Geology topics

T.S. Hooyer

Publications and source records attributed to T.S. Hooyer.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2017

Numerical simulation of the paleohydrology of glacial Lake Oshkosh, eastern Wisconsin, USA

Proglacial lakes, formed during retreat of the Laurentide ice sheet, evolved quickly as outlets became ice-free and the earth deformed through glacial isostatic adjustment. With high-resolution digital elevation models (DEMs) and GIS methods, it is possible to reconstruct the evolution of surface hydrology. When a DEM deforms through time as predicted by our model of viscoelastic earth relaxation, the entire surface hydrologic system with its lakes, outlets, shorelines and rivers also evolves without requiring assumptions of outlet position. The method is applied to proglacial Lake Oshkosh in Wisconsin (13,600 to 12,900??cal yr BP). Comparison of predicted to observed shoreline tilt indicates the ice sheet was about 400??m thick over the Great Lakes region. During ice sheet recession, each of the five outlets are predicted to uplift more than 100??m and then subside approximately 30??m. At its maximum extent, Lake Oshkosh covered 6600??km2 with a volume of 111??km3. Using the Hydrologic Engineering Center-River Analysis System model, flow velocities during glacial outburst floods up to 9??m/s and peak discharge of 140,000??m3/s are predicted, which could drain 33.5??km3 of lake water in 10??days and transport boulders up to 3??m in diameter. ?? 2007 University of Washington.

Quaternary Research↗

USGS2008

Magnetic fabric of sheared till: A strain indicator for evaluating the bed deformation model of glacier flow

Wet-based portions of ice sheets may move primarily by shearing their till beds, resting in high sediment fluxes and the development of subglacial landforms. This model of glacier movement, which requires high bed shear strains, can be tested using till microstructural characteristics that evolve during till deformation. Here we examine the development of magnetic fabric using a ring shear device to defom two Wisconsin-age basal tills to shear strains as high as 70. Hysteresis experiments and the dependence of magnetic susceptibility of these tills on temperature demonstrate that anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) develops during shear due to the rotation of primarily magnetite particles that are silt sized or smaller. At moderate shear strains (???6-25), principal axes of maximum magnetic susceptibility develop a strong fabric (S1 eignevalues of 0.83-0.96), without further strengthening at higher strains, During deformation, directions of maximum susceptibility cluster strongly in the direction of shear and plunge 'up-glacier,' consistent with the behavior of pebbles and sand particles studied in earlier experiments. In contrast, the magnitude of AMS does not vary systematically with strain and is small relative to its variability among samples; this is because most magnetite grains are contained as inclusions in larger particles and hence do not align during shear. Although processes other than pervasive bed deformation may result in strong flow parallel fabrics, AMS fabrics provide a rapid and objective means of identifying basal tills that have not been sheared sufficiently to be compatible with the bed deformation model. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface↗

USGS2008

The experimental basis for interpreting particle and magnetic fabrics of sheared till

Particle fabrics of basal tills may allow testing of the bed-deformation model of glacier flow, which requires high bed shear strains (>100). Field studies, however, have not yielded a systematic relationship between shear-strain magnitude and fabric development. To isolate this relationship four basal tills and viscous putty were sheared in a ring-shear device to strains as high as 714. Fabric was characterized within a zone of shear deformation using the long-axis orientations of fine-gravel and sand particles and the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) of small (???5-8 cm3) intact samples. Results indicate that till particles rotate toward the plane of shearing with long-axis orientations that become tightly clustered in the direction of shear (0??78 < S1 < 0??94 for three-dimensional data). These strong, steady-state fabrics are attained at shear strains of 7-30, with no evidence of fabric weakening with further strain, regardless of the specific till or particle-size fraction under consideration. These results do not support the Jeffery model of particle rotation, which correctly describes particle rotation in the viscous putty but not in the tills, owing to fluid-mechanical assumptions of the model that are violated in till. The sensitivity of fabric development to shear-strain magnitude indicates that, for most till units where shear-strain magnitude is poorly known, attributing fabric variations to spatial differences in other variables, such as till thickness or water content, will be inherently speculative. Attributing fabric characteristics to particular basal till facies is uncertain because shear-strain magnitude is unlikely to be closely correlated to till facies. Weak or spatially variable fabrics, in the absence of post-depositional disturbance or major deviations from unidirectional simple shear, indicate that till has not been pervasively sheared to the high strains required by the bed-deformation model. Strong flow-parallel fabrics are a necessary but insufficient criterion for confirming the model. Copyright ?? 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Earth Surface Processes and Landforms↗

USGS2005

Debris-bed friction of hard-bedded glaciers

[1] Field measurements of debris-bed friction on a smooth rock tablet at the bed of Engabreen, a hard-bedded, temperate glacier in northern Norway, indicated that basal ice containing 10% debris by volume exerted local shear traction of up to 500 kPa. The corresponding bulk friction coefficient between the dirty basal ice and the tablet was between 0.05 and 0.08. A model of friction in which nonrotating spherical rock particles are held in frictional contact with the bed by bed-normal ice flow can account for these measurements if the power law exponent for ice flowing past large clasts is 1. A small exponent (n < 2) is likely because stresses in ice are small and flow is transient. Numerical calculations of the bed-normal drag force on a sphere in contact with a flat bed using n = 1 show that this force can reach values several hundred times that on a sphere isolated from the bed, thus drastically increasing frictional resistance. Various estimates of basal friction are obtained from this model. For example, the shear traction at the bed of a glacier sliding at 20 m a-1 with a geothermally induced melt rate of 0.006 m a-1 and an effective pressure of 300 kPa can exceed 100 kPa. Debris-bed friction can therefore be a major component of sliding resistance, contradicting the common assumption that debris-bed friction is negligible. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research F: Earth Surface↗

USGS2000

Clast-fabric development in a shearing granular material: Implications for subglacial till and fault gouge

Elongate clasts in subglacial till and in fault gouge align during shearing, but the relation between clast-fabric strength and cumulative shear strain for such materials is effectively unknown. This relation was explored in experiments with a large ring-shear device in which a till and a viscous putty that contained isolated clasts were sheared to high strains. As expected, rotation of clasts in the putty is closely approximated by the theory of G.B. Jeffrey, who derived the orbits of rigid ellipsoids in a slowly shearing fluid. Clast rotation in the till, however, is strikingly different. Rather than orbiting through the shear plane as predicted by Jeffery, most clasts rotate into the shear plane and remain there, resulting in strong fabrics regardless of the aspect ratios and initial orientations of clasts. This divergent behavior is likely due to slip of the till matrix along the surfaces of clasts, which is a natural expectation in a granular material but violates the no-slip condition of Jeffery's model. These results do not support the widespread belief that subglacial till deformation results in weak clast fabrics. Thus, many tills with weak fabrics thought to have been sheared subglacially to high strains, like many basal tills of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, may have been sheared only slightly with little effect on either ice-sheet dynamics or sediment transport. In addition, these results indicate that in simple shear the rotation of clasts in till and in fault gouge is best analyzed with the model of A. March, who treated inclusions as passive markers.

Geological Society of America Bulletin↗