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These “Course Notes” are not a substitute for the video

lectures. They are intended to be a supplemental resource.
Mountains 101
They summarize the respective lesson’s main points, but
Lesson 6: Glaciers
do not include all the lesson’s content.
Course Notes

Part 1 What are Glaciers?

The focus in this lesson is glaciers: their physical composition and processes, how they form and move,
and how they modify the landscape; plus how our changing understandings of glaciers have shaped the
ways people have engaged with mountain landscapes over the past few centuries.

What is a glacier?
- A glacier is mass of relatively slow-moving ice created by the long-term accumulation of snow
- They form wherever snow accumulation during the winter exceeds that which is removed by melting
during the summer. Key to the process is the gradual build-up of successive annual layers of residual
snow. The weight of the accumulating residual snow slowly converts the lower layers to ice as it’s
compressed and made denser. If it’s on any sort of a slope, it will eventually get think/heavy enough
that gravity starts to deform it causing the mass to move downslope (or “flow”).
- Glaciers presently occupy about 10% of the world's total land area with most located in Polar Regions.

Glacier formation
Snow to ice metamorphosis begins with the compaction of the surviving snow under a mass of new
snow (density: 50-200 kg/m3). This compaction causes the expulsion of air from the buried layers
- As compaction continues, residual snow turns into firn, an intermediate state between snow and
glacier ice (density: 400 kg/m3).
- Finally, the firn becomes glacial ice (density approx. 850 kg/m3). Any remaining trapped air bubbles are
locked into the ice

There are several processes that act on individual snow crystals and cause them to change from snow
into ice
- Snow crystals tend to have complex shapes with intricate arms
- On the ground, these structures come into contact with one another; their arms connect and lock into
place, leaving pore spaces between them. There is higher pressure at the points of contact. Melting
occurs first here. Melt water flows into the spaces between the crystals, where the pressure is lower and
the freezing point is higher. Here, the water refreezes, binding snow crystals together and enlarging the
individual grains. This process is called sintering.
- And so, with time and increased pressure, the snow crystals tend to slowly interlock with each other
and grow in size. At the same time, the volume of pore space is gradually reduced, increasing the overall
density. Snow turns into firn, and firn into ice.
- The process can be sped up with the introduction of water; but can also occur in “dry snow zones”
located at high elevations and in the Polar Regions, where melting rarely occurs – it’s too cold.
- The speed at which this process occurs depends on a few things: (1) the climate, (2) the range of air
temperatures throughout the year, and (3) the amount of precipitation. Thus, in some places, it can take
three or four years; in other places, it can take hundreds, even thousands of years.

Part 2 Types of Glaciers

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Ice sheets
- They are the largest type of glaciers on the planet, found today only in Antarctica and Greenland
- An ice sheet is a mass of glacial land ice extending more than 50,000 square kilometers
- Their flow is completely independent of the topography beneath.

Ice caps
- Similar to ice sheets, but cover less than 50,000 square kilometers
- They form primarily in polar and sub-polar regions that are usually high in elevation
- Like larger ice sheets, ice caps are not constrained by topographical features

Mountain glaciers
- Broad category for the various types of glaciers found in mountain regions
- All mountain glaciers share one thing in common: unlike ice sheets or ice caps, mountain glaciers are
confined by the topography of the landscape in which they reside
- The largest type of mountain glacier is an Icefield. Unlike an ice cap, the flow of an icefield is
constrained by the underlying topographic features.
- Icefields usually produce a network of long glaciers that fall away from the high basin and spill down-
valley. These glaciers are called Valley Glaciers. Because they typically originate from an icefield, they’re
also sometimes referred to as Outlet Glaciers.
- Valley glaciers can be further delineated, as well. Examples: (a) Piedmont Glaciers, which occur when
steep valley glaciers spill into relatively flat plains, where they fan out into bulb-like lobes.
(b) Tidewater Glaciers are valley glaciers that flow far enough to reach out into the sea. As the ice
reaches the sea, pieces break off (or calve) forming small icebergs. (c) When a major valley glacier
system retreats and thins, sometimes the tributary glaciers are left in smaller valleys high above the
shrunken central glacier surface. These are called Hanging Glaciers. These glaciers often terminate at or
near the top of cliff bands.
- Much smaller than valley glaciers are Cirque Glaciers: these are named for the isolated bowl-like
hollows or basins they occupy. They’re found high on mountainsides and tend to be wider rather than
longer. They can’t usually survive solely on the accumulation of direct snowfall. They require snow
deposited by avalanches from the surrounding rock walls. The walls also provide the glacier with some
shade, greatly reducing direct solar radiation and limiting melting. Shading also limits the size of these
glaciers, constraining the glacier to the shaded area.
- The various forms of mountain glaciers result from both topography and climate. Because
environmental conditions fluctuate through time, the specific forms that glaciers assume fluctuate, too.

Part 3 Glacier Dynamics

Glaciers are dynamic. They flow. They can advance and retreat; they can even slip and slide.

The first known depiction of a glacier might be a 1601 watercolour depicting the Vernagtferner Glacier
in western Austria. It shows nicely the formation of a glacier lake, which, because of outburst floods,
was a constant menace to the communities down valley.

While the English-speaking world of the 1600s knew very little about mountain glaciers, Indigenous
mountain cultures, in stark contrast, had sophisticated knowledge of glaciers and their dynamics.
Examples can be found all over the world. (E.g. North American First Nations peoples living on either
side of the Saint Elias Mountains came to know this glaciated landscape over successive generations.
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Their experiences reinforced a vision that humans and nature make and mutually maintain the habitable
world, a view now echoed by environmental historians)

What do we know now about the dynamics of glaciers?

Mass balance
Glaciers only form when the amount of material or snowfall added in a given year is greater than the
amount removed. Material is primarily removed by surface melting and evaporation (also by glacier
calving). Material added is referred to as the annual input; and the material removed, the annual
output. The difference between the two is called the annual net balance, or Mass Balance.
- A positive mass balance will cause the glacier to grow and advance, while a negative mass balance
means a glacier will shrink and retreat.
- In a steady state, the mass balance over the course of a year equals out (or it achieves equilibrium),
and the glacier remains roughly the same size.

Glacier zonation
Two main zones on a glacier:
(a) Accumulation zone: Higher, colder, snowfall occurs here in the greatest quantity (inputs exceed
outputs); here, the annual mass balance is positive
(b) Ablation zone: Further down the glacier, warmer, and where outputs exceed inputs; here, the
annual mass balance is negative
Between these two areas, a balance is reached where snowfall equals snowmelt, and the glacier is said
to be in equilibrium. The average height where this occurs is called the equilibrium line altitude (or ELA).
Where conditions favor glacier advance, the ELA tends to be relatively low. Where conditions favor
retreat, the ELA is relatively high.

Glacier flow
Glaciers flow in large measure because of gravity. If the area above the ELA gets increasingly thicker, it
results in an increase to the stress exerted on the ice by gravity. It’s that downward pull that, eventually,
causes the ice to deform and begin to flow downwards. Mass that accumulates above the ELA is
transferred into the ablation zone and replaces the mass being lost by melting.
- Example 1: In a cooling climate (or where snowfall is increasing): the ELA lowers, the accumulation
zone grows, and the ablation zone shrinks. Mass transfer from the accumulation zone by flow increases,
and the glacier grows (the glacier’s terminus advances)
- Example 2: In a warming climate (where the melt increases): the ELA rises, the ablation zone grows,
and the accumulation zone shrinks, as the amount of snowfall that survives the year is no longer
sufficient to replace that which has been removed from melting. The glacier develops an overall
negative mass balance that, if sustained over many years, will promote glacial retreat.

*Note: when a glacier is in retreat, the ice itself is still flowing. What’s “retreating” is the position of the
terminus, which is rising up-valley. In the warming scenario, melt removes ice from the terminus faster
than the down-valley flow of the glacier can replace it. When the opposite is true, and the flow is
delivering more ice to the terminus than melting can remove, the glacier terminus moves forward, and
the glacier advances.

Basal sliding, bed deformation, and flow rates

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Another major mechanism of glacier movement is Basal Sliding, the slippage of ice en masse over the
rock surface at its base (distinctive abrasions and striations on bedrock near the terminus of glaciers is
evidence for this type of movement). The controls for basal sliding: (a) the temperature of ice at the
base; and (b) the presence of water to serve as a lubricant. If the bed surface underneath the glacier
isn’t solid rock, if it’s loose sediment or soils, the presence of water can substantially weaken the bed.
This makes it easier for the glacier to deform the sediment beneath it rather than to simply move along
on top of it. This introduces a third mechanism that contributes to glacial flow: Bed Deformation.
Flow Rates due to ice deformation are relatively constant. Ice deformation is driven by gravity, the
thickness of ice, and slope angle. If those all remain constant, the flow rate remains the same. But once
your introduce water into the system, we get much greater variability in flow rates.

Glaciers in the recent past

Because of their dynamics, glaciers in the European Alps during the 1700s were a cause of great
concern. They were things to be feared; the homes of dreadful creatures (e.g. Johann Scheuchzer’s
Itinera alpine [1707] reported dragons). There were other reasons to worry. Advancing glaciers in the
western Alps had actually crushed the small French hamlet of Bonanay, near Chamonix, in 1644.

During the 1800s, amateur science and the emergence of a mountain tourism industry changed popular
perceptions of glaciers in Europe. Gone were the musings about dragons. But scientific discoveries now
revealed that an Ice Age was something that had happened at least once in the past, and suggested it
might actually happen again. The idea of an ice age affected almost every scientific discipline. Glaciers
became big news. From Europe to the Americas, sightseers were now eager to witness first-hand these
masses of ice which had so shaped the surface of the world, and that might one day return and consume
the Earth.

The great cultural shift in our understanding of glaciers and ice all happened during what’s now called
the “Little Ice Age” - a short period of time (approx. 1500-1850) when most of the world’s glaciers were
actually advancing.

Part 4 Glacial features and land modification

Crevasses
Deep cracks, or fractures, found in a glacier (as opposed to crevices that form in rock). Crevasses form
due to tensional stress, so their distribution, their size, and their arrangement provide useful
information on the flow behaviour of the ice. For example:
- they occur most often when the middle and the sides of the glacier move at different rates
- they occur when the ice curves around a bend, or where the slope steepens and the rate of movement
increases
- they can be caused by the ice flowing over bumps or steps in the bedrock
- they’re usually transverse, or horizontal, to the direction of flow, but can be oriented in any direction
- they’re also largely restricted to the surface, where the ice is more brittle and fractures easily

The presence of crevasses increases the efficiency of rock transport (think of the a glacier as a big
conveyor belt). Rock debris that falls into crevasses becomes incorporated into the glacier, and is often
not to be seen again until the glacier releases the material at the terminus. Crevasses also hasten
ablation by increasing the glacier’s surface area, by the pooling of meltwater, and by disaggregating the
ice near the terminus. Crevasses are major hazard to anyone traveling on glaciated terrain. This is
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especially true in instances where fresh snow has covered up or bridged the surface. Snow bridges can
easily blend in with the surrounding landscape, often hiding crevasses below.

Moraines
These are the noticeable linear accumulation of rocky debris oriented in the direction of the flow.
They’re created when the glacier pushes or carries rocky debris as it moves. (E.g. Lateral and medial
moraines). What we see is only the surface expression of the rock debris. Moraines extends deep into
the ice, frequently all the way to the bottom. Moraines on the ice alter the mass balance, since the rock
material is dark in colour and can absorb more of the sun’s energy (thus hastening ablation). Conversely,
if the moraine big/thick enough, it may serve as an insulated cover and inhibit the local melting of the
underlying ice. (E.g. this leads to the formation of ice-core moraines).

Glacial erosion and landforms

Glaciers also sculpt and carve away the land beneath them, a process that can reshape the landscape
over hundreds or thousands of years. This is called glacial erosion. E.g. Glaciated valleys, cirques, arêtes,
and horns are all erosional types of landforms, created when glaciers cut away at the landscape.

Geographic places to locate on the Map from Lesson 6:

Mont Blanc
The Transantarctic Mountains
The Columbia Glacier
The Saint Elias Mountains
The Vernagtferner Glacier
The Matterhorn
The Columbia Icefield
The Baffin Mountains

Recommended Readings and Web Resources

Gary K.C. Clark, “A Short History of Scientific Investigations of Glaciers,” Journal of Glaciology, Special
Issue (1987): 4-24

Julie Cruikshank, Do Glaciers Listen? Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, & Social Imagination.
Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005.

Michael Demuth, Becoming Water: Glaciers in a Warming World. Vancouver: Rocky Mountain Books,
2012.

Robert Macfarlane, Mountains of the Mind: Adventures in Reaching the Summit. London: Granta Books,
2003. [Chapter 4 “Glaciers and Ice: The Streams of Time”]

Leland R. Dexter, Karl W. Birkeland, and Larry W. Price, “Chapter Four: “Snow, Ice, Avalanches and
Glaciers,” in Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions, (Eds) Martin F. Price, Alton C.
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Beyers, Donald A. Friend, Thomas Kohler, and Larry W. Price. Berkeley: University of California Press,
2013.

Jason R. Janke and Larry W. Price, “Chapter Five: “Mountain Landforms and Geomorphic Processes,” in
Mountain Geography: Physical and Human Dimensions, (Eds) Martin F. Price, Alton C. Beyers, Donald A.
Friend, Thomas Kohler, and Larry W. Price. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2013.

“Glaciers,” by Sara Bennett (Western Illinois University): http://geology.com/articles/glaciers/

“All About Glaciers,” from the US National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC):
https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers