The coating layer of glacial polish

Glacial polish has previously been thought to form by removal of material by glacier abrasion. Here we identify a micrometer-scale coating layer that suggests that the uppermost interface between ice and rock forms by accreting material to the abraded surface. Bent and broken crystals in a damage zone beneath the coating layer provide evidence for abrasion at the nanoscale, which generates the fragments and amorphous matrix that ultimately compose the coating layer. Flow and shear textures within the coating suggest that this composite material is smeared over the damage zone during ice sliding, forming a smooth surface. The coating can potentially change the shear resistance and erosion rates at the bed of temperate glaciers and likely explains the relative resistance of glacial polish to postglacial weathering.