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Studying glacial motion and the landforms that result requires tools from many different disciplines: physical geography, climatology, and geology are among the areas sometime grouped together and called earth science. During the Pleistocene (the last ice age), huge sheets of ice called continental glaciers advanced over much of the earth.
Glacial flow rate in the Antarctic ice sheet. The motion of ice in Antarctica. Even stable ice sheets are continually in motion as the ice gradually flows outward from the central plateau, which is the tallest point of the ice sheet, and towards the margins. The ice sheet slope is low around the plateau but increases steeply at the margins. [4]
Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand Features of a glacial landscape. Glacier morphology, or the form a glacier takes, is influenced by temperature, precipitation, topography, and other factors. [1] The goal of glacial morphology is to gain a better understanding of glaciated landscapes and the way they are shaped. [2]
Water from moulins may help lubricate the base of the glacier, affecting glacial motion. Given an appropriate relationship between an ice sheet and the terrain, the head of water in a moulin can provide the power and medium with which a tunnel valley may be formed.
If the glacial action erodes through, a spillway (or col) forms; Horn: a sharp peak connecting multiple glacier intersections, made up of multiple arêtes. Valley step: an abrupt change in the longitudinal slope of a glacial valley; Hanging Valleys: Formed by glacial meltwater eroding the land partially, often accompanied by a waterfall. [2]
Areas of study within glaciology include glacial history and the reconstruction of past glaciation. A glaciologist is a person who studies glaciers. A glacial geologist studies glacial deposits and glacial erosive features on the landscape. Glaciology and glacial geology are key areas of polar research.
I. Ice; Ice age; Ice calving; Ice core; Ice core dating; List of ice cores; Ice divide; Ice drilling; Ice jam; Ice lens; Ice mass balance buoy; Ice segregation; Ice sheet
Bed softness may vary in space or time, and changes dramatically from glacier to glacier. An important factor is the underlying geology; glacial speeds tend to differ more when they change bedrock than when the gradient changes. [34] Further, bed roughness can also act to slow glacial motion.