Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Outwash plains
Just beyond the terminus of a glacier, there is often a braided stream (see Chapter 12)
created by water melting from the glacier. In a mountain valley, the deposits left by this
stream are called a
valley train.
When these deposits are left beyond the edge of a melt-
ing ice sheet, they create an
outwash plain.
Sometimes, as the ice retreats, it leaves large blocks of ice sitting in the sediments of the
outwash plain. When these blocks melt they leave a water-filled depression in the land-
scape called a
kettle lake.
Eskers and kames
Eskers
and
kames
are deposits of sand and gravel left by meltwater flowing in, under, or
over the ice of a melting glacier. Eskers are long, snake-like ridges of sand and gravel.
Kames are steep-sided hills created by the deposition of sand and gravel in depressions
on top of melting ice. When the glacier eventually disappears, a pile of sand and gravel
is left.
Behaving erratically: Large boulders in odd
places
