EARTH 10 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Glacier Terminus, Glacier Point, Chasing Ice
Document Summary
Like dry ice but happens to normal ice too. Atmosphere cold & dry: calving (physical breakdown) Dominant form of ablation in antarctica: birth of an iceberg. Parts of a glacier: terminus/snout: end of glacier. Point where flow of glacier can"t keep balance w/ablation. Glacier termini are great tracers of climate change: snow line: boundary between permanent snow and seasonal snow. May change from year to year depending on weather. Crevasses: zones of tension vs compression, mark topography of underlying bed. Ice still moves even if amount of ablation = amount of accumulation. Internal glacial mechanics: glaciers are like conveyor belts (or tank treads, terms advance & retreat -only apply to terminus/snout. If a glacier is in equilibrium, it neither advances nor retreats but ice is still moving eroding bedrock.
