Visualizing Physical Geography

by Alan Strahler and Zeeya Merali

Chapter 14
Glacial Landforms and the Ice Age

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Chapter
Overview
Glaciers
Alpine Glaciers
Ice Sheets and
Sea Ice
The Ice Age

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Glaciers
Glacier: large natural accumulation of land ice affected by
present or past flowage
Glacial ice has shaped many landforms in middle and high latitudes
Glacial ice sheets affect global climate
Glaciers reflect sunlight
Glacial ice affects global heat transport
Volume of glacial ice affects sea levels
Large bodies of ice are plastic because of
pressure on ice at bottom of mass
Large body of ice can flow in response
to gravity
Ice on a slope can slide downwards

Ice sheet: large thick plate of

glacial ice moving outward in all
directions
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Glaciers
Glacial ice builds up when snowfall in winter exceeds
snow melted in summer
Each annual layer of snow, melts, refreezes, forms ice
Weight of ice compresses the lower layers into hard crystalline ice
When the ice mass becomes thick enough, the lower layers flow
plastically
Glacial ice forms where temperatures are low and snowfall is high

Alpine glacier: long,

narrow mountain glacier
occupying the floor of a
trough-like valley

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Glaciers
Glaciers contain rock of all sizes
Glaciers and ice sheets erode and
deposit great quantities of sediment
Glacial abrasion: rock fragments in a
glacier scrape and grind the bedrock
Plucking: moving ice plucks loosened
rock material and carries it away
Sediment is carried, then deposited when
the ice melts

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Alpine Glaciers
Upper part of the glacier is brittle
Lower part is plastic
Zone of accumulation: glacier is
growing
Zone of ablation: glacier is
evaporating/melting
Alpine glacier can slide downhill on
meltwater and mud
Rate of movement: few
centimeters/day to several meters/day
Surge: rapid movement of alpine
glacier, up to 60 m/day for several
months

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Alpine Glaciers
Landforms Made by Alpine Glaciers

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Alpine Glaciers

Landforms Made by Alpine Glaciers

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Alpine Glaciers
Landforms Made by Alpine Glaciers
Cirque: valley head enlarged and hollowed out
by glaciers, producing bowl-shaped valley
Arte: sharp ridge formed between two cirques
Horn: steep-sided peak formed by glacial
erosion from three sides
Col: natural pass or low notch in an arte
between opposed cirques
Moraine: accumulation of rock debris carried by
an alpine glacier and deposited by the ice to
become a depositional landform
Tarn: small lake occupying a rock basin in a
cirque
Hanging valley: stream valley that has been
truncated by glacial erosion so as to appear in
cross section in the upper wall of a glacial
trough

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Alpine Glaciers
Landforms Made by Alpine Glaciers

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Alpine Glaciers
Landforms Made by Alpine Glaciers
Glacial trough: deep, steepsided rock trench formed by
alpine glacier erosion
Fiord: narrow, deep ocean inlet
partially filling a glacial trough

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Sea Ice

Ice Sheets of the Present

Antarctic Ice Sheet

13 million sq km
4000 m thick

Greenland Ice Sheet

1.7 million sq km
3000 m thick

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Sea Ice

Sea Ice and Icebergs

Sea Ice: floating ice of the oceans
formed by direct freezing of
ocean water
Always <5 m thick
Pack ice: sea ice that completely
covers the sea surface
Ice floes: individual patches of sea
ice
Upper part fresh water; lower part
salty

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Sea Ice

Sea Ice and Icebergs

Iceberg: mass of glacial ice floating
in the ocean that has broken off a
glacier that extends into tidal water
May be hundreds of meters thick
About 5/6 of the iceberg is submerged
Always fresh water

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Sea Ice

Landforms Made by Ice Sheets

Ice sheets scrape off regolith and abrade bedrock
Grooves, scratches, and polished rock show evidence of ice sheets

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Sea Ice

Landforms Made by Ice Sheets

Ice sheets pick up rock fragments,
transport them, and deposit them
when the ice evaporates or melts
Glacial drift: general term for all varieties
and forms of rock debris deposited by ice
sheets
Stratified drift: layers of sorted clays, silts,
sands or gravels, deposited by meltwater
streams or lakes
Till: unstratified mixture of rock fragments
of all sizes, deposited directly by the ice
Ground moraine: thin, even cover of till

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Sea Ice

Esker: narrow, often sinuous

embankment of coarse gravel and
boulders deposited in the bed of a
meltwater stream in a tunnel
within stagnant ice in an ice sheet
Drumlin: smoothly rounded, oval
hills of glacial till, formed by the
moving ice

Terminal Moraine: glacial till that

accumulates at the farthest
advance of the ice sheet

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Sea Ice

Landforms Made by Ice Sheets

Moraine: accumulation of rock
debris carried by an ice sheet
and deposited by ice to become
a depositional landform
Outwash Plain: formed from
stratified drift left by streams
issuing from the ice

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Sea Ice

Landforms Made by Ice Sheets

Recessional Moraine: moraine
formed when the ice paused in its
retreat
Kame: steep-sided mound of
stratified sand and gravel
deposited at or near the terminus
of a glacier

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Sea Ice

Landforms Made by Ice Sheets

Pluvial Lakes: lakes formed during a moister climate, during the ice
ages
Many pluvial lakes formed in the western U.S.
Lake Bonneville, in western Utah, was about the size of Lake Michigan
Pluvial lakes shrank or dried up as the climate became warmer and drier

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

The Ice Age

Glaciation: single episode or
time period in which ice sheets
formed, spread, and
disappeared
Glaciation occurs when
temperatures drop or snowfall
increases

55 million years ago

There have been many

glaciation episodes in Earths
history
5 million years ago

Recent ice ages

Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

The Ice Age

Late-Cenozoic Ice Age: series of glaciations, deglaciations, and
interglaciations experienced during the late Cenozoic Era

Maximum Glaciation in North

America and Europe
Visualizing Physical Geography
Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

The Ice Age

Investigating the Ice Age

Scientists study the glacial history of the Ice Age:

Take sediment core samples on the deep ocean floor

Use evidence of magnetic reversals to find the age of the sediments
Study composition and chemistry of the cores
Create a record of dates, temperatures, biology, and chemistry
using the core samples

Deep-sea cores show alternating glaciations and

interglaciations going back 2-3 million years

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

The Ice Age

Possible Causes of the Ice Age

1. Motions of tectonic
plates brought landmass to high latitudes
2. Volcanic activity
produced dust that
blocks solar radiation
3. Decrease in Suns
energy output
4. Change in atmospheric
composition; reduction
in greenhouse gases

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

The Ice Age

Possible Causes of Glaciation Cycles

Astronomical hypothesis:
explanation for glaciations and
interglaciations based on cyclic
variations in the solar energy
received at the Earths surface

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

The Ice Age

Holocene Environments
Holocene Epoch: last epoch of geologic
time, commencing about 10,000 years
ago and including the present
Three major climate periods in Holocene:
Boreal Stage: boreal forest vegetation in
midlatitude regions
Atlantic Stage: warmer temperatures, about
8000 years ago
Subboreal Stage: cooler, about 5000 years
ago to 2000 years ago

During past 2000 years:

Warm from AD 1000 to 1200
Little Ice Age from AD 1450 to 1850
Global temperatures increasing at present

Fossil pollen and spores

preserved in glacial bogs show
changes in vegetation over
time

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Global Warming

Disintegration of Larsen B ice shelf, Antarctica, 2002

31 Jan 2002

23 Feb 2002

3 Mar 2002

5 Mar 2002

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.

Ice Sheets and Global Warming

Polar sea ice has been decreasing in the last 50 years

Visualizing Physical Geography

Copyright 2008 John Wiley and Sons Publishers Inc.