NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Ice Surface Morphology and Flow on Malaspina Glacier, Alaska: Implications for Regional Tectonics in the Saint Elias OrogenThe Saint Elias Mountains in southern Alaska are located at a structural syntaxis where the coastal thrust and fold belt of the Fairweather plate boundary intersects thrust faults and folds generated by collision of the Yakutat Terrane. The axial trace of this syntaxis extends southeastward out of the Saint Elias Mountains and beneath Malaspina Glacier where it is hidden from view and cannot be mapped using conventional methods. Here we examine the surface morphology and flow patterns of Malaspina Glacier to infer characteristics of the bedrock topography and organization of the syntaxis. Faults and folds beneath the eastern part of the glacier trend northwest and reflect dextral transpression near the terminus of the Fairweather fault system. Those beneath the western part of the glacier trend northeast and accommodate folding and thrust faulting during collision and accretion of the Yakutat Terrane. Mapping the location and geometry of the structural syntaxis provides important constraints on spatial variations in seismicity, fault kinematics, and crustal shortening beneath Malaspina Glacier, as well as the position of the collisional deformation front within the Yakutat Terrane. We also speculate that the geometrical complexity of intersecting faults within the syntaxis formed a barrier to rupture propagation during two regional Mw 8.1earthquakes in September 1899.
Document ID
20170011594
Acquisition Source
Goddard Space Flight Center
Document Type
Reprint (Version printed in journal)
External Source(s)
Authors
Cotton, Michelle M.
(Utah Univ. Salt Lake City, UT, United States)
Bruhn, Ronald L.
(Utah Univ. Salt Lake City, UT, United States)
Sauber, Jeanne
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Burgess, Evan
(Utah Univ. Salt Lake City, UT, United States)
Forster, Richard R.
(Utah Univ. Salt Lake City, UT, United States)
Date Acquired
December 7, 2017
Publication Date
April 17, 2014
Publication Information
Publication: Tectonics
Publisher: American Geophysical Union
Volume: 33
Issue: 4
ISSN: 0278-7407
e-ISSN: 1944-9194
Subject Category
Geosciences (General)
Report/Patent Number
GSFC-E-DAA-TN14893
Funding Number(s)
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX08AX88G
CONTRACT_GRANT: NNX08AP27G
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
ice velocities
Malaspina Glacier
Glacial morphology

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available