Deformation experiments of ice-silica mixtures: effects of silica particles on the flow law and implications for the tectonics of icy bodies

Abstract

We carried out deformation experiments of ice-silica glass beads mixtures systematically to study the effects of silica particles on the flow law. In this study, we examine the silica glass beads sizes, contents, and sample preparation methods. In the case of small glass beads mixtures, the silica content was strongly related to the flow law. In the case of big glass beads mixtures, the flow law was approximately consistent with the flow law of pure ice even if the content or the preparation method were changed at the strain rate less than 10^-4s^-1. Finally, we compared our results with the previous studies such as Hooke et al. (1972) and Durham et al. (1992). As a result, it is found that our results were consistent with their results qualitatively.