Hydrology: Current Research

Paul A LaViolette

Publications

• Research Article
  The Generation of Mega Glacial Meltwater Floods and Their Geologic Impact
  Author(s): Paul A LaViolettePaul A LaViolette
  
  A mechanism is presented explaining how mega meltwater avalanches could be generated on the surface of a continental ice sheet. It is shown that during periods of excessive climatic warmth when the continental ice sheet surface was melting at an accelerated rate, self-amplifying, translating waves of glacial meltwater emerge as a distinct mechanism of meltwater transport. It is shown that such glacier waves would have been capable of attaining kinetic energies per kilometer of wave front equivalent to 12 million tons of TNT, to have achieved heights of 100 to 300 meters, and forward velocities as great as 900 km/hr. Glacier waves would not have been restricted to a particular locale, but could have been produced wherever continental ice sheets were present. Catastrophic floods produced by waves of such size and kinetic energy would be able to account for the character of the permafros.. Read More»
  DOI: 10.4172/2157-7587.1000269

  Abstract PDF