Controls of initial topography on temporal and spatial patterns of glacial erosion

- Numerical modelling is used to simulate glaciation and erosion by glaciers.
- Glacial landscape evolution is investigated for end-members of initial topography.
- Initial topography affects ice dynamics and subsequent patterns of glacial erosion.
- Basal shear stress strongly controls glacial erosion in plateau-like landscapes.

Here we investigate the influence of initial pre-glacial topography on spatial and temporal patterns of glacial erosion using numerical surface process modelling, including a higher order ice sheet model. First, we consider glacier dynamics when simulating glaciation in two real landscapes, representing plateau-type topography (southeast Australia) and characteristic steady-state fluvial topography (southern Taiwan). We find that the different initial landscape configurations result in distinctly different ice configurations and patterns of basal sliding. The sliding patterns are controlled by ice configuration and the resulting basal shear stresses and by the thermal properties at the base of the ice. We then investigate how these characteristic patterns of basal sliding control glacial erosion and long-term landscape evolution using synthetic representations of the two landscapes. The two landscape configurations result in markedly different spatial and temporal patterns of glacial erosion. However, the resulting landscapes may have similar morphology, irrespective of initial landscapes and glacial erosion patterns being significantly different. The numerical experiments also suggest that, in addition to basal temperature, basal shear stress is important in restricting long-term glacial erosion, which is relevant for the preservation of landforms during glaciations. Specifically, pre-glacial landforms may be eroded although they are initially protected by cold-based ice, when the ice configuration promotes significant basal shear stress (glacial erosion) at the edge of a plateau-like landscape. In contrast, pre-glacial landforms may be preserved irrespective of the ice being warm-based, when low gradients in the ice surface act to limit basal shear stress.