glaciers

flowline

a line following the spatial pattern of glacier movement from the top to the terminus. Englacial and supraglacial moraines make some glacier flowlines discernible from the surface.

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glaciers

supraglacial moraine

dust and/or rock that rides the surface of a glacier.

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glaciers

englacial moraine

dust and/or rock inside a glacier. This debris can become lodged in glacial ice after falling through crevasses.

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glaciers

cryoconite

A deposit of dust and soot, often bound by microbial mats, that is formed on melting glaciers and ice sheets. The deposits are often found in pothole-like pockets on the ice surface.

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glaciers

weathering

the processes of ablation and accumulation which gradually eliminate irregularities in an ice surface.
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glaciers
icebergs and ice shelves

weathered ice

glacier ice that has been exposed to sun or warm wind so that the boundaries between ice crystals are partly disintegrated.
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glaciers

wave ogives

ogives that show some vertical relief on a glacier; usually the dark bands are in the hollows and the light bands are in the ridges; form at the base of steep, narrow ice falls.
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glaciers

valley glacier

a mountain glacier whose flow is confined by valley walls.
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glaciers

tributary glacier

a small glacier that flows into a larger glacier.
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glaciers

tongue

a projection of the ice edge up to several km in length caused by wind and current; usually forms when a valley glacier moves very quickly into a lake or ocean.
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glaciers

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