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Glaciers of The North Cascades
Glaciers of The North Cascades
North Cascades are home to the most glacial masses in the lower forty
eight states. This part of the world is Gods country; the sheer beauty of the
landscape is breathtaking. Most of the beauty of this land has been touched
active volcanoes that tower over 12,000 feet above the valley floor. The
tallest non-‐volcanic peak is over 9,000 feet. This massive area is prime for
the building of ice and snow, key ingredients in glacial formation.
Washington State is an excellent place to find glaciers as the relatively warm
climate and abundant snowfall exceeds the loss of snow due to summer melt.
Some the mountains in Washington that you will find glaciers are Mount
At the high end of where more snow accumulates than is lost is called the
accumulation zone this where glaciers are composed of fallen snow that is
compressed after many years in thick ice masses and form when snow stays
in one location long enough to be transformed into ice. Glaciers will form
where the yearly snowfall is more than the loss of snow. Every year new
layers of snow cover the previous years falls; the compression forces snow to
recrystallize, forming grains the size of sugar. Slowly the grains grow larger
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and
the
air
pockets
between
the
grains
gets
smaller
causing
the
snow
to
increase in density. After about two winters the ice turns into firn. As the
glacier increases in weight it causes glacial movement. A glacier is unique
The lower region where the more snow is lost than is gained through
snowfall and the ice flows downhill into the lower region is called the
ablation zone, and in the summer there usually isn’t any snow, leaving the ice
exposed.
Between the two zones is a transition called the equilibrium line, where
the annual accumulation equals ablation. This line is visible in the summer as
the transition between the snow covered portion of the glacier and the lower
ice section.
the temperature consistently touches below zero. These make up the bulk of
the ice fields found here. The Valley glaciers are often spurred off of valley
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glaciers,
they
often
look
like
a
giant
tongue,
and
they
can
be
very
long
flowing
down beyond the snow line and sometimes down to sea level.
Glaciers affect the landscape by the way they transport material and the
way they carve land from beneath them, they will move broken rocks and
soil and leaves behind a landscape that has been completely changed. The
evidence that these massive ice flows have passed through this land is found
all around. Another type of glacier that can be found in the North Cascades is
the Cirque Glaciers, which is named for the bowl like hollows they occupy,
called cirques. They are usually found high on mountainsides and tend to be
wide rather than long. Cirques are created when glaciers erode backwards
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bowl.
Nooksack
Cirque,
the
headwaters
of
the
North
Fork
of
the
Nooksack
River, is a valley that has been scared by valley glaciers. The canyon walls
have been rubbed smooth. This is the land of rocks; rocks left over from an
age when glaciers covered the area like a blanket. As the vast sheets of ice
slowly move down the canyon they scrape the walls of the canyon down to
the bedrock. This rock is ground down to these smooth sheets found on the
Today the only glacier left in Nooksack Cirque lives up to its name. A
move rapidly down the side of the canyon wall. Some of these glaciers are
completely covered with rock. It is possible to be standing on a glacier of this
type with out knowing it. The lower portion of these glaciers is in sheet form.
Vast flat expanses of ice formed as the wash from the glacier refreezes on top
of itself. Hanging glaciers are very similar to the cirque glacier. These
however are found much higher in elevation. The slopes of Jack Mt. and Ruby
Mt. are home to four of these types of ice masses. The flat surfaces of ice often
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produce
avalanches.
As
the
winter
snow
accumulates
and
freezes
to
the
surface ice of the glacier. The top layer remains soft and unstable.
Crevasses are
Adams. Crevasses
glacier scrapes
against uneven valley walls or turns a corner. A crevasse is one of the
Which way are the glaciers in the Cascades heading? Are they shrinking,
staying the same or growing? Spider Glaciers in the North Cascades has
shown what glaciers in most parts of Washington are doing. A recent hike
into the area by Andrea Imler it was noted that what once was a glacier is
now a snowfield and in a few years it will be extinct. Another glacier in the
same area, Lyman Glacier is estimated to have shrunk about one third of its
former size and in the past 50 years has receded about 33 feet per year and
in 30 to 50 years is predicted that it will completely disappear. The same is
true for Nooksack Cirque. National Park Service ices are tracking glacier
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melting
rates
in
the
North
Cascades
National
Parks
by
Jon
Riedel
who
is
a
geologist, says the “ice is melting fast especially in the last 16 years. What the
loss of glaciers means is that there will be less in the “glacial bank account”
and the loss of about 400 billion gallons of water, that represents
approximately one month of flow of the Skagit River, less snowpack means
less water for fish and wildlife, hydropower, forest fire control and
agriculture. Riedel feels this is because it is getting warmer and thinks it’s
Northwest is becoming less while the temperatures are rising. “The decline
in snowfall in the Northwest has been the largest in the West, and it is clearly
Glaciers in the Northwest tell their own stories of time and come in
different sizes, shapes and color, but the one thing that all glaciers have in
common is that they’re just one of the unique pieces of creation revealing
God himself as Romans 1:20 says, “For since the creation of the world God’s
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invisible
qualities
-‐-‐
his
eternal
power
and
divine
nature—have
been
clearly
seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without
excuse.”
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