02-23-2014, 07:23 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-23-2014, 07:47 PM by davidserikali.)
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A glacier is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own gravity; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and sublimation) over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform and flow due to stresses induced by their weight, creating crevasses, seracs, and other distinguishing features. They also abrade rock and debris from their substrate to create landforms such as cirques and moraines. Glaciers form only on land and are distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water.
On Earth, 99% of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets in the Polar Regions, but glaciers may be found in mountain ranges on every continent except Australia, and on a few high-latitude oceanic islands. Between 35°N and 35°S, glaciers occur only in the Himalayas, Andes, and Rocky Mountains, a few high mountains in East Africa, Mexico, and New Guinea and on Zard Kuh in Iran
Glacial ice is the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth. Many glaciers from temperate, alpine and seasonal polar climates store water as ice during the colder seasons and release it later in the form of melt water as warmer summer temperatures cause the glacier to melt, creating a water source that is especially important for plants, animals and human uses when other sources may be scant. Within high altitude and Antarctic environments, the seasonal temperature difference is often not sufficient to release melt water.However, Because glacial mass is affected by long-term climate changes, e.g., precipitation, mean temperature, and cloud cover, glacial mass changes are considered among the most sensitive indicators of climate change and are a major source of variations in sea level.
There are several features formed by glacial activities,these features include both erosional and depositional features
EROSIONAL GLACIAL FEATURES
As the glaciers expanded, due to their accumulating weight of snow and ice, they crush and abrade scoured surface rocks and bedrock. The resulting erosion landforms include striations, cirques, glacial horns, arêtes, trim lines, U-shaped valleys, roches moutonnées, overdeepenings and hanging valleys.
Cirque: Starting location for mountain glaciers
U-shaped valley: U-shaped valleys are created by mountain glaciers. When filled with ocean water so as to create an inlet, these valleys are called fjords.
Arête: spiky high land between two glaciers, if the glacial action erodes through, a spillway (or col) is formed.
DEPOSITIONAL GLACIAL FEATURES
Later, when the glaciers retreated leaving behind their freight of crushed rock and sand (glacial drift), they created characteristic depositional landforms. Examples include glacial moraines, eskers, and kames. Drumlins and ribbed moraines are also landforms left behind by retreating glaciers. The stone walls of New England contain many glacial erratic, rocks that were dragged by a glacier many miles from their bedrock origin.
Esker: Built up bed of a sub-glacial stream.
Kame: Irregularly shaped mound.
Moraine: Feature can be terminal (at the end of a glacier), lateral (along the sides of a glacier), or medial (formed by the emerger of lateral moraines from contributory glaciers).
Outwash fan: Braided stream flowing from the front end of a glacier
On Earth, 99% of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets in the Polar Regions, but glaciers may be found in mountain ranges on every continent except Australia, and on a few high-latitude oceanic islands. Between 35°N and 35°S, glaciers occur only in the Himalayas, Andes, and Rocky Mountains, a few high mountains in East Africa, Mexico, and New Guinea and on Zard Kuh in Iran
Glacial ice is the largest reservoir of freshwater on Earth. Many glaciers from temperate, alpine and seasonal polar climates store water as ice during the colder seasons and release it later in the form of melt water as warmer summer temperatures cause the glacier to melt, creating a water source that is especially important for plants, animals and human uses when other sources may be scant. Within high altitude and Antarctic environments, the seasonal temperature difference is often not sufficient to release melt water.However, Because glacial mass is affected by long-term climate changes, e.g., precipitation, mean temperature, and cloud cover, glacial mass changes are considered among the most sensitive indicators of climate change and are a major source of variations in sea level.
There are several features formed by glacial activities,these features include both erosional and depositional features
EROSIONAL GLACIAL FEATURES
As the glaciers expanded, due to their accumulating weight of snow and ice, they crush and abrade scoured surface rocks and bedrock. The resulting erosion landforms include striations, cirques, glacial horns, arêtes, trim lines, U-shaped valleys, roches moutonnées, overdeepenings and hanging valleys.
Cirque: Starting location for mountain glaciers
U-shaped valley: U-shaped valleys are created by mountain glaciers. When filled with ocean water so as to create an inlet, these valleys are called fjords.
Arête: spiky high land between two glaciers, if the glacial action erodes through, a spillway (or col) is formed.
DEPOSITIONAL GLACIAL FEATURES
Later, when the glaciers retreated leaving behind their freight of crushed rock and sand (glacial drift), they created characteristic depositional landforms. Examples include glacial moraines, eskers, and kames. Drumlins and ribbed moraines are also landforms left behind by retreating glaciers. The stone walls of New England contain many glacial erratic, rocks that were dragged by a glacier many miles from their bedrock origin.
Esker: Built up bed of a sub-glacial stream.
Kame: Irregularly shaped mound.
Moraine: Feature can be terminal (at the end of a glacier), lateral (along the sides of a glacier), or medial (formed by the emerger of lateral moraines from contributory glaciers).
Outwash fan: Braided stream flowing from the front end of a glacier
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