Glaciers: Denali National Park Striated & Polished “Pavement”
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Glaciers: Denali National Park Horn = the Matterhorn Swiss Alps 200 Years Ago Striations & Grooves Striated & Polished “Pavement” Till - Sediment Type Erratic = Rock from Distant Outcrops “BFR” Boulders in Northern Germany, Poland: Rock Types Whose Nearest Outcrops Are in Norway and Sweden; Erratic Boulders in PA, OH, NY Are from Outcrops in Canada Explanations for Erratics, Striations, Grooves, etc.: • Big Debate: early 1800s • Noah's Flood ? • Ice Berg Rafting ? – Drift • Any Ideas? New Theory Developed in Early 1800s: • 1815: Swiss engineer hiking in Alps explained flood & ice-berg theories to “unlearned rabble”. • Peasant Laborer: striations, etc. created beneath glaciers today. Glaciers were once larger. Louis Agassiz (a fishy scientist) at first = big opponent. • Agassiz: field work to disprove theory. • found Europe Was glaciated. • Biggest Advocate - 'Theory of Glaciation“ • Harvard,1848. • North America Was Glaciated. Old Ice Great Sheets Ice Age ~ Laurentide Pleistocene Ice Sheet Epoch WVU By 1890s - Not One but FOUR Glaciations • Wisconsin (last) • Illinoian • Kansan – Don’t write this down • Nebraskan (first) – Don’t write this down 1960s, 1970s: TENS of glaciations in the Pleistocene and Earlier • "Little Ice Ages" in 10,000 yr since Pleistocene • Many others in geologic history! Oxygen Isotopes in Ice Cores Record Global Wisconsin Ice Volume for 120,000 years Abrupt End of Wisconsin Glaciation Interglacial = Holocene Younger Dryas Glacial = Pleistocene What is a Glacier? ♦Mass of Ice ♣Derived from Snow ♥Lasts from Year to Year ♠Moves Due to Its Own Weight Snow Xlizes in Air Snow Converts to Firn in Time Becoming Much More Dense Snow Firn Glaciers Move by Sliding and by Creep Sliding Requires Film of Water at Bottom of Glacier How Can a Film of Water Form at the Bottom of a Glacier? Geothermal Heat All Glaciers Creep Like Silly- Putty Polar Glaciers: Too Cold to Slide Temperature Summer Winter Depth Frozen at Bed Polar Glaciers: Too Cold to Slide (They Creep Very Slowly) Byrd Glacier Antarctica Glacier Terms Cirque Arete Valley Fjord, or Fiord Piedmont Ice Cap Outwash Find These: Arete, Horn, Cirque, Valley Glacier + + - - - Mass Balance Nisqually Glacier, Mt. Rainier, WA © Jason Bruggeman 2000 A.D. Mass Balance http://www.normboynton.com/Wallpapr/wallglcr.htm Emmonds Glacier, Mt. Rainier, WA Digital photo copyright Norm Boynton, 2000. Moraine from ~ A.D. 1750 Glacier Covered by Debris Emmonds Glacier, Mt. Rainier, WA Digital photo copyright Norm Boynton, 2000. Emmons Glacier Extent ~ A.D. 1750, Accumulation Zone Ablation Zone Zones on Glacier in Canadian Accumulation Rockies Zone Ablation Zone What is a Glacier? ♦Mass of Ice ♣Derived from Snow ♥Lasts from Year to Year ♠Moves Due to Its Own Weight Accumulation Zone Ablation Zone “Little Ice Age” in the French Alps Same Glacier in the French Alps: Late 20th Century Moraine = Landform on Margins of Glacier Lateral Moraine Medial Moraine End Moraine Moraines, Alaska Surging Glaciers Looped Moraines Malaspina Piedmont Glacier, Alaska Medial Moraines Vatnajokull Vatnajokull, an Ice Cap Volcano Vatnajokull, Iceland Largest Glacier “in” Europe Ice Cap, Fiords in Patagonia (tip of South America) Fiords or Fjords Bear Glacier Calving Icebergs, Alaska Holgate Glacier, Alaska “Small” Antarctic Iceberg • Only 10-20 % Images not for web reproduction!meets the eye. Digitally Enhanced Image Extreme Ice Survey http://www.extremeicesurvey.org/index.php/time_lapse/ http://www.extremeicesurvey.org/ Laurentide and other Ice Sheets Indirect Effects of Glaciation Isostacy Isostacy Long-Term Changes in Sea Level – Pleistocene “Ice Age” 400-500 ft Lower Ice-Age Climate = “Chilly” Ice Age Climate Ice Age Climate Great Lakes Product of Late Cenozoic Glaciation Source: NOAA http://www.glerl.noaa.gov/pr/ourlakes/background.html Lake Mon Lake Tight Teays Depot After: Hansen, 1995, Ohio Geological Survey Geofacts No. 10 Lake Monongahela Map http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/topogeo/pub/pageolmag/pdfs/v32n1.pdf Uplands >3000 ft Full Glacial Pleistocene W.Va.! Lowlands <3000 ft Migration of Species.