Formation of ribbed bedforms below shear margins and lobes of palaeo-ice streams

Vérité, Jean; Ravier, Édouard; Bourgeois, Olivier; Pochat, Stéphane; Lelandais, Thomas; Mourgues, Régis; Clark, Christopher D.; Bessin, Paul; Peigné, David; Atkinson, Nigel

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2889-2021

Articles | Volume 15, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2889-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2889-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 6

Research article

|

28 Jun 2021

Research article |

| 28 Jun 2021

Formation of ribbed bedforms below shear margins and lobes of palaeo-ice streams

Jean Vérité, Édouard Ravier, Olivier Bourgeois, Stéphane Pochat, Thomas Lelandais, Régis Mourgues, Christopher D. Clark, Paul Bessin, David Peigné, and Nigel Atkinson

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Final revised paper (published on 28 Jun 2021)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 21 Nov 2020)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

- Printer-friendly version

- Supplement

RC1: 'Formal Review by Richard Hindmarsh', Richard C.A. Hindmarsh, 20 Dec 2020
- AC1: 'Reply on RC1', Jean Vérité, 15 Mar 2021
RC2: 'Review by Martin Ross', Martin Ross, 22 Feb 2021
- AC2: 'Reply on RC2', Jean Vérité, 15 Mar 2021

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (31 Mar 2021) by Delphine Lannuzel

AR by Jean Vérité on behalf of the Authors (31 Mar 2021) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (06 May 2021) by Delphine Lannuzel

AR by Jean Vérité on behalf of the Authors (06 May 2021) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (09 May 2021) by Delphine Lannuzel

RR by Richard C.A. Hindmarsh (25 May 2021)

RR by Martin Ross (27 May 2021)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

The revised manuscript contains several improvements over the previous version. The revised background section is more focused on ribbed moraine and is thus more relevant to the research presented. The addition of a section on the physics of the experiments is useful as it clarifies several aspects that were difficult to understand in the previous version. The main assumptions and limitations of the experiments are now clearly stated, and this will really help readers understand the whole study. It is important to be very clear about what the models can reproduce and what they cannot reproduce; the revised version does a better job at explaining this.

The discussion section is also considerably improved. Some important aspects of previous studies are better explained and represented, and the findings of the new study are also put into the broader context in a more balanced way. Overall, it is better integrated, and it provides a more realistic analysis of the new contributions.

Overall, this is an innovative study that brings interesting insights into possible ribbed moraine formation processes, as well as new ideas that should influence future studies on this topic.

Below are few additional minor suggested edits:

Title: The new title is shorter, which is good, but it does not provide any insight into the innovative research design or strategy, which I think should be highlighted in the title given it is a highlight or particularity of the study.

Fig 8: Here I note some text on the figure is upside-down. I suppose that in the published version, the figure and/or text will be oriented differently.

Fig. 11: It should be specified, on the figure or in the caption, that the bedform angle (left y-axis) is relative to silicon flow orientation. The term 'orientation' is a bit unclear in the context of the figure. Perhaps 'deviation angle' or 'angle relative to flow' would be better?

Line 459: I would suggest "identified and/or compiled by Margold et al. (2015)...". Several ice streams were identified, mapped and described by others and compiled/integrated by Margold et al...

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (28 May 2021) by Delphine Lannuzel

AR by Jean Vérité on behalf of the Authors (28 May 2021) Author's response Author's tracked changes Manuscript

ED: Publish subject to technical corrections (03 Jun 2021) by Delphine Lannuzel

AR by Jean Vérité on behalf of the Authors (03 Jun 2021) Author's response Manuscript

Short summary

Subglacial bedforms are commonly used to reconstruct past glacial dynamics and investigate processes occuring at the ice–bed interface. Using analogue modelling and geomorphological mapping, we demonstrate that ridges with undulating crests, known as subglacial ribbed bedforms, are ubiquitous features along ice stream corridors. These bedforms provide a tantalizing glimpse into (1) the former positions of ice stream margins, (2) the ice lobe dynamics and (3) the meltwater drainage efficiency.