Geology, Vol. 1 [of 3] : $b Geologic processes and their resultsSalisbury, Rollin D.
Science
Geology, Vol. 1 [of 3] : $b Geologic processes and their results
Salisbury, Rollin D.
Geology
=Compression and friction as causes of heat.=—The foregoing conclusions
are somewhat modified by dynamic sources of heat. The compression
arising from gravity, and the friction developed where there is motion,
are causes of heat. Since friction occurs only when motion takes place,
the heat which it generates is secondary and may, for present purposes,
be neglected. Compression not only lowers the melting-point slightly,
but it _produces heat at the point of compression_. Where the ice is
granular, the compression, due to weight, takes place at the contacts
of the grains. At intermediate points the pressure tends to cause
them to bulge, and this has the effect of lowering the temperature
of the bulging points. If therefore the compression be considerable,
the granules may be warmed to the melting-point where they press each
other, while at other points their temperature may be lower. In this
case melting will take place at the points of compression, and the
moisture so produced will be transferred to the adjacent parts of the
granule and immediately refrozen. Melting at the points of compression
would result in some yielding of the mass, and in some shifting of
the pressure to new points where compression and melting would again
take place. Thus the melting, the refreezing, and the attendant
movement might go on until the limits of the power of gravity in this
direction were reached. From considerations already adduced, it appears
that the temperature in some parts of every considerable body of ice
must be such as to permit these changes. The heat due to depression
and friction may modify the theoretical deductions drawn above from
atmospheric and internal influences.
=Summary.=—If the foregoing generalizations be correct, (1) the
surface of a glacier is likely to be melted during the summer, (2) its
immediate bottom is slowly melting all the time (unless the thickness
of the ice be less than the thickness of the zone of annual variation
or of permanent freezing temperature); (3) its subsurface portion _in
the zone of waste_ is generally melting, owing to descending water,
compression, and friction; while (4) its subsurface portion _in the
zone of growth_ is probably below the melting-point except as locally
brought to that temperature by compression, friction, and descending
water, and at the bottom by conduction from the rock beneath.
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