| Lateral Moraine
Do you remember when we were hiking near those
glaciers at the Atigun Pass, in the Gates of the Arctic National
Park? We saw that glacier that had till along the side
where the glacier met the the valley wall. That lateral
moraine formed when rocks fell from the valley wall onto the
glacier. The till eventually drops along the side of the
glacier as it melts. |
Medial Moraine
When two glaciers run into one another, their
lateral moraine smush together to form one row of till along
the center point where the two glaciers came together. We
saw this at Wrangell St. Elias National Park. |
Terminal Moraine
Remember back at Exit Glacier, we saw that
pile of small rocks and dirt out in front of the glacier?
That was the Terminal Moraine. As the glacier moves
forward, it pushes rocks ahead of it like a
bulldozer. When the glacier stops moving forward for a bit
and then begins to recede, it will drop a lot of the till
that was trapped in the ice. Together, these two deposits
create a long pile of till along the front (cross-valley) of the
glacier. The Terminal Moraine is a great clue to find out
how far forward a glacier pushed before it started receding.
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