Thermokarst — a mechanism of de-icing ice-cored moraines

Thermokarst features occur widely in the younger ice-cored moraines and kame terraces in the Dry Valleys region of Victoria Land, Antarctica Common forms are melt dolines, caves, natural bridges, and subsurface. flow. Such features typically develop in stagnant glacial ice with a low material exchange.
The development of a thermokarst cave system near the Taylor Glacier during the southern summer of 1973–74 is described, and the role of the thermokarst process in land-form development in the Dry Valleys area is discussed.