Abstract
It is proposed that the formation of the subglacial bedforms known as drumlins occurs through an instability associated with the flow of ice over a wet deformable till. We pose a mathematical model that describes this instability, and we solve a simplified version of the model numerically in order to establish the form of finite-amplitude two-dimensional waveforms. A feature of the solutions is that cavities frequently form downstream of the bedforms; we allow the model to cater for this possibility and we provide an efficient numerical method to solve the resulting free boundary problem.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 2681-2702 |
| Number of pages | 22 |
| Journal | Proceedings of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |
| Volume | 465 |
| Issue number | 2109 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 8 Sep 2009 |
Keywords
- Cavitation
- Drumlins
- Instability
- Ribbed moraine
- Subglacial till