Viedma Glacier
Glacier terminus
Viedma Glacier's glacier terminus is about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) wide at the point it enters Lake Viedma. Chunks of ice fall off the terminus and float off into the lake, eventually melting. Glacial moraines are glacial debris of soil and rock that collect in front of, and along the sides of, the glacier as it flows across the land.
The dark parallel lines inside the white central mass of the Viedma Glacier show where the debris-filled moraines have become entwined within the center of the new glacial ice mass as it forms. At right angles to the glacial moraines in the middle, crevasses, large, canyon-sized cracks, are apparent in the grey-brown ice that can be seen along the sides of the glacier. These cracks are formed from the stress arising between ice along the valley walls (that is slower moving as the friction is greater) and the relatively fast moving ice at the glacier's center. On the southwestern side of the glacier terminus, calving of ice is visible. The glacier terminus ends in a cliff.
Notes
- ^ "Viedma Glacier and Mt. Fitzroy, Argentina : Image of the Day". earthobservatory.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
- ^ "Viedma Glacier, Argentina : Image of the Day". earthobservatory.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
- ^ "Welcome to Los Glaciares National Park". www.losglaciares.com. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
- ^ "Los Glaciares - UNESCO World Heritage Centre". whc.unesco.org. Retrieved 2009-10-13.
- ^ Lliboutry, Louis. "USGS P 1386-I -- Chile and Argentina - Wet Andes". pubs.usgs.gov. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
- ^ "EORC – Seen from Space - Huge glaciers retreat on a large scale in Patagonia, South America". www.eorc.jaxa.jp. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
External links
- "Introduction to Glaciers". www.nature.nps.gov. Retrieved 2009-10-12.
- "The Glaciers National Park". www.inargentinatourism.com.ar. Archived from the original on 2009-03-02. Retrieved 2009-10-13.