhanced inter seismic deformation and energy dissipation at fault tips suppress rupture propagation and may turn even small discontinuities into effective earthquake barriers by assessing fault stability identifying rupture barriers and foreseeing multisegment earthquakes we provide a tool to improve earthquake prediction and hazard analysis

tidal and seasonal variations in calving flux observed with passive seismology the seismic signatures of calving events i e calving icequakes offer an opportunity to examine calving variability with greater precision than is available with other methods here using observations from yahtse glacier alaska we describe methods to detect locate and characterize calving icequakes we combine these icequake records with a coincident manually generated record of observed calving events to develop and validate a statistical model through which we can infer iceberg sizes from the properties of calving icequakes we find that the icequake duration is the single most significant predictor of an iceberg s size we then apply this model to 18 months of seismic recordings and find elevated iceberg calving flux during the summer and fall and a pronounced lull in calving during midwinter calving flux is sensitive to semidiurnal tidal stage large calving events are tens of percent more likely during falling and low tides than during rising and high tides consistent with a view that deeper water has a stabilizing influence on glacier termini multiple factors affect the occurrence of mechanical fractures that ultimately lead to iceberg calving at yahtse glacier seismology allows us to demonstrate that variations in the rate of submarine melt are a dominant control on iceberg calving rates at seasonal timescales on hourly to daily timescales tidal modulation of the normal stress against the glacier terminus reveals the nonlinear glacier response to changes in the near terminus stress field

paleohydraulic reconstruction of flash flood peaks from boulder deposits in the colorado front range nine watersheds in the colorado front range with steep bedrock channels were used to test the accuracy of paleohydraulic reconstruction of large flash floods using boulder deposits the nine basins consist of eight small ungauged basins ranging in size from 1 6 to 29 km2 and the big thompson river at the mouth of the big thompson canyon draining 790 km2 between 1923 and 1976 all nine basins had had one catastrophic flash flood the magnitude of which has been estimated by the conventional slope area method in each basin coarse boulder deposits of the large flash floods were identified and three axes of the five largest boulders were measured along with at least two profiles of the valley cross section a simple arithmetic average of two theoretical and two empirical relationships was used to estimate average flood velocity using boulder size and shape average depth was estimated as the arithmetic average of four values computed from the manning equation a regression equation for boulder size and unit stream power a relative smoothness equation and a modified shields relationship the appropriate flood width for the estimated average depth was found by iteration using the valley cross sections the paleohydraulic discharges thus computed generally underestimate conventional slope area discharge estimates on small streams by as much as 75 although the average amount is only 28 too low and the reconstructed discharge in one stream was 31 too large the big thompson river flood of 1976 was overestimated by 76 reasons for discrepancy in reconstructed peaks could include 1 the possibility that floods may have been able to move boulders larger than those available to be moved 2 overestimation of the slope area discharge because high water marks were set prior to erosion of the channel 3 underestimation of original roughness coefficients and 4 macroturbulent effects during fast deep flows the paleohydraulic technique is applied to two other streams in colorado with sedimentological evidence of large flash floods but no conventional indirect discharge estimates a small tributary to the big thompson river draining 1 8 km2 has a paleohydraulic reconstructed flood peak of about 60 m3 s from a flood in 1976 using boulders excavated from a foundation site in holocene alluvium along boulder creek in boulder colorado a paleohydraulic reconstructed flood peak of between 860 and 1 512 m3 s is calculated this is 1 4 to 2 4 times the magnitude of the estimated 500 yr flood

dam failure and a catastrophic flood in the mekong basin bolaven plateau southern laos 2018 abstract sudden breaching of a saddle dam on july 23 2018 on the perimeter of the xe nammoy hydroelectric power reservoir recently constructed in the mekong basin southern laos caused catastrophic flooding that resulted in fatalities and displaced thousands of individuals this study aims to 1 assess the cause of the dam breach and 2 understand the hydrologic and geomorphic impact of the flood our analysis shows that the collapse of the dam occurred as the reservoir was nearly full and the water level was rising against the inner slope of the earthen dam as the water discharged through the breach we calculate that the reservoir fell 22 m and lost 350 million m3 more than a third of the total stored volume on july 23 inspection of publicly available photographs of the failed dam confirms our interpretation that the failure was structural involving both piping and rotational slumping and not due to overtopping of the dam failure to properly process the local materials before construction of the earth core of the dam is the likely cause of failure our analysis of satellite imagery bolstered by field observations reveals that the flooding inundated an area of 46 km2 of villages and rural land in the vang ngao river a tributary of the mekong river basin by using 1d and 2d hydrological modeling we calculate a peak flood discharge of 8500 m3 s about half the mean discharge of the mississippi river the dam failure and concomitant losses are consistent with common inadequacies in this region in assessing potential hazards challenges of geomorphological geotechnical engineering when using tropical materials for construction and emergency planning and warning thus this analysis has important implications for the safer design and construction of the myriad of other dams that are either operating or planned within the multi national mekong river basin

long period seismic events with strikingly regular temporal patterns on katla volcano s south flank iceland katla is a threatening volcano in iceland partly covered by the myrdalsjokull ice cap the volcano has a large caldera with several active geothermal areas a peculiar cluster of long period seism

applications of grain pivoting and sliding analyses to selective entrapment of gravel and to flow competence evaluations models of sediment threshold by grain pivoting or sliding over underlying particles are examined in order to explore their application to evaluations of selective entrainment of gravel by flowing water of special interest is whether such process based models provide satisfactory evaluations of flow competence and the movement of large clasts by floods a detailed derivation is undertaken focusing first on the fluid flow and forces at the particle level the resulting threshold equation for the particle level velocity is then modified to yield the mean entrainment stress for the flow as a whole this approach is appropriate for considerations of selective entrainment of grains of varying sizes within a deposit the sorting being due to their relative projection distances above the bed and the dependence of their pivoting angles on grain size and shape the resulting threshold equations contain a number of coefficients e g drag and lift whose values are poorly known but can be constrained by requiring agreement with the shields curve for the threshold of grains in uniform deposits if pivoting coefficients based on laboratory measurements with tetrahedral arrangements of particles are used in the models smaller degrees of selective sorting are predicted than found in the field measurements of gravel entrainment however if reasonable modifications of those coefficients are made for expected field conditions then the models yield good agreement with the data sliding models where sorting is due entirely to projection distances of the grains above the bed yield somewhat poorer agreement with the field data however the sliding models may have support from laboratory experiments on gravel entrainment in that the data and theoretical curves have similar concave trends the existing measurements lack documentation of the mechanisms of grain movement so it is not possible to conclusively determine the relative importance of grain pivoting versus sliding in spite of such uncertainties the results are encouraging and it is concluded that pivoting and sliding models for grain entrainment do have potential for field computations of selective entrainment and flow competence

measurements in a braided river chute and lobe 2 sorting of bed load during entrainment transport and deposition grain size distributions of bed material bed load and bar head deposition were sampled during the evolution of a chute and lobe in the braided gravel bed sunwapta river alberta although bed shear stress and total bed load transport rate varied substantially within the reach and from day to day ferguson et al this issue the median diameter d50 of bed load was remarkably constant the bed initially fined from chute to bar head but became more uniform sediment deposited on the bar head also had a near constant d50 similar to that of the bed load truncated at the same lower size limit both load and deposition were finer on average than the bed suggesting overall selective transport despite little sign of local sorting in contrast to median diameters maximum sizes dmax of sediment in motion and deposited on the bar head varied substantially and showed a weak but significant dependence on shear stress inferring selective entrainment from this evidence alone would be dubious because dmax was also found to increase systematically with the mass of sediment sampled however two different methods of analysis of fractional transport rates throughout the size range also showed size selective entrainment and transport in the marginal transport conditions of this study size sorting appears to occur but only weakly and mainly in the coarser fractions

critical shear stress of natural sediments the critical shear stress of individual fractions ci in unimodal and weakly bimodal sediments shows little variation with grain size and depends only on the mean grain size bf the mixture for strongly bimodal sediments ci increases with grain size an apparent result of a lateral segregation of the finer and coarser fractions on the bed surface that causes ci to deviate from size independence in the direction of unisize shields values a quantitative definition of mixture bimodality may be used to estimate the degree of mixture bimodality beyond which a substantial size dependence of ci is observed and to predict the variation of ci with grain size in bimodal sediments because properties of sediment grain size distributions other than bimodality appear to have little influence on ci the trends presented here for 14 unimodal and bimodal sediments may be quite general

selective gravel entrainment and the empirical evaluation of flow competence the concept of flow competence is generally employed to evaluate velocities and bed stresses of river floods from the sizes of the largest sediment particles transported for the most part this evaluation has been empirical combining data from a number of separate flood events in different river systems those data are re examined and compared with empirical equations for the selective entrainment of gravel from deposits of mixed sizes it is found that the competence relationships trend counter to those obtained for selective entrainment indicating that the competence evaluations are affected by varying degrees of selective size entrainment individual data sets which have been employed to establish the flow competence relationships either show no trend on their own or yield a trend which runs counter to the competence equation instead being more compatible with the selective entrainment relationships in most instances the empirical competence equations greatly overestimate the hydraulics of flood flows and it is suggested that the better established selective entrainment equations be used for competence evaluations as well empirical equations are available for this purpose relating the dimensionless shields entrainment function or the bed shear stress to the diameter of the largest grain moved and to the median diameter of the deposit as a whole

paleotsunami evidence on kaua i and numerical modeling of a great aleutian tsunami the hawaiian islands location in the middle of the pacific ocean is threatened by tsunamis from great earthquakes in nearly all directions historical great earthquakes mw 8 5 in the last 100 years have produced large inundations and loss of life in the islands but cannot account for a substantial 600 m3 paleotsunami deposit in the makauwahi sinkhole on the island of kaua i using high resolution bathymetry and topography we model tsunami inundation of the sinkhole caused by an earthquake with a moment magnitude of mw 9 25 located in the eastern aleutians a preponderance of evidence indicates that a giant earthquake in the eastern aleutian islands circa 1425 1665 a d located between the source regions of the 1946 and 1957 great tsunamigenic earthquakes created the paleotsunami deposit in kaua i a tsunami deposit in the aleutians dated circa 1530 1660 a d is consistent with this eastern aleutian source region

2010 maule earthquake slip correlates with pre seismic locking of andean subduction zone analysis of seismic data and global positioning system gps observations from the region around the site of the recent magnitude 8 8 maule earthquake in chile have been combined with modelling of the andean subduction zone to build up a detailed image of the event the earthquake occurred at a seismic gap part of the fault that has not experienced a major earthquake since 1835 and it seems to have released most of the stress accumulated since that time the observations suggest that coseismic slip heterogeneity at the scale of single asperities and therefore the seismic potential of future great earthquakes might be anticipated by geodetic observations these authors show evidence for a high coherence between the slip distribution inferred from the 2010 maule earthquake chile and the patchwork of interseismic locking distribution derived from global positioning system observations during the previous decade their work suggests that coseismic slip heterogeneity at the scale of single asperities should indicate the seismic potential of future earthquakes which thus might be anticipated by geodetic observations the magnitude 8 8 maule chile earthquake of 27 february 2010 ruptured a segment of the andean subduction zone megathrust that has been suspected to be of high seismic potential1 2 3 4 5 6 it is the largest earthquake to rupture a mature seismic gap in a subduction zone that has been monitored with a dense space geodetic network before the event this provides an image of the pre seismically locked state of the plate interface of unprecedentedly high resolution allowing for an assessment of the spatial correlation of interseismic locking with coseismic slip pre seismic locking might be used to anticipate future ruptures in many seismic gaps6 7 8 9 10 11 12 given the fundamental assumption that locking and slip are similar this hypothesis however could not be tested without the occurrence of the first gap filling earthquake here we show evidence that the 2010 maule earthquake slip distribution correlates closely with the patchwork of interseismic locking distribution as derived by inversion of global positioning system gps observations during the previous decade the earthquake nucleated in a region of high locking gradient and released most of the stresses accumulated in the area since the last major event in 1835 two regions of high seismic slip asperities appeared to be nearly fully locked before the earthquake between these asperities the rupture bridged a zone that was creeping interseismically with consistently low coseismic slip the rupture stopped in areas that were highly locked before the earthquake but where pre stress had been significantly reduced by overlapping twentieth century earthquakes our work suggests that coseismic slip heterogeneity at the scale of single asperities should indicate the seismic potential of future great earthquakes which thus might be anticipated by geodetic observations

shallow repeating seismic events under an alpine glacier at mount rainier washington usa we observed several swarms of repeating low frequency 1 5 hz seismic events during a 3 week period in may june 2010 near the summit of mount rainier washington usa that likely were a result of stick slip motion at the base of alpine glaciers the dominant set of repeating events multiplets featured 4000 individual events and did not exhibit daytime variations in recurrence interval or amplitude volcanoes and glaciers around the world are known to produce seismic signals with great variability in both frequency content and size the low frequency character and periodic recurrence of the mount rainier multiplets mimic long period seismicity often seen at volcanoes particularly during periods of unrest however their near surface location lack of common spectral peaks across the recording network rapid attenuation of amplitudes with distance and temporal correlation with weather systems all indicate that ice related source mechanisms are the most likely explanation we interpret the low frequency character of these multiplets to be the result of trapping of seismic energy under glacial ice as it propagates through the highly heterogeneous and attenuating volcanic material the mount rainier multiplet sequences underscore the difficulties in differentiating low frequency signals due to glacial processes from those caused by volcanic processes on glacier clad volcanoes

a systematic analysis of eight decades of incipient motion studies with special reference to gravel bedded rivers data compiled from eight decades of incipient motion studies were used to calculate dimensionless critical shear stress values of the median grain size t c 50 calculated t c 50 values were stratified by initial motion definition median grain size type surface subsurface or laboratory mixture relative roughness and flow regime a traditional shields plot constructed from data that represent initial motion of the bed surface material reveals systematic methodological biases of incipient motion definition t c 50 values determined from reference bed load transport rates and from visual observation of grain motion define subparallel shields curves with the latter generally underlying the former values derived from competence functions define a separate but poorly developed field while theoretical values predict a wide range of generally higher stresses that likely represent instantaneous rather than time averaged critical shear stresses the available data indicate that for high critical boundary reynolds numbers and low relative roughnesses typical of gravel bedded rivers reference based and visually based studies have t c50 ranges of 0 052 0 086 and 0 030 0 073 respectively the apparent lack of a universal t 50 for gravel bedded rivers warrants great care in choosing defendable t c50 values for particular applications

analysis of glacial earthquakes in 2003 ekstrom et al reported on the detection of a new class of earthquakes that occur in glaciated regions with the vast majority being in greenland the events have a characteristic radiation pattern and lack the high frequency content typical of tectonic earthquakes it was proposed that the events correspond to large and sudden sliding motion of glaciers here we present an analysis of all 184 such events detected in greenland between 1993 and 2005 fitting the teleseismic long period surface waves to a landslide model of the source we obtain improved locations timing force amplitudes and force directions after relocation the events cluster into seven regions all of which correspond to regions of very high ice flow and most of which are named outlet glaciers these regions are daugaard jensen glacier kangerdlugssuaq glacier helheim glacier the southeast greenland glaciers the northwest greenland glaciers rinks isbrae and jakobshavn isbrae event amplitudes range from 0 1 to 2 0 10 14 kg m force directions are consistent with sliding in the direction of glacial flow over a period of about 50 s each region has a different temporal distribution of events all glaciers are more productive in the summer but have their peak activity in different months over the study period kangerdlugssuaq has had a constant number of events each year whereas jakobshavn had most events in 1998 1999 and the number of events in helheim and the northwest greenland glaciers has increased substantially between 1993 and 2005 the size distribution of events in kangerdlugssuaq is peaked above the detection threshold suggesting that glacial earthquakes have a characteristic size

particle comminution defines megaflood and superflood energetics abstract the concept of megafloods and superfloods was introduced at the end of the last century to define exceptionally large discharge floods primarily those associated with the failure of quaternary ice dams these floods exceeded by one or two magnitudes historically recorded floods megafloods having peak discharges equalling or exceeding 1 m m3 s 1 herein the sediment associations of exceptional floods are found to be distinctive being dominated by comminuted smashed grain size distributions which contrast to the sediment deposits of more moderate floods a consideration of the energetics of moderate floods superfloods and megafloods with respect to the entrainment dis entrainment suspension and comminution of coarse gravel allows thresholds of energy expenditure to be proposed that reflect general transformations in flood behaviour that relate to distinctive flood deposits a threshold of energy expenditure 20 kj s 1 m 2 is proposed to separate moderate floods from superfloods the latter by this definition can be 0 1 m m3 s 1 this threshold separates floods competent to entrain cobbles and boulders with limited comminution of the load from superfloods that comminute the suspended cobbles and boulders to produce fine granules in suspension the granules are subsequently deposited to form distinct depositional units that are characteristic of superfloods and megafloods the energetic threshold is consistent with the lower range of power expenditures associated with the original definition of a megaflood in terms of peak fluid flux significance exceptional floods occurred in prehistoric times the largest are referred to as megafloods or superfloods to distinguish such exceptional floods from other large floods megafloods were defined as having a peak discharge exceeding 1 m m3 s 1 however many reports of megafloods are flows with a peak discharge smaller than 1 m m3 s 1 recent research has shown that megafloods and superfloods deposit distinctive layers of smashed gravel which is not the case for smaller floods the gravel is smashed by exceptionally high energy expenditures consideration of the energetics of floods to transport gravel allows a robust quantitative definition of superflood based on the energy needed to smash a range of gravel sizes

damage in step overs may enable large cascading earthquakes seismic hazard analysis relies on the ability to predict whether an earthquake will terminate at a fault tip or propagate onto adjacent faults cascading into a larger more devastating event while ruptures are expected to arrest at fault discontinuities larger than 4 5 km scientists are often puzzled by much larger rupture jumps here we show that material properties between faults significantly affect the ability to arrest propagating ruptures earthquake simulations accounting for fault step over zones weakened by accumulated damage provide new insights into rupture propagation revealing that lowered rigidity and material interfaces promote rupture propagation our models show for the first time that step overs as wide as 10 km may not constitute effective earthquake barriers our results call for re evaluation of seismic hazard analyses that predict rupture length and earthquake magnitude based on historic records and fault segmentation models

threshold of coarse sediment transport in broad and narrow natural streams the threshold of coarse sediment transport has been examined in natural streambeds in an upland pennine u k area threshold values of the total boundary shear stress t0 for a given grain size in a narrow natural stream w d 11 efficiency in the entrainment process is related not only to the overall channel geometry but also varies as a function of discharge in channels characterized by compound roughness empirical curves relating t0 and a mean grain size d5 are presented but are limited in application to streams of similar physical and hydraulic characteristics as the ones examined in this investigation considerable divergence is noted between these empirical functions and a summary empirical function for general application obtained from a published source the reasons for this divergence are discussed the influence of grain shape was found not to be important in the initiation of motion criterion this conclusion may reflect the limited range of natural grain shapes in the study streams but might reasonably apply to other field investigations of similar streams modifications of the shields and yalin diagrams are suggested for practical applications in shallow streams with poorly graded bed material the shields parameter may be regarded as an inverse function of the relative protrusion of individual grains in the shallow flow depth d5 d the increased importance of augmented drag forces in the entrainment process in shallow flows is suggested as the physical explanation for the reduced values of the shields parameter however the relationships presented should not be applied to laboratory experiments concerned with well graded sediments therefore beds with little deviation in level in which the shields parameter may be regarded as constant at high reynolds grain numbers consistent estimated field values of a threshold sediment transport parameter might be used to compare field data to threshold values derived from statistical arguments and laboratory experiments reported in the literature

slip distribution of the february 27 2010 mw 8 8 maule earthquake central chile from static and high rate gps insar and broadband teleseismic data 1 the shallow depth underthrust earthquake of february 27 2010 mw 8 8 ruptured the subduction plate interface in central chile between 34 s and 38 s we retrieve the spatial and temporal distribution of slip during this mega earthquake through a joint inversion of teleseismic records insar and high rate gps hrgps data additionally our model is shown to agree with broadband surface waves rupture initiated at about 32 km depth and propagated bilaterally resulting in two main slip zones located ssw and nne of the hypocenter nucleation did not take place within or at the edge of one of these main asperities but in between during the first 30s slip propagated predominantly southwards later on the rupture evolved more slowly and more symmetrically eventually the northern asperity became predominant with maximum slip reaching about 20 m most of the seismic moment was released within 110s a relatively short time explained by the bilateral propagation the overall average rupture velocity is 2 6 km s but propagation occurred initially faster towards the south 3 2 km s large slip did not reach the trench a result consistent with the moderate size of the tsunami down dip rupture stopped at about 50 km depth in agreement with the lower limit of the locked zone inferred by ruegg et al 2009 from pre seismic gps data

seismic detection and analysis of icequakes at columbia glacier alaska 1 contributions to sea level rise from rapidly retreating marine terminating glaciers are large and increasing strong increases in iceberg calving occur during retreat which allows mass transfer to the ocean at a much higher rate than possible through surface melt alone to study this process we deployed an 11 sensor passive seismic network at columbia glacier alaska during 2004 2005 we show that calving events generate narrow band seismic signals allowing frequency domain detections detection parameters were determined using direct observations of calving and validated using three statistical methods and hypocenter locations the 1 3 hz detections provide a good measure of the temporal distribution and size of calving events possible source mechanisms for the unique waveforms are discussed and we analyze potential forcings for the observed seismicity

sedimentary record of a late saalian jokulhlaup case study in siedlątkow outcrop central poland abstract the aim of the research conducted in an outcrop of late saalian sediments in siedl tkow central poland was to reconstruct extreme meltwater flows during a jokulhlaup on the basis of the geological record a combination of field and laboratory lithological methods was used which included lithofacies analysis analyses of grain size distribution shape and roundness of gravelly clasts examination of sediments made it possible to recognise palaeohydrological sedimentation and deformation processes during and immediately after the flood in particular the simultaneous operation of water flows in four paths in the immediate foreland of the ice front was reconstructed mechanisms of transport and sedimentation of deposits were determined characteristic features of the analysed jokulhlaup deposits include erosional and deformational contact with the substrate a high content of very coarse sediments poorly sorted with predominant massive clast supported gravels and boulders the presence of rip up clasts inverse grading in the lower part of the profile normal grading in the upper part and similarities in clast shape and roundness and the ratio of local rocks to northern origin rocks when compared to the surrounding saalian till the documented features allow for the following phases of jokulhlaup to be distinguished initial rising high stage and waning stage during the reconstructed event hyperconcentrated flow was dominant whereas fluvial flow and debris flow were of lesser importance the release of meltwater in the marginal part of the ice sheet came from the depression of the kolo basin to the north of the analysed sites complex deformation processes which occurred in the flood deposits and their substratum were also interpreted the analysed jokulhlaup event resembles some minor glacial floods in the ice contact zone of present day icelandic glaciers further research in marginal zones of pleistocene ice sheets should account for their occurrence as the analysed example indicates that jokulhlaups might have had considerable influence on the course of sedimentation processes in the marginal zones of ice lobes of pleistocene ice sheets as well as in the marginal valleys and sandars

limited overlap between the seismic gap and coseismic slip of the great 2010 chile earthquake the mw 8 8 chile earthquake on 27 february 2010 occurred in a broad region where tectonic loading has been accumulating since the great 1835 earthquake a joint inversion of tsunami and geodetic data suggests that the 2010 earthquake rupture only partly overlapped with the zone of preseismic locking

on why gravel bed streams are paved bedload transport in poorly sorted gravel bed streams downstream of dams is considered bedload and typical bed material subpavement size distributions are observed to be similar it follows that the coarse half of the subpavement moves through a reach at a rate near that of the fine half since coarser grains are intrinsically less mobile than fine grains it follows that some mechanism must act to nearly equalize mobility it is hypothesized that the pavement seen in gravel bed streams at low flow is in fact in place during typical transport events capable of moving all available sizes this pavement can provide the equalizing mechanism by exposing proportionally more coarse grains to the flow field data are used to quantify this concept and to develop a predictive relation for river pavement the model indicates that pavement should be absent in most sand bed streams in agreement with observation

short term discharge and suspended sediment fluctuations in the proglacial skeldal river north east greenland the summer discharge pattern of the skeldal river which drains a 560 km2 partly glacierized catchment in north east greenland is dominated by diurnal oscillations reflecting variations in the melt rate of snow and ice in the basin superimposed on this diurnal pattern are numerous short lived discharge fluctuations of irregular periodicity and magnitude the larger fluctuations are described and attributed to both rainfall events and periodic collapse of the glacier margin damming flow from beneath the skelbrae glacier other minor fluctuations are less readily explained but are associated with changes in the channelized and distributed reservoirs and possibly temporary blockage of subglacial conduits caused by ice melt with subsequent damming fluctuations in suspended sediment concentration ssc are normally associated with discharge fluctuations although examples of transient flushes were observed where marked increases in ssc occurred in the absence of corresponding discharge variations a strong relationship between the event discharge increase and event ssc increase for rainfall induced events was established but no such relationship existed for non rainfall induced events there is some evidence for an exhaustion effect in the ssc patterns both at the event time scale and as the month proceeds a mean suspended sediment load of 1765 0 26 t day 1 was estimated for the study period which would be equivalent to a suspended sediment yield of 732 4 t km 2 year 1 copyright 2001 john wiley sons ltd

repeating earthquakes from rupture of an asperity under an antarctic outlet glacier the inner regions of the antarctic continent are generally regarded as nearly aseismic although microseismicity is known to occur beneath some outlet ice streams related to the interaction between the fast flowing ice and the bedrock here we show the occurrence of unusual earthquakes beneath an antarctic outlet glacier that share almost the same magnitude pointing to the repeated rupture of a single asperity these seismic events produce waveforms with very high similarity and uncommon spectrum and are tightly clustered in space but unlike other reported instances of repeating earthquakes on a patch of the san andreas fault they occur in frequent irregular swarms evidence locates these events at the rock ice interface under the glacier and shows the existence of stick slip motion on a smaller scale than the large slow slip events detected by global seismographs seismic behaviour of large glaciers can presumably be connected to surges in ice motion this study determines a little known environment for fracture dynamics studies while also contributing to the understanding of the coupling processes between fast flowing glaciers and bedrock that influence ice stream evolution and stability

multi day anchor ice cycles and bedload transport in a gravel bed stream summary river dynamics in cold regions and the physical processes involving ice formation and release remain relatively understudied topics current research suggests that anchor ice forms in diurnal cycles and has the potential to move sediments when released from the bed given the importance of river ice dynamics studies are needed to describe the physical processes of anchor ice and its impact on sediment transport the study presented in this paper investigated in situ anchor ice formation on the stoke river in quebec canada in the fall of 2012 we observed multi day anchor ice formation cycles and release which usually ended with a small runoff event during a cycle there was little or no release of anchor ice thus allowing its gradual growth as the air temperature remained cold surface and anchor ice layers also often merged leading to the formation of thick ice masses sediment transport was monitored using bed particles individually tagged with passive integrated transponders pit tags movement of the experimental particles measured after each multi day cycle event ranged from 0 5 to 4 m possible transport mechanisms include 1 anchor ice rafting 2 ice jam breakup creating a jave with high erosive capacity 3 flow corridors through anchor ice masses with high erosive capacity 4 mechanical pushing of particles by drifting ice blocks during ice breakup and 5 entrainment by flow or drifting ice blocks of anchored ice with strong ice pebble bonds given the coincidental occurrence of anchor ice release and runoff events it is uncertain which specific mechanism caused the particles to move this study is a step forward in understanding the behavior of anchor ice processes and ice related sediment transport

cameras as clocks consumer grade digital cameras have become ubiquitous accessories of science particularly in glaciology the recognized importance of short term variability has motivated their deployment for increasingly time critical observations however such devices were never intended for precise timekeeping and their use as such needs to be accompanied by appropriate management of systematic rounding and random errors in reported image times this study describes clock drift subsecond reporting resolution and timestamp precision as the major obstacles to precise camera timekeeping and documents the subsecond capability of camera models from 17 leading manufacturers we present a complete and accessible methodology to calibrate cameras for absolute timing and provide a suite of supporting scripts two glaciological case studies serve to illustrate how the methods relate to contemporary investigations 1 georeferencing aerial photogrammetric surveys with camera positions time interpolated from gps tracklogs and 2 coupling videos of glacier calving events to synchronous seismic waveforms

two stage composite megathrust rupture of the 2015 mw8 4 illapel chile earthquake identified by spectral element inversion of teleseismic waves the mw8 4 illapel earthquake occurred on 16 september was the largest global event in 2015 this earthquake was not unexpected because the hypocenter was located in a seismic gap of the peru chile subduction zone however the source model derived from 3 d spectral element inversion of teleseismic waves reveals a distinct two stage rupture process with completely different slip characteristics as a composite megathrust event the two stages were temporally separated rupture in the first stage with a moment magnitude of mw8 32 built up energetically from the deeper locked zone and propagated in the updip direction toward the trench subsequently the rupture of the second stage with a magnitude of mw8 08 mainly occurred in the shallow subduction zone with atypical repeating slip behavior the unique spatial temporal rupture evolution presented in this source model is key to further in depth studies of earthquake physics and source dynamics in subduction systems

glacier surge mechanism 1982 1983 surge of variegated glacier alaska the hundredfold speedup in glacier motion in a surge of the kind the kind that took place in variegated glacier in 1982 1983 is caused by the buildup of high water pressure in the basal passageway system which is made possible by a fundamental and pervasive change in the geometry and water transport characteristics of this system the behavior of the glacier in surge has many remarkable features which can provide clues to a detailed theory of the surging process the surge mechanism is akin to a proposed mechanism of overthrust faulting

channel flow competence and sediment transport in upland streams in southeast australia bedload transport data from planebed and step pool reach types are used to determine grain size transport thresholds for selected upland streams in southeast australia morphological differences between the reach types allow the effects of frictional losses from bedforms microtopography and bed packing to be incorporated into the dimensionless critical shear stress value local sediment transport data are also included in a regime model and applied to mountain streams to investigate whether empirical data improve the delineation of reach types on the basis of dimensionless discharge per unit width q and dimensionless bedload transport q b instrumented planebed and step pool sites are not competent to transport surface median grains d50s at bankfull discharge qbf application of a locally parametrized entrainment equation to the full range of reach types in the study area indicates that the majority of cascades cascade pools step pools and planebeds are also not competent at qbf and require a 10 year recurrence interval flood to mobilize their d50s consequently the hydraulic parameters of the regime diagram which assume equilibrium conditions at bankfull are ill suited to these streams and provide a poor basis of channel delineation modifying the diagram to better reflect the dominant transported bedload size equivalent to the d16 of surface sediment made only slight improvements to reach delineation and had greatest effect on the morphologies with smaller surface grain sizes such as forced pool riffles and planebeds likewise the corey shape factor was incorporated into the regime diagram as an objective method for adjusting a base dimensionless critical shear stress c50b to account for lithologically controlled grain shape on bed packing and entrainment however it too provided only minor adjustments to reach type delineation

calving icebergs a source of low frequency seismic signals from columbia glacier alaska low frequency icequakes produced by columbia glacier alaska are caused by large icebergs which break off the glacier terminus into prince william sound occasionally many ice seracs fall in rapid succession producing complex low frequency icequake signals with durations sometimes exceeding 10 min an empirical relationship v 4000 t between the volume v of an iceberg in cubic meters and the duration t of the seismic signal in seconds can be used to estimate the calving rate of columbia glacier from seismological data alone during 1984 and 1985 a period of rapid retreat of the glacier the calculated number of icequakes per month showed seasonal fluctuations that corresponded to variations in calving rate determined by photogrammetry it is likely that most previously reported low frequency icequakes in southern alaska are produced by calving tidewater glaciers

seismic detection of transient changes beneath black rapids glacier alaska u s a i techniques and observations to gain new insight into the mechanisms of basal motion we have demonstrated the feasibility of an active seismic technique to measure temporal changes in basal conditions on sub hourly time scales one region of the bed of black rapids glacier alaska u s a was monitored for a period of 45 days using seismic reflections the majority ofthese reflections were nearly identical however three significant anomalies were recorded several days apart these corresponded with the englacial drainage of two ice marginal lakes and one supraglacial pothole each up glacier of the study site as well as dramatic increases in basal motion two of these seismic anomalies revealed identical changes over 1 km 2 of the bed despite the fact that their drainage events occurred at different locations further these two seismic anomalies were followed by records identical to the non anomalous state showing that the seismic changes were reversible in one of these events two records taken 36 min apart revealed that the transition between the anomalous and normal states occurred completely within this short interval

when does bedload transport begin in steep boulder bed streams the paper presents the results of field measurements of critical conditions for bedload motion conducted in the rio cordon a steep boulder bed stream in the italian alps under conditions of high reynolds numbers and low relative submergence poorly explored before two methods have been used to determine threshold of motion the displacement of marked clasts and the flow competence approach which uses the largest grain size diameter transported by each flood event the high values of confirm the great relevance of non bedload effective shear stresses in step pool streams given by the additional form drag associated with this morphology relative submergence effects on the dimensionless critical shear stress have been quantified by considering the relative submergence ratio rh d84 and the major effect of relative size on the mobility of each particle in steep widely graded bed mixtures has been evaluated finally the dimensionless critical unit discharge has also been adopted in the regression equations as the critical hydraulic parameter because it may represent an easier parameter to use than the critical shear stress for steep rough mountain rivers copyright 2006 john wiley sons ltd

calving seismicity from iceberg sea surface interactions 1 iceberg calving is known to release substantial seismic energy but little is known about the specific mechanisms that produce calving icequakes at yahtse glacier a tidewater glacier on the gulf of alaska we draw upon a local network of seismometers and focus on 80 hours of concurrent direct observation of the terminus to show that calving is the dominant source of seismicity to elucidate seismogenic mechanisms we synchronized video and seismograms to reveal that the majority of seismic energy is produced during iceberg interactions with the sea surface icequake peak amplitudes coincide with the emergence of high velocity jets of water and ice from the fjord after the complete submergence of falling icebergs below sea level these icequakes have dominant frequencies between 1 and 3 hz detachment of an iceberg from the terminus produces comparatively weak seismic waves at frequencies between 5 and 20 hz our observations allow us to suggest that the most powerful sources of calving icequakes at yahtse glacier include iceberg sea surface impact deceleration under the influence of drag and buoyancy and cavitation numerical simulations of seismogenesis during iceberg sea surface interactions support our observational evidence our new understanding of iceberg sea surface interactions allows us to reattribute the sources of calving seismicity identified in earlier studies and offer guidance for the future use of seismology in monitoring iceberg calving

hydraulics and basin morphometry of the largest flash floods in the conterminous united states abstract the maximum rainfall runoff floods measured by indirect methods in small basins 0 39 370 km2 in the conterminous united states are examined this analysis identified twelve floods that were the largest ever measured these floods all occurred in semiarid to arid areas for eleven of the twelve largest rainfall runoff floods measured in small basins by the slope area method values of hydraulic depth hydraulic radius width depth ratio n value mean velocity velocity head coefficient froude number water surface energy and channel slopes shear stress and unit stream power are tabulated estimated composite n values weighted by subsection conveyance range from 0 028 to 0 048 with a mean of 0 038 mean velocities ranged from 3 47 to 9 97 m s 1 froude numbers ranged from 0 81 to 2 49 with 9 of 12 floods having values greater than 1 00 water surface energy and channel slopes vary considerably for each flood energy slope always was less than water surface slope by values of 1 104 channel slope was greater than energy slope in eight floods shear stresses ranged between 61 and 855 n m 2 and unit stream power from 212 to 8131 w m 1 floods in these small basins produced shear stresses and unit stream powers several hundred times greater than floods in large rivers floods on other small streams with smaller unit discharges produced greater shear stresses and stream powers this indicates that the force of a flood is controlled by the depth slope product not absolute discharge in the twelve watersheds studied basin relief ranged from 165 to 1280 m elongation ratios ranged from 0 55 to 0 80 the number of first order streams basin magnitude ranged from 10 to 4297 drainage density ranged from 4 1 to 10 9 km km 2 basin slope ranged from 0 0043 to 0 2486 relief ratio ranged from 0 0097 to 0 34 ruggedness number ranged from 0 69 to 7 17 and first order channel frequency ranged from 5 1 to 38 6 km 2 elongation ratios were larger and drainage density and first order channel frequency lower than other small flash flood prone basins in the united states these twelve basins have neither the most favorable morphometric characteristics which contribute to flash flood peaks nor did the storms causing these flash floods have the greatest short duration intensities maximum flood peaks originate from an optimal combination of basin morphology and physiography and storm intensity

persistent termini of 2004 and 2005 like ruptures of the sunda megathrust to gain insight into the longevity of subduction zone segmentation we use coral microatolls to examine an 1100 year record of large earthquakes across the boundary of the great 2004 and 2005 sunda megathrust ruptures simeulue a 100 km long island off the west coast of northern sumatra indonesia straddles this boundary northern simeulue was uplifted in the 2004 earthquake whereas southern simeulue rose in 2005 northern simeulue corals reveal that predecessors of the 2004 earthquake occurred in the 10th century ad in ad 1394 2 and in ad 1450 3 corals from southern simeulue indicate that none of the major uplifts inferred on northern simeulue in the past 1100 years extended to southern simeulue the two largest uplifts recognized at a south central simeulue site around ad 1422 and in 2005 involved little or no uplift of northern simeulue the distribution of uplift and strong shaking during a historical earthquake in 1861 suggests the 1861 rupture area was also restricted to south of central simeulue as in 2005 the strikingly different histories of the two adjacent patches demonstrate that this boundary has persisted as an impediment to rupture through at least seven earthquakes in the past 1100 years this implies that the rupture lengths and hence sizes of at least some future great earthquakes and tsunamis can be forecast these microatolls also provide insight into megathrust behavior between earthquakes revealing sudden and substantial changes in interseismic strain accumulation rates

glacial earthquakes in greenland and antarctica glacial earthquakes are a new class of seismic events first discovered as signals in long period seismograms recorded on the global seismographic network most of these events occur along the coasts of greenland where they are spatially related to large outlet glaciers glacial earthquakes show a strong seasonality with most events occurring during the late summer the rateofglacial earthquakeoccurrenceincreasedbetween2000and2005 with a stabilization of earthquake frequency at 2003 2004 levels in 2006 2008 recent observations establish a strong temporal correlation between the distinct seismic signals of glacial earthquakes and large ice loss events in which icebergs of cubic kilometer scale collapse against the calving face linking the seismogenic process to the force exerted by these icebergs on the glacier andtheunderlyingsolidearth asuddenchangeinglacierspeedresultsfrom these glacial earthquake calving events seasonal and interannual variations in glacier terminus position account for general characteristics of the temporal variation in earthquake occurrence glacial earthquakes in antarctica are less well studied but they exhibit several characteristics similar to glacial earthquakes in greenland