Description
Book SynopsisThe third edition of this successful textbook will supply advanced undergraduate and graduate students with the tools they need to understand modern glaciological research. Practicing glacial geologists and glaciologists will also find the volume useful as a reference book. Since the second edition, three-quarters of the chapters have been updated, and two new chapters have been added. Included in this edition are noteworthy new contributions to our understanding of important concepts, with over 170 references to papers published since the second edition went to press. The book develops concepts from the bottom up: a working knowledge of calculus is assumed, but beyond that, the important physical concepts are developed from elementary principles. Emphasis is placed on connections between modern research in glaciology and the origin of features of glacial landscapes. Student exercises are included.
Table of Contents1. Why study glaciers?; 2. Some basic concepts; 3. Mass balance; 4. Flow and fracture of a crystalline material; 5. The velocity field in a glacier; 6. Temperature distribution in polar ice sheets; 7. The coupling between a glacier and its bed; 8. Water flow in and under glaciers: geomorphic implications; 9. Stress and deformation; 10. Stress and velocity distribution in an idealized glacier; 11. Numerical modeling; 12. Applications of stress and deformation principles to classical problems; 13. Ice streams and ice shelves; 14. Finite strain and the origin of foliation; 15. Response of glaciers to climate change; 16. Ice core studies; Problems; References; Index.
