Recent radio echo soundings of the Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf by the German Antarctic Expedition, 1983/1984 suggest that previous ice thickness measurements may have misinterpreted an internal radio echo reflecting horizon as the true ice shelf bottom. This, and the analysis of total ice thickness from surface altimetry, suggests that a previously defined thin-ice region comprising approximately 1/5 of the total ice shelf area may be underlain by a thick layer of possibly saline ice. One possible way to verify the existence of such a layer is by measurement of its influence on the ice shelf flow regime. Here we evaluate this influence by conducting finite element simulations of two alternative ice thickness configurations. We conclude that flow differences are sufficiently large to allow verification of the possible saline basal ice layer provided that surface strain rate measurements are conducted in certain key areas.