This page highlights some of the excellent teaching resources available for exploring glacier mass balance. For more ideas, see the Resources for Teachers page. Case study: USGS Benchmark Glaciers The USGS has an excellent resource on the mass balance of Lemon Creek Glacier, a World Reference Glacier, and the other USGS Benchmark Glaciers. This has …
In this section, we discuss the evidence for the last British-Irish Ice Sheet (BIIS). Throughout the Quaternary (the last 2.6 million years), there have been many ice sheets in Britain. The ice sheet grows during cold periods (stadials) and recedes in warm periods (interstadials) like the one we live in today. The last BIIS began …
What is a glacial erratic? Glacial erratics, often simply called erratics, or erratic boulders, are rocks that have been transported by ice and deposited elsewhere. The type of rock (lithology) that the glacial erratic is made from is different to the lithology of the bedrock where the erratic is deposited. For example, an erratic could …
In this interactive map, you can explore all the glacial landforms and chronologies that were used to generate the new reconstructions of the last Patagonian Ice Sheet from 35,000 years ago to the present day. Click the PATICE logo below to launch the online interactive webmap. The GIF below shows the extent of the ice …
PATICE: The Patagonian Ice Sheet from 35,000 years ago to the present day This page provides a brand-new reconstruction of the Patagonian Ice Sheet from 35,000 years ago to the present day (called PATICE). PATICE is a new compilation of published ages and geomorphology, ranked and assessed and recalibrated, which we use to generate new …
The Loch Lomond Stadial in Britain Between around 13 and 11 thousand years ago, the climate in Britain, as well as across much of Northern Europe, cooled abruptly1. This short-lived cold period temporarily reversed the general pattern of warming that drove the retreat of ice sheets after the Last Glacial Maximum, causing glaciers to readvance …
Ice-dammed lakes are a common feature of glaciated mountain ranges. They form wherever glacial ice blocks the drainage of rivers or meltwater. This includes: where a glacier blocks a trunk or tributary valley; and where a glacier fills an overdeepened valley created by glacial erosion Today, ice-dammed lakes exist at the margins of many mountain …
Ridges, mounds and hummocks formed at the margin of glaciers are generally termed moraines. The study of moraines is particularly useful as it can shed light on the physical processes occurring at both active and former ice margins1,2 and because moraines are markers of former glacier extent, so can be used to track glacier change …
Glacial cirques, known locally as corries or coires (Scotland) and cwms (Wales), are large-scale erosional features common to many mountainous regions1,2. Classic cirques take the form of armchair-shaped hollows (see image below), with a steep headwall (which often culminates in a sharp ridge, or arête) and a gently-sloping or overdeepened valley floor (see diagram below). …
Mountains as Water Towers of the World In many mountainous parts of the world with a seasonal rainfall, glaciers are a reliable water resource in the dry season. Mountains could be called the “Water Towers of the World”1, providing water from glacier melt and orographic rainfall to lowland regions. Glacierised drainage basins cover 26% of …
