CHAPTER 18

GLACIERS AND GLACIATION

A. Glaciers:

- A glacier is a thick ice mass that originates on land from the

accumulation, compaction, and recrystallization of snow.

- Where does snow come from?

It is part of the hydrologic cycle. Water evaporates into the
atmosphere, precipitates upon the land, and flows in rivers or
underground back to the sea.

Part of precipitation occurs at high elevations, and becomes

part of a glacier. Such water can be stored as glacial ice for
tens, hundreds, or thousands of years before melting and back
to sea.

Glaciers flow like running water and groundwater. They also

erode, transport and deposit sediments.
 B. Types of Glaciers:

i. Valley (Alpine) Glaciers:

Consists of glaciers in mountainous areas where it flows slowly
(few cm/d) through valleys that were occupied by streams. They
are basically streams of ice

ii. Ice Sheet (Continental Glacier):

Sheets of ice covering wide flat areas. The only two places that
exist nowadays are Greenland in the north, and Antarctica in the
South Pole.

These masses flow out in all directions and obscure the

topography of lands they flow through.

C. Glacier Budget:
Glaciers originate from snow. Therefore, glaciers form in areas
where more snow falls in winter than melts during the summer.
Glaciers do gain and lose ice.
Snow accumulates and ice formation occurs in the zone of
accumulation. It is where snow addition thickens the glacier and
initiates movement.

Its elevation varies from one region to another. In polar regions,

it’s at sea level. In tropical areas, it is only high in mountain
areas.

Where a glacier loses part of its snow/ice (melting) is the zone of

wastage.

Glaciers waste through calving. When a glacier reaches the

sea/lake, large pieces of ice break off and form icebergs.

Snowline presents the outer limits of zone of accumulation, and

separates this zone from zone of wastage. It is below
accumulation and above wastage.

The glacier is advancing if it gains, and retreating if it loses. It is

stationary if accumulation equals wastage (ablation)
A glacier budget is the balance, or lack of balance, between
accumulation at the upper end of the glacier, and loss at the
lower end.

Whether the margin of a glacier is advancing, retreating, or

stationary, the ice within the glacier continues to flow forward.

D. Glacier Erosion:
Glaciers are capable of great erosion. They can transport up to
boulder-sized particles. Glaciers erode the land in two ways:

i. Plucking:
Occurs when melt-water penetrates the cracks and joints of
bedrock beneath a glacier and freezes, expands, and breaks the
rock loose.

ii. Abrasion:
Occurs as the ice and its load slide over bedrock, they function
like sandpaper to smooth and polish the surface below. They
form what is known as rock flour
 E. Erosional Landforms:
Alpine glaciers move downvalley, so they generally accentuate
the irregularities in the topography by creating steeper canyon
walls and bold peaks.

Ice sheet override the terrain and subdue rather than accentuate.
i. U-shaped valleys:
Running water forms narrow V-shaped valleys. During
glaciation narrow valleys undergo a transformation as the glacier
widen and deepens them resulting in a U-shaped glacial trough.

ii. Hanging valleys:

During glaciation, glaciers cut their valleys deeper than their
smaller tributary glaciers. When glaciers retreat, the valleys of
tributary glaciers are left standing above the main glacial trough,
and are called hanging valleys.

iii. Cirque:
It is a bowl-shaped depression with steep walls on three sides but
is open on the downvalley side. It is where snow accumulates
and form ice.
iv. Tarn:
When a glacier in a cirque melts, a small lake called tarn
occupies the cirque basin.

v. Arête and horns:

An Arête is a sinuous, sharp-edged ridge.
A Horn is a sharp, pyramid-like peak.

Both are formed due to enlargement of cirques through plucking

and frost action.

The divide between two cirques is reduced to a narrow knife-like

partition (arête).

F. Glacial Deposits:
Glaciers do move slowly, and while moving they transport their
load of debris as they advance across the land.

This load will eventually be deposited when the ice reaches it

terminus or when it melts.
Glacial deposits are termed glacial drift. This term applies to all
sediments of glacial origin no matter how, where, or in what
shape they were deposited.

G. Depositional Landforms:

Till:
Unsorted material/sediment deposited directly by a glacier.
It is deposited as glacial ice melts and drops its load of unsorted
rock fragments of different particles (because ice can not sort its
sediments).

The particles are scratched and polished due to the fact that they
were dragged along by the glacier.

Moraine:
The most common term for landforms made of glacial deposits
is moraine.

It refers to a number of landforms, all of which are composed

primarily of till.
End moraine:
is a ridge of till that forms at the terminus of a glacier.

Lateral moraine:
is a product of alpine glaciers (occurs in mountain valleys
exclusively).
It is formed due to ice erosion of the sides of the valley with
great efficiency.
When ice melts, it drops its load next to the valley walls, and
termed lateral moraine.

Medial moraine:
It is another unique feature of alpine glacier. It occurs when two
alpine glaciers converge (coalesce) and form a single ice stream,
or when a tributary joins the main stream.
The till that was carried along the sides of each glacier joins to
form a single load of debris. It is used as an indication of a
glacier’s movement downvalley.
Drumlins:
It is a depositional feature associated with ice sheet.
Smooth, elongate, parallel hills are termed drumlins. These are
streamlined asymmetrical hills made of till. They range in height
from 15-50m and up to 1 km long.

The steep sides indicate the direction from which the ice sheet
glacier advanced. The gentler, longer slope indicates the
direction the ice moved.

It is of unknown origin, however, it is thought that it originates

when glaciers advance over previously deposited drift and
reshape the material.

Kettles:
They are pits or depressions occur in deposits of till.

They form when blocks of stagnant ice become buried in drift

and eventually melts leaving pits in the glacial sediment.

They may be 2 km in diameter, and less than 10 m in depth.

Kame:
These are glacial deposits in a form of steep-sided hills.

Some kames represent bodies of sediment deposited by

meltwater in openings within or depressions on tope of the ice.

Some originate as deltas or fans built outward from the ice by

meltwater streams.

Esker:
They are long, narrow, sinuous ridge composed largely of sand
and gravel. Some may be over 100 km long, and more than 100
m high.

Eskers are deposited by meltwater rivers flowing within, on top

of, and beneath a mass of stagnant glacial ice.

Tillite:
a sedimentary rock formed when glacial till becomes lithified.
Glaciation (Ice Age):

The last major glaciation occurred during the Pleistocene epoch,

18,000 years ago. There were stages of glaciation and
deglaciation throughout the geologic time.

Glaciation means sea level low, exposure and erosion. Soil

formation is one aspect of glaciation (pedogenesis and
karstification). During glaciation, sea level may in negative
values compared with the current sea level.

Deglaciation (Interglacial) means ice melting, sea level high, and

deposition. Sea level may reach higher levels than the current
sea level.