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 […]
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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
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This page is based largely on Bendle et al. (2017) and summarises the glacial geomorphology of the North Patagonian Icefield region (46–48°S). Glaciers and the Patagonian landscape The Patagonian Ice Sheet has expanded and contracted at least five times during the last million years1. During glacial periods, large outlet glaciers discharged along major valleys (see
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Geographic setting Patagonia, between ~40°S to 56°S, is the most southerly part of the South American continent. The landscape of this region is one of contrasts. Dense temperate rainforests cover the western coast, whereas the eastern plains are flat, vast, and arid. Perhaps most striking, however, are the high, Patagonian Andes, which rise steeply (up
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The moisture-bearing Southern Westerly Winds The Patagonian Ice Sheet, which formed during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) around 21,000 years ago, was strongly influenced by the Southern Westerly Winds. These winds blow around the Southern Hemisphere in the mid-latitudes (see map below) and deliver snow and rain to the western coast of southern South America[1],
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What was the former Patagonian Ice Sheet? The Patagonian Ice Sheet was a large, elongated mountain ice mass that developed over the Andes mountains of southern South America during cold periods[1]. The Patagonian Ice Sheet has advanced and retreated at least 5 times in the last million years[2] in response to changes in global climate (i.e.
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Drumlins around Lago Viedma Although the Patagonian Icefields aren’t generally associated with drumlins (Glasser et al., 2008), there are some around Lago Viedma in the South Patagonian Icefield. They have been described in detail (Ponce et al., 2013) but they show up beautifully in the Landsat map below. The mapping below is by me (Bethan
Introduction | Remote sensing of glaciers | Glacier inventories | The Randolph Glacier Inventory | Glacier contributions to sea level rise | Summary | References | Comments | Introduction How many glaciers are there in the World? How much ice do they have? How much will they raise sea levels on full melting? How likely,
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