Sediment-laden artesian springs emerging from outwash-covered stagnant ice

Location: Sirmilik Glacier, Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada

These springs indicate that the internal "plumbing" of Sirmilik Glacier extends away from the retreating ice front into basal glacier or aufeis that is buried in gravelly outwash, which acts as an insulating cover preventing melting. The ice in the background is actually the side of a 30- to 50-meter-deep valley cut into the glacier by meltwater. Note the color contrast between the surface meltwater exiting that valley and the sediment-laden water pumping out of the springs from englacial conduits that tap the glacier's basal sediment load.

Updated 03/29/2010 AW