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Constraining the timescales of sediment transport by glacier systems is important for understanding the processes controlling sediment dynamics within glacierized catchments, and because the accumulation of supraglacial sediment influences glacier response to climate change. However, glacial sediment transport can be difficult to observe; sediment can be transported englacially, subglacially, supraglacially or at the ice margins, and may be stored temporarily on headwall slopes or within moraines before being (re‐)entrained and transported by glacier ice. This study is a proof of concept of the use of luminescence rock surface burial dating to establish rates of englacial sediment transport. Our novel approach combines luminescence rock surface burial dating of englacial clasts with an ice‐flow model that includes Lagrangian particle tracking to quantify rates of sediment transport through the Miage Glacier catchment in the Italian Alps. Luminescence rock surface burial ages for seven samples embedded in the near‐surface ice in the ablation area range from 0.0 ± 1.0 to 4.7 ± 0.3 ka and are consistent with the ice‐flow model results. Our results show that the transport durations of individual clasts vary by an order of magnitude, implying rapid clast transport near the glacier surface and longer transport histories for clasts transported lower in the ice column. In some cases, clasts were stored on the headwalls or within ice‐marginal moraines for several thousand years before being englacially transported. The results illustrate the different routes by which glaciers transport sediment and provide the first direct measurements of englacial sediment transport duration.more » « lessFree, publicly-accessible full text available March 1, 2026
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Abstract High‐relief glacial valleys shape the modern topography of the Southern Patagonian Andes, but their formation remains poorly understood. Two Miocene plutonic complexes in the Andean retroarc, the Fitz Roy (49°S) and Torres del Paine (51°S) massifs, were emplaced between 16.9–16.4 Ma and 12.6–12.4 Ma, respectively. Subduction of oceanic ridge segments initiated ca. 16 Ma at 54°S, leading to northward opening of a slab window with associated mantle upwelling. The onset of major glaciations caused drastic topographic changes since ca. 7 Ma. To constrain the respective contributions of tectonic‐mantle dynamics and fluvio‐glacial erosion to rock exhumation and landscape evolution, we perform inverse thermal modeling of a new data set of zircon and apatite (U‐Th)/He from the two massifs, complemented by apatite4He/3He data for Torres del Paine. Our results show rapid rock exhumation recorded only in the Fitz Roy massif between 10 and 8 Ma, which we ascribe to local mantle upwelling forcing surface uplift and intensified erosion around 49°S. Both massifs record a pulse of rock exhumation between 7 and 4 Ma, which we interpret as enhanced erosion during the beginning of Patagonian glaciations. After a period of erosional and tectonic quiescence in the Pliocene, increased rock exhumation since 3–2 Ma is interpreted as the result of alpine glacial valley carving promoted by reinforced glacial‐interglacial cycles. This study highlights that glacial erosion was the main driver to rock exhumation in the Patagonian retroarc since 7 Ma, but that mantle upwelling might be a driving force to rock exhumation as well.more » « less
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Abstract The thermal conductivity of bridgmanite, the primary constituent of the Earth's lower mantle, has been investigated using diamond anvil cells at pressures up to 85 GPa and temperatures up to 3,100 K. We report the results of time‐domain optical laser flash heating and X‐ray Free Electron Laser heating experiments from a variety of bridgmanite samples with different Al and Fe contents. The results demonstrate that Fe or Fe,Al incorporation in bridgmanite reduces thermal conductivity by about 50% in comparison to end‐member MgSiO3at the pressure‐temperature conditions of Earth's lower mantle. The effect of temperature on the thermal conductivity at 28–60 GPa is moderate, well described as , whereais 0.2–0.5. The results yield thermal conductivity of 7.5–15 W/(m × K) in the thermal boundary layer of the lowermost mantle composed of Fe,Al‐bearing bridgmanite.more » « less
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Twenty-four centrifuge model tests of liquefaction and lateral spreading, performed as part of a round robin test program, are shared and compared in this archive. Please see the general report section of the published project for an overview comparison and background of all of the experiments. One document in the report (with “ReadMe” in the file name) describes the organization of the data archive. The comparisons presented in the general report section will serve as an index to help the users find individual experiments of interest. This data from 24 model tests is published as nine separate experiments in this archive (one experiment per centrifuge facility). Each experiment includes two or three model tests and each model test includes between one and three destructive shaking events. All of the tests modeled a 4 m thick deposit of Ottawa F-65 sand with a 5-degree surface slope in a rigid box. The tests covered a range of ground motion intensities and a range of relative densities to define the median response and the sensitivity of the response to relative density and shaking intensity. The nine centrifuge facilities involved in this test program included Cambridge University (UK), Ehime University (Japan), IFSTTAR (France), NCU (Taiwan), KAIST (Korea), Kyoto University (Japan), RPI (USA), UC Davis (USA), and Zhejiang University (China).more » « less
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