Basal Freezing of Squeezed Water: Its Influence on Glacier Erosion

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Abstract
The basal ice layer of Glacier de Tsidjiore Nouve in the Swiss Alps consists of debris bands and associated clear ice lenses. This layer is due to refreezing of squeezed water at the sale of the glacier, as evidenced by the chemical properties of the ice. Active erosion processes include entrainment of debris in the basal ice layer and abrasion on rock protuberances immediately down-glacier. The formation of the basal ice layer requires that the temperature of the squeezed water, which is determined by the pressure-melting point within the basal ice, should be below the freezing temperature of the pore water in the subglacial debris layer. This would be the case if the pore water were at a pressure lower than the basal ice pressure.