Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Journal of Geophysical Research

Publisher

American Geophysical Union

Publication Date

11-14-2008

Volume

113

Disciplines

Earth Sciences | Geology

Abstract

Artificial perturbations of borehole water levels, known as slug tests, are a useful means of characterizing the glacier hydrologic system. Slug tests were performed on Bench Glacier, Alaska, in 21 boreholes over three field seasons during the transition from a winter to a summer drainage mode. Fifty-four slug tests were conducted, with water level monitoring in up to five boreholes adjacent to the slugged borehole. Seven of the slug tests were performed in conjunction with dye dispersion tests to identify water pathways within the slugged borehole following perturbation. Nearly 60% of monitored adjacent boreholes showed a hydraulic connection to the slugged borehole via the glacier bed. The nature and degree of connectivity was temporally variable, suggesting that the drainage network at the bed was highly dynamic on a daily timescale and spatial scale of tens of meters. The variability of slug test responses over time and space limit the feasibility of six alternative explanations for the oscillatory water level behavior characteristic of the underdamped response. We propose a seventh, that is, that coherent air packages are a reasonable means of producing the compliance needed to generate the underdamped slug test responses on Bench Glacier, and that these air packages may exist within the glacier at the tips of subglacially propagated fractures.

DOI

10.1029/2007JF000908

Comments

An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright (2008) American Geophysical Union.

Rights

© 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

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