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
2. =At ends and edges of glaciers.=—At and near the end of a glacier
the conditions of deposition are somewhat different. Here deposition
beneath the ice goes on faster than elsewhere, chiefly because of the
more rapid melting and the more rapid thinning and weakening of the
ice. If the end of the glacier be stationary in position, drift is
being continually brought to it and left there, for though the _end_ is
stationary, the _ice_ continues to move. If the glacier moves forward
500 feet per year, and if its end is melted at the same rate, all the
débris in the 500 feet of ice which has been melted has been deposited,
and all except that which has been washed away has been deposited
at and beneath the end of the glacier. If the end of the glacier
is retreating, the retreat means that the waste at the end exceeds
the forward movement. If the ice advances 300 feet per year, and is
melted back 500 feet in the same time, all the débris carried by the
500 feet which has been melted has been deposited, and largely in the
narrow zone (200 feet) from which the ice has receded. Even in this
case, therefore, there is a notable tendency to marginal accumulation.
If the end of the glacier is advancing 500 feet per year while it is
being melted but 300 feet, all the drift in the 300 feet melted has
been deposited, and chiefly at or beneath the immediate margin of the
ice. To the marginal and sub-marginal accumulations made in this way,
the material carried on the ice is added whenever the ice is melted
from beneath it. This addition is sometimes considerable and sometimes
meagre. If the edge of the ice is without much fluctuation in position,
the material dumped over its end may take the form of a narrow ridge or
bowlder-wall (_Geschiebe-wall_). If a glacier pushes material in front
of it, this, too, becomes a part of the general terminal aggregation of
drift.
[Illustration: +Fig.+ 276.—Embankment completed. Near the last.]
TYPES OF MORAINES.
=The terminal moraine.=—The thick accumulation of drift made at the
end of a glacier or at the edge of an ice sheet, especially where its
end or edge is stationary, or nearly stationary, for a considerable
time, is the _terminal moraine_. That part of the aggregation deposited
beneath the ice is sometimes called the _lodge_ moraine (Figs. 275 and
276; see also Fig. 235); that carried on the ice and dropped at its
edge, the _dump_ moraine; and that pushed before the ice, the _push_
moraine. Many moraines marginal to the ice appear to be push moraines,
when they are really lodge moraines from which the ice has withdrawn
(Fig. 277). The push moraine can rarely be distinguished, and the dump
moraine by no means always, after the disappearance of the ice.
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