Glaciers, Natural Wonders

http://www.homepage.montana.edu/%7Egeol445/hyperglac/morphology1/

     You may have seen glaciers on TV or even seen or been on one but what do you really know about them.

What are glaciers made of? Your first response would probably be snow and ice. Although this is true there is more too it than just that. For a glacier to form the snow in an area must not melt very much or at all year round thus creating ice. The area with the unbelted ice starts collecting precipitation thus growing and compacting the ice underneath. The ice is compressed with the weight of the ice and snow on top which creates ice crystals. The ice crystals are compressed more and more every year having smaller air pockets in-between them so the older a glacier is, the bigger ice crystals will be.

So glaciers can "grow" or "shrink" depending on the weather. If it is a long and hot summing the glacier will become smaller. If it is a short summer (sometimes even a normal summer) but is a long or strong winter the glacier will grow.

What's the difference between valley glaciers and polar ice caps?

http://www.homepage.montana.edu/%7Egeol445/hyperglac/morphology1/

http://www.homepage.montana.edu/%7Egeol445/hyperglac/morphology1/

Well, a valley glacier as its name implies forms in a valley or creates one when it flows downhill like a lake. There are many valley glacier is Canada in the past and in the present that have and are changing the ground. A ice caps on the other hand form in a depression in the ground. Eventually the ice cap will "overflow" it’s banks of the depression thus becoming larger and making other glaciers. There are many ice caps in the world occasionally with glaciers flowing out of them or into them..

What about the movement of these gigantic masses of ice and snow? Maybe you have heard that parts of Canada were formed by glaciers; but how is this? Well a glaciers move down hill or move out like ice caps. This motion is started when the weight of the glacier is too much and it starts to move the bottom part of the glacier. The movement of glaciers cuts, sands and grinds up the ground because of its weight and composure. The combination of these factors make land forms like valleys, hills and prairies.

Glaciers are true natural wonders and the next time you see one think about the things they have done for us.