PHY 103
3-1 Assignment: Glaciers
PHY-103-H5236 Earth System Science 21EW5
Glaciers are a major part of why the earth is how it is, while pairing with all the other
systems on earth they make their impact known. Glaciers are a huge and think ice mass that takes
hundreds or thousands of years (Lutgens, 2016). Glaciers are always on the move, very very
slowly, but still move, so they will collect, transport and deposit, and their large mass will cut
away at the ground leaving erosion and scar marks (Lutgens, 2016). Glaciers are mainly found in
mountain ranges, toward the north and south poles, but they used to cover a large amount of the
earth, stretching down even into the United States, and into Europe as they are known now
(Lutgens, 2016). Glaciers are a part of the hydrologic cycle and the rock cycle on earth, they
keep water, so in the mountains it keeps the water and will slowly melt away to go out to the
oceans (Lutgens, 2016). The rock cycle, due to the erosion is leaves when they move, collecting,
transporting and depositing sediment (Lutgens, 2016). Two places that many people still think is
covered by glaciers is Greenland and Antarctica, they are covered by sea ice, frozen seawater and
can vary in thickness and will grow and shrink based on seasons (Lutgens, 2016). There will also
be ice shelves, they are large, mostly flat masses that are floating ice that reach towards the sea
along the land along one or more coasts (Lutgens, 2016). They do become thinner the closer to
the sea they get, and thicker towards land, and are sustained by snowfall and the adjacent ice
sheet (Lutgens, 2016).
Glaciers moving is like watching paint dry, or grass grow, it is slow as can be but
when not watched all of a sudden it has moved. Thankfully some people have had plenty of
time on their hands, and have found ways to measure these using stakes, and now satellites
(Lutgens,
, 2016). There is two basic ways that it does, one is plastic flow, that is within the ice, it is a brittle
solid building pressure till it is about the weight of 165 feet of ice (Lutgens, 2016). Once it
reaches past that, it then acts like a plastic material and it begins to flow, the molecular structure
is what helps do this, they are stacked on top of each other with a weak bond, so they start to
move when the stress is applied (Lutgens, 2016). There is also that is just slips on the ground, the
lower portions of glaciers are more sliding as a human would on lose ground downhill (Lutgens,
2016).
There are a couple kinds of glaciers, valley glaciers that you will find in the mountains,
following valleys that steams had occupied previously, and will move a few centimeters per dsay
(Lutgens, 2016). There are ice sheets, that are a large scale, they flow out in any direction they
can find (Lutgens, 2016). Ice Age Ice Sheets are about 18,000 years old, when earth hit the Last
Glacial Maximum (Lutgens, 2016). Ice caps, they cover some uplands, and plateaus, like ice
sheets they will cover a large area of land (Lutgens, 2016). Piedmont glaciers are in broad
lowlands and the base of steep mountains and are what valley glaciers will turn into (Lutgens,
2016). Then we have outlet glaciers they are tongues of ice down valleys, they are basically
valley glaciers that are paths for ice movement from caps and sheets through mountains to the
sea and where you will see a lot of the icebergs happen in the sea (Lutgens, 2016).
Glaciers move a lot of rocks, they scraped, scour and tare the land as they move and leave
the rocks, they pick up somewhere else, they do this by plucking and abrasion (Lutgens, 2016).
They move over a fractured bedrock, loosening it and lifting it up into the glacier, plucking it
(Lutgens, 2016). Abrasion which is where the ice and rocks it has plucked up is now acting like
sandpaper on the earth, making things smooth and polished creating rock flour (Lutgens, 2016).
If the rocks and ice are large enough you will see it leave glacial striations, where there are deep
scratches in the bedrock (Lutgens, 2016). These glaciers will create glaciate valleys were a V-
3-1 Assignment: Glaciers
PHY-103-H5236 Earth System Science 21EW5
Glaciers are a major part of why the earth is how it is, while pairing with all the other
systems on earth they make their impact known. Glaciers are a huge and think ice mass that takes
hundreds or thousands of years (Lutgens, 2016). Glaciers are always on the move, very very
slowly, but still move, so they will collect, transport and deposit, and their large mass will cut
away at the ground leaving erosion and scar marks (Lutgens, 2016). Glaciers are mainly found in
mountain ranges, toward the north and south poles, but they used to cover a large amount of the
earth, stretching down even into the United States, and into Europe as they are known now
(Lutgens, 2016). Glaciers are a part of the hydrologic cycle and the rock cycle on earth, they
keep water, so in the mountains it keeps the water and will slowly melt away to go out to the
oceans (Lutgens, 2016). The rock cycle, due to the erosion is leaves when they move, collecting,
transporting and depositing sediment (Lutgens, 2016). Two places that many people still think is
covered by glaciers is Greenland and Antarctica, they are covered by sea ice, frozen seawater and
can vary in thickness and will grow and shrink based on seasons (Lutgens, 2016). There will also
be ice shelves, they are large, mostly flat masses that are floating ice that reach towards the sea
along the land along one or more coasts (Lutgens, 2016). They do become thinner the closer to
the sea they get, and thicker towards land, and are sustained by snowfall and the adjacent ice
sheet (Lutgens, 2016).
Glaciers moving is like watching paint dry, or grass grow, it is slow as can be but
when not watched all of a sudden it has moved. Thankfully some people have had plenty of
time on their hands, and have found ways to measure these using stakes, and now satellites
(Lutgens,
, 2016). There is two basic ways that it does, one is plastic flow, that is within the ice, it is a brittle
solid building pressure till it is about the weight of 165 feet of ice (Lutgens, 2016). Once it
reaches past that, it then acts like a plastic material and it begins to flow, the molecular structure
is what helps do this, they are stacked on top of each other with a weak bond, so they start to
move when the stress is applied (Lutgens, 2016). There is also that is just slips on the ground, the
lower portions of glaciers are more sliding as a human would on lose ground downhill (Lutgens,
2016).
There are a couple kinds of glaciers, valley glaciers that you will find in the mountains,
following valleys that steams had occupied previously, and will move a few centimeters per dsay
(Lutgens, 2016). There are ice sheets, that are a large scale, they flow out in any direction they
can find (Lutgens, 2016). Ice Age Ice Sheets are about 18,000 years old, when earth hit the Last
Glacial Maximum (Lutgens, 2016). Ice caps, they cover some uplands, and plateaus, like ice
sheets they will cover a large area of land (Lutgens, 2016). Piedmont glaciers are in broad
lowlands and the base of steep mountains and are what valley glaciers will turn into (Lutgens,
2016). Then we have outlet glaciers they are tongues of ice down valleys, they are basically
valley glaciers that are paths for ice movement from caps and sheets through mountains to the
sea and where you will see a lot of the icebergs happen in the sea (Lutgens, 2016).
Glaciers move a lot of rocks, they scraped, scour and tare the land as they move and leave
the rocks, they pick up somewhere else, they do this by plucking and abrasion (Lutgens, 2016).
They move over a fractured bedrock, loosening it and lifting it up into the glacier, plucking it
(Lutgens, 2016). Abrasion which is where the ice and rocks it has plucked up is now acting like
sandpaper on the earth, making things smooth and polished creating rock flour (Lutgens, 2016).
If the rocks and ice are large enough you will see it leave glacial striations, where there are deep
scratches in the bedrock (Lutgens, 2016). These glaciers will create glaciate valleys were a V-
