A note on the ice crystallography and geochemistry of a debris cone, northern foothills, Antarctica

An ice-core collected in November 1996 from a debris cone near Amorphous Glacier, not far from the PNRA Terra Nova Bay Station, Antarctica, was analysed crystallographically and chemically. Based upon the shape, size and orientation of the c-axes of the ice crystals, and the occurrence of gas and mineral inclusions, several different layers were distinguished. They indicate episodes of water congelation under different kinetic and thermodynamic conditions. These findings suggest the Amorphous debris cone is a frost-heaved mound and not the product of glacier differential ablation.