Glaciofluvial and Glaciolacustrine Landforms

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Glaciofluvial deposits, consist of material that has been transported, sorted and deposited by meltwater from a glacier.

The landforms produced by these deposits are known as glaciofluvial landforms. Glaciofluvial landforms include: ekers, kames, kame terraces, kettles and outwash plains.

Eskers are usually slightly sinuous ridges of glaciofluvial sediments that undulate in height along their length. Eskers may range from 5 to 50 m in height, 500 m in width, and a few hundred feet to tens of miles in length. They may occur unbroken or as detached segments. Thus eskers are considered to be channel deposits that were let down onto the ground surface as the glacier retreated.

Kames are undulating-mounds of sand and gravel left behind by a retreating glacier. They form in the following manner: a stream at the top of the glacier intersects a crevasse, filling it with sediment. A stratification of the sediment forms; during times of higher ablation, larger particles are able to be entrained and thus deposited in the crevasse, whereas in times of lower discharge, more fines are deposited. As the glacier ablates, the sediment collapses into a hill.

Kame terraces are formed at the ice margin in alpine environments, near the lateral moraines. They are similar to kames in that they are made of stratified sand and gravel deposits. Kame terraces form when an outwash stream or lake is trapped between the ice and the confines of the mountain valley. This creates a place for deposition to take place, and a large sediment deposit accumulates. When the ice melts, the terrace is left.

Basin where ice block was surrounded by sediments. They occur singly or in groups. These are formed by blocks of ice that are seperated from the main glacier by either the glacial ice retreating or by blocks calving off the glacier snout and falling forwards. The isolated blocks of ice then become partially buried in meltwater sediments. When the ice blocks eventually melt they leave behind holes or depressions that fill with water to become Kettle Hole Lakes.

Outwash is the sediment deposited beyond the front of the glacier by the meltwater streams that drain away from it. Overtime, progressive deposition leads to the creation of vast spreads of outwash known as a Outwash Plain (or Sandur in Iceland), which may extend hundreds of kilometres from the ice front.

Glaciolacustrine landforms are formed when a glacier happens to meet a lake.. The characteristic glaciolacustrine landforms are:
Deltas Varves

A delta is formed where a glacial river flows into the sea or a lake, often where the margin of the ice is static for a long period of time. The composition and deposition of a delta depends on the current and the amount of material. In principle, a delta comprises three parts: - a bottomset bed of fine grained sediment, deposited outside the mouth of the glacial river - a foreset bed of layers of inclined sand and gravel - a topset bed of cobbles and gravel, deposited when the delta has made the water shallower

Varves are alternating layers of sand and silt that are deposited on the floor of lakes around the margins of glaciers. These contrasting sediment layers reflect seasonal changes in rates of meltwater production and debris release from the glaciers. The lighter coloured sand layer corresponds to spring and summer conditions. The darker silt layers are formed during the autumn and winter. Each layer of sand and silt represents one years accumulation.

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