1. Glaciers

2. Glaciers
Slightly more than 2 percent of the world’s water is tied up in glaciers
Antarctic ice sheet
Eighty percent of the world’s ice
Nearly two-thirds of Earth’s fresh water
Covers almost one and one-half times the area of the United States
If melted, sea level would rise 60 to 70 meters

3. Glaciers Valley (alpine) glaciers Ice sheets
Glacier – a thick mass of ice that originates on land from the accumulation, compaction, and recrystallization of snow
Two types of Glaciers:
Valley (alpine) glaciers
Ice sheets

4. Valley Glaciers Exist in mountainous areas
Flows down a valley from an accumulation center at its head

5. Valley Glaciers

6. Ice Sheets Exist on a larger scale than valley glaciers
Two major ice sheets on Earth are over Greenland and Antarctica

7. Ice Sheets Often called continental ice sheets
Ice flows out in all directions from one or more snow accumulation centers

8. Continental Glacier

9. Formation of a Glacier
In order for a Glacier to form there needs to be an imbalance in the rate of precipitation and the rate of melting
Balance, or lack of balance, between accumulation at the upper end of the glacier, and loss at the lower end is referred to as the glacial budget

10. Glacial Budget
If accumulation exceeds loss (called ablation), the glacial front advances
If ablation and/or accumulation decreases, the ice front will retreat

11. Formation of a Glacier
Two important zones:
Zone of accumulation – the area where a glacier forms
Zone of wastage – the area where there is a net loss to the glacier due to

12. Zone of Wastage Melting
Two Processes take place:
Melting
Calving – the breaking off of large pieces of ice (icebergs where the glacier has reached the sea)

13. Valley Glaciers

14. Formation of Glacial Ice
Air infiltrates snow
Snowflakes become smaller, thicker, and more spherical
Air is forced out

15. Formation of Glacial Ice
Snow is recrystallized into a much denser mass of small grains called firn
Once the thickness of the ice and snow exceeds 50 meters, firn fuses into a solid mass of interlocking ice crystals – glacial ice

16. Formation of Glacial Ice

17. Movement of Glaciers
Two Types of movement:
Plastic Flow
Basal Slip

18. Plastic Flow Occurs within the ice
Under pressure, ice behaves as a plastic material - below 50ft

19. Basal Slip Entire ice mass slipping along the ground
Most glaciers are thought to move this way by this process

20. Movement of Glaciers What happens between the surface and a depth
of 50 ft?
Less Pressure
Ice does not behave plastically (does not flow)
At shallow depths ice is brittle. Tension from the movement of the more plastic ice below cause cracks to form in the surface. These cracks are called Crevasses

21. Movement of Glaciers

22. Rate of movement Rates of up to several meters per day
Average velocities vary considerably from one glacier to another
Rates of up to several meters per day
Some glaciers exhibit extremely rapid movements called surges

23. Glaciers

24. Glacial Erosion
Glaciers erode the land in two ways:
Plucking
Abrasion

25. Glacial Erosion Abrasion produces: Rock Flour (Pulverized rock)
Glacial Striations (Grooves or scratches in bedrock)

26. Glacial Erosion Erosional features of glaciated valleys Glacial trough
Truncated spurs
Hanging valleys

27. Hanging Valley

28. Glacial Erosion Landforms created by Glacial Erosion Cirques Aretes
Horns
Pater noster lakes

29. Glacial Deposits Drift - sediment deposited by glaciers
Types of Glacial Drift:
Till - material deposited directly by the ice
Stratified Drift - sediments deposited by melt water

30. Landforms made of Till Moraines - Layers or ridges of till
Lateral Moraine
Medial Moraine
Terminal Moraine (End Moraine)

31. Landform made of till

32. Glacial Deposits

33. Landforms made of Till Drumlins Smooth, elongated, parallel hills
Steep side faces the direction from which the ice advanced
Occur in clusters called drumlin fields
Formation not fully understood

34. Drumlin

35. Stratified Drift Landforms made of stratified drift
Outwash plains (with ice sheets) and valley trains (when in a valley)
Broad ramp-like surface composed of stratified drift deposited by meltwater leaving a glacier
Located adjacent to the downstream edge of most end moraines
Often pockmarked with depressions called kettles

36. Stratified Drift Ice-contact deposits:
Deposited by meltwater flowing over, within, and at the base of motionless ice
Features include
Kames
Eskers

37. LI Glacial History

38. Evidence of LI Glacial Hist.
Terminal Moraines/ Recessional Moraine
Harbor Hills Moraine
Ronkonkoma Moaraine
Kettle Lakes & Kettle holes
Lake Ronkonkoma
Kettle Hole Park
Kames
Bald Hill
Outwash Plains
LI South shore