GEOLOGICAL WORK OF GLACIERS

GLACIERS

• Glaciers are defined as huge bodies of ice characterized with a downward and
outward movement or The moving ice mass down slope under the impact of
gravity is called glacier.
 GLACIER FORMATION
• The areas of accumulation of huge volume of ice are called snow field which
generate glaciers of different dimensions.
• Snow is a fluffy mass of loosely packed snow flakes of very low density having an
open feather like appearance.
• Semi compacted snow due to the weight of over lying snow is transformed into
granular snow of denser form. Such granular snow is called firn or neve.
• Further compaction of granular snow produces pure solid glacial ice.
• Once the accumulated thickness of the ice exceeds 50 meters (160 feet), it is
gradually transformed into a compact solid mass of interlocking ice crystals. This
conversion of snow into glacial ice can take only a few seasons or thousands of
years depending on the climate and amount of snowfall.
 TYPE OF GLACIERS
• Glaciers have been classified into two main types: The ice sheets and the mountain
glaciers.
1. The Ice Sheets
These are also known as continental glaciers because of the extensive
surface area they cover and also due to their enormous mass.
Relatively small ice sheets that cover small plateaus and plains are referred
as plateau glaciers and ice caps. These are characterized by a radial outward
movement.
2. The Mountain Glaciers
They are generally small sized and irregular shaped, formed at favourable
locations in the mountain regions. These are the glaciers covering major parts in the
upper regions of many high mountains of the world such as the Himalayas, the Alps,
the Andes, the Caucasus and the New Zealand glaciers.
GLACIAL ABRASION

It is the rubbing, scratching, grooving and polishing action of the glaciers

on the rock surface along or over which these ice masses happen to move.
GLACIAL PLUCKING
• It may be broadly defined as loosening
and breaking of rock masses by the
pressure of glacial ice. In this process
ice develop, a firm hold over the rock
mass then by virtue of pressure generated
by its movement, the ice tears the rock
mass
• These plucked-out surfaces are observed
conspicuously in many glaciated areas on
the steeper sides of hill-like structures
called the stross and lee forms.
FEATURES OF GLACIAL EROSION
 GLACIAL STRIATIONS

• Fine-cut lines and scratches

become exposed when the
glacier disappears by scratch,
grind of groove the rock surface
during the movement of the
ice. These are termed as
striations or glacial striae.
 WHALEBACK FORMS

• These are commonly called Roches

Moutonee and may be described as
glacially eroded residual hillocks or
hummocks.
• One side of such a feature rises up
very gently and is smooth, curved
and much longer than wide. The
other side of the same hillock may
be rugged, rough and steep.
• The direction of ice movement is
indicated by the gentle slope.
 CRAG AND TAIL

• A crag and tail is a glacial landform

consisting of a rocky hill (crag) with a
tapering ridge (tail) extending
downstream, formed by selective
erosion and deposition under a glacier.
 GLACIAL VALLEY (TROUGH)
• Most valley-glaciers originate and
disappear in pre-existing valleys carved
out by streams.
• These glaciated stream valleys, however,
are eventually so much modified in their
longitudinal and transverse profiles
because of prolonged glacial erosion.
• Glacial valleys present a typical U-shaped
outline, tending more towards a semi-
circle.
• many glacial valleys present a step-like
outline in their longitudinal profiles. The
steps are termed as riegels and downward
direction by exceedingly down cut rocks
into depressions termed basins.
 HANGING VALLEYS

• A valley glacier may have one or

more small tributary glaciers
meeting it from sides.
• The difference in elevation so
created between the side valley and
the main valley, which is also called
vertical drop, may be from a few
meters to 200 meters or more. Such
tributary glacial valleys are called
hanging valleys.
CIRQUES (CORRIES)
• A cirque may be defined as a semicircular or
half-bowl shaped depression within an
otherwise uniform glaciated valley slope. Such
a depression is invariably bounded on sides by
steep walls.
• Cirques range in diameter from a few meters
to a few kilometers and occur commonly at
the heads of valley glaciers.
• As regards their origin, cirques are believed to
be the result of combined action of nivation
and glacial erosion on rocks of suitable
composition and structure.
• Nivation is the process of refreezing of
meltwater in cavities and cracks of rocks. This
change takes place more like frost action.
 FIORDS (FJORDS)
• These are highly over deepened narrow
elongated valley-like channels that have been
excavated by the glacial ice between high
walled rocks.
• It is typical of many of the fiords that they
reach the coastline below the sea-level.
• Due to this reason, many of the fiords become
inland extensions of the sea. Fiords are thought
to be the result of intense glacial erosion in pre-
existing desp-cut stream valleys.
• In fact, the main difference between a simple
glaciated valley and the fiord is that the latter is
always partly submerged in sea
ARE'TE, HORNS AND COLS
 Are'Te, Horns and Cols

• An ARE'TE is a knife-edged sharp and narrow crest of a glaciated mountain.

The slender shape of an are'te is commonly due to removal of most of the material
from in between two cirques due to their progressive growth. Their sharp edges
are attributed to wedging by frost action.
• A HORN is a pyramidal, multi-facetted projecting form in a mountainous
region. It is commonly sculptured by a number of are'tes expanding around a
common central ridge or crest.
• A COL is a pass or depression on a ridge in a glaciated mountain. Often it
represents a place of intersection of two cirques approaching each other from
opposite sides.
GLACIAL DEPOSITS
 DRIFT

• All such accumulations of glacial debris that have been deposited by glaciers
directly (from glacial ice) or indirectly from glacial meltwaters are collectively
known as drift. This is further distinguished into two types: Till and Fluvio-
glacial drift.
UNSTRATIFIED DRIFT (Till)
• This type of drift is deposited directly by the glacier ice, meaning it’s not sorted
or layered by water.
• It’s a heterogeneous mixture of various materials, including boulders, gravel, sand,
silt, and clay.
STRATIFIED DRIFT (Fluvio-glacial drift)
• Stratified drift refers to glacial drift that has been reworked by glacial meltwater
and then deposited, often in a sorted and layered manner.
 GLACIAL MORAINES

Definition.
• Glacial moraines may be defined as
localized accumulations of glacial
debris (fragments of rocks, sand, silt
and clay etc.) that are found either on
the body of an existing glacier or at
various places along a glaciated valley
of an extinct glacier.
• A number of glacial moraines are
distinguished on the basis of their
position on the body of an existing
glacier or along the glaciated valley of
an extinct glacier. Following are
common types of moraines.
Lateral Moraines
These are thin or thick streaks of rock debris that generally extend along
the sides of a glacier or glacial valley for variable distances.
Medial Moraines
When two or more valley glaciers meet and form a piedmont glacier in
the lower reaches of valley glaciers, their adjacent lateral moraines merge together
to form a comparatively thick band of debris running through the central regions
of the composite glaciers. These medial ridges of accumulations form the medial
moraines.
Ground Moraines
With the disappearance of a glacier, material embedded along its base is
strewn all over the surface of the bed rock, or on the bared ground of the glacial
valley. This may acquire considerable thickness in some cases. Heaps of such
morainic materials spread irregularly over the floor of glacial valley are termed as
ground moraines. Many glaciated valleys are full of such material.
End Moraines
These are formed as accumulations running across the glacial body at in
terminus or end, that is, the place where melting of glacier is so heavy that it cannot
move ahead as a body of ice. These are also called terminal moraines. In the
history of most of the glaciers of the past, the snow line receded backwards in a
series of steps. A snow line was established every time at a higher altitude with
change in climate after a certain interval of time. Such glaciers would leave a series
of terminal moraines during their recession. Such end moraines, when considered
together, are termed recessional moraines.
DRUMLINS
• These are typically low, unstratified drift deposits forming small rounded hills
upto about 2 km long, 500 m wide and 200 m high.
• Drumlins may be made predominantly of clay or of sand or of a heterogeneous
mixture of such materials.
KAMES
• These are low stratified or layered hills occurring in isolated patches or in
clusters. Kames are characterized with rounded outlines and steep slopes on sides.
They are commonly 30-50 m high.
ESKERS
• These are narrow long ridges of poorly stratified drift with steeply sloping
sides and zig-zag outline. In height they may be as low as 2 m and may extend for
many kilometers, trending roughly parallel to the flow of extinct glaciers. Sand and
gravel are commonly the predominant materials of the eskers; silt and clay may
also be present in subordinate quantities.
OUTWASH PLAINS
• These are also known as wash-plains or frontal aprons. These plains are
irregularly stratified fluvio-glacial deposits consisting generally of coarse
gravels near the upper end to fine clay at the lower reaches. These are in many
cases coalesced or combined forms of a number of small alluvial plains laid down
by glacial meltwaters.

KETTLES
• Many glacial deposits show development of depressions or holes within their
bodies or on their surfaces. These are termed as kettle holes or simply kettles and
are formed by melting of blocks of ice that might have been entrapped within a
deposit during the process of its deposition.
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