Glaciology
11 questions tagged Glaciology — spanning every one of the seven Ws.
Why are glacial erratics found far from their source rocks?
Glacial erratics are carried by ice for long distances and dropped when the glacier melts. They can sit on rock types very different from the ground beneath them.
What is a drumlin?
A drumlin is a streamlined hill made of glacial sediment. Its shape records the direction that ice once moved across the land.
What is a cirque in geology?
A cirque is a bowl-shaped hollow carved by a glacier at the head of a valley. It is often steep-walled and may contain a small lake after the ice melts.
What is an erratic in geology?
An erratic is a boulder or rock fragment carried far from its original location by ice. It often sits in a place where the local bedrock is very different.
Whose work first explained how glaciers carve landscapes?
Louis Agassiz was a key early advocate of the Ice Age theory in the 19th century. He argued that glaciers had once covered large parts of Europe and North America.
When was the first modern explanation of glacial ages proposed?
A major explanation came in the 19th century, especially in the 1830s and 1840s.
Which is the fastest-moving glacier on Earth?
Jakobshavn Isbræ in Greenland is one of the fastest-moving glaciers on Earth. At times it has flowed more than 40 meters per day.
Which is the largest iceberg ever recorded?
Iceberg B-15 is one of the largest icebergs ever observed, with an area of about 11,000 square kilometers when it calved from Antarctica in 2000. It was larger than some countries.
Why do glaciers carve U-shaped valleys instead of V-shaped ones?
Glaciers are thick, slow-moving ice masses that erode both the floor and sides of a valley. Rivers mostly cut downward, which makes V-shaped valleys instead.
When was the first study of glaciers as a geological force published?
It was developed in the early to mid-19th century, especially through Louis Agassiz in the 1840s.
Where is glacial Lake Missoula said to have formed?
It formed in what is now western Montana, United States. The lake existed behind an ice dam during the last Ice Age.