[1] Sliding velocity and basal drag are strongly influenced by changes in subglacial water pressure or subglacial water storage associated with opening and closing of water cavities in the lee of bedrock obstacles. To better understand this influence, finite-element simulations of ice flowing past bedrock obstacles with cavity formation are carried out for different synthetic periodic bedrock shapes. In the numerical model, the cavity roof is treated as an unknown free surface and is part of the solution. As an improvement over earlier studies, the cases of nonlinear ice rheology and infinite bedrock slopes are treated. Our results show that the relationship between basal drag and sliding velocity, the friction law, can be easily extended from linear to nonlinear ice rheology and is bounded even for bedrocks with locally infinite slopes. Combining our results with earlier works by others, a phenomenological friction law is proposed that includes three independent parameters that depend only on the bedrock geometry. This formulation yields an upper bound of the basal drag for finite sliding velocity and a decrease in the basal drag at low effective pressure or high velocity. This law should dramatically alter results of models of temperate glaciers and should also have important repercussions on models of glacier surges and fast glacier flows.

While the existence of relatively fresh groundwater sequestered within permeable, porous sediments beneath the Atlantic continental shelf of North and South America has been known for some time, these waters have never been assessed as a potential resource. This fresh water was likely emplaced during Pleistocene sea-level low stands when the shelf was exposed to meteoric recharge and by elevated recharge in areas overrun by the Laurentide ice sheet at high latitudes. To test this hypothesis, we present results from a high-resolution paleohydrologic model of groundwater flow, heat and solute transport, ice sheet loading, and sea level fluctuations for the continental shelf from New Jersey to Maine over the last 2 million years. Our analysis suggests that the presence of fresh to brackish water within shallow Miocene sands more than 100 km offshore of New Jersey was facilitated by discharge of submarine springs along Baltimore and Hudson Canyons where these shallow aquifers crop out. Recharge rates four times modern levels were computed for portions of New England's continental shelf that were overrun by the Laurentide ice sheet during the last glacial maximum. We estimate the volume of emplaced Pleistocene continental shelf fresh water (less than 1 ppt) to be 1300 km(3) in New England. We also present estimates of continental shelf fresh water resources for the U.S. Atlantic eastern seaboard (10(4) km(3)) and passive margins globally (3 x 10(5) km(3)). The simulation results support the hypothesis that offshore fresh water is a potentially valuable, albeit nonrenewable resource for coastal megacities faced with growing water shortages.

[1] Roots play a major role in reinforcing and stabilizing steep hillslopes. Most studies in slope stability implement root reinforcement as an apparent cohesion by upscaling the behavior of static individual roots. Recent studies, however, have shown that much better predictions of slope stability can be made if the progressive failure of bundles of roots are considered. The characteristics of progressive failure depend on interactions between soil deformation and root bundle geometric and mechanical properties. We present a detailed model for the quantitative description of the mechanical behavior of a bundle of roots under strain-controlled mechanical forcing. The Root Bundle Model explicitly considers typical values of root-size spatial distribution (number and dimension of roots), geometric factors (diameter-length proportion, tortuosity, and branching characteristics), and mechanical characteristics (tensile strength and Young's modulus) and interactions under various soil conditions (soil type, confining pressure, and soil moisture). We provide systematic analyses of the roles of these factors on the mechanical response of the bundle and explore the relative importance of various parameters to the macroscopic root-soil mechanical response. We distinguish between increased strength imparted by small roots at small deformations and the resilience imparted by larger roots to the growth of large tensile cracks, showing that the maximal reinforcement of fine roots is reached within the first 5 cm of displacement whereas a root of 20 mm diameter may reach its maximal pullout force after 10 cm displacement. The model reproduces the gradual straining and ultimate residual failure behavior of root systems often observed in hillslopes, with progressive growth of tension cracks improving estimations of root reinforcement when considering the effects of root distribution and the variation of the pullout force as a function of displacement. These results enhance understanding of root reinforcement mechanisms and enable more realistic implementation of root reinforcement modeling for stability calculations of vegetated slopes and for guiding ongoing experimental efforts to gather critical root-soil mechanical information.Citation: Schwarz, M., D. Cohen, and D. Or (2010), Root-soil mechanical interactions during pullout and failure of root bundles,

Abstract. Root networks contribute to slope stability through complex interactions with soil that include mechanical compression and tension. Due to the spatial heterogeneity of root distribution and the dynamics of root turnover, the quantification of root reinforcement on steep slopes is challenging and consequently the calculation of slope stability also. Although considerable progress has been made, some important aspects of root mechanics remain neglected. In this study we address specifically the role of root-strength variability on the mechanical behavior of a root bundle. Many factors contribute to the variability of root mechanical properties even within a single class of diameter. This work presents a new approach for quantifying root reinforcement that considers the variability of mechanical properties of each root diameter class. Using the data of laboratory tensile tests and field pullout tests, we calibrate the parameters of the Weibull survival function to implement the variability of root strength in a numerical model for the calculation of root reinforcement (RBMw). The results show that, for both laboratory and field data sets, the parameters of the Weibull distribution may be considered constant with the exponent equal to 2 and the normalized failure displacement equal to 1. Moreover, the results show that the variability of root strength in each root diameter class has a major influence on the behavior of a root bundle with important implications when considering different approaches in slope stability calculation. Sensitivity analysis shows that the calibration of the equations of the tensile force, the elasticity of the roots, and the root distribution are the most important steps. The new model allows the characterization of root reinforcement in terms of maximum pullout force, stiffness, and energy. Moreover, it simplifies the implementation of root reinforcement in slope stability models. The realistic quantification of root reinforcement for tensile, shear and compression behavior allows for the consideration of the stabilization effects of root networks on steep slopes and the influence that this has on the triggering of shallow landslides.