How Glaciers Can Alter The Shape Of A Valley

A glacier is a large mass of ice that flows very slowly. A glacier forms by the compression and/or crystallization of snow that has stayed in one place year round. Glaciers can be constructive and/or destructive. Glaciers can be constructive by leaving sediments behind, or destructive by gauging the earth's surface. Glaciers were once present in Minnesota, thousands of years ago, and as they retreated, they left behind large amounts of glacial meltwater and various landforms, still present today.

Ice is something we use and see every day, whether it is a block in our freezer or an icicle hanging from our roof. Ice is an important, yet subtle, part of our world. Ice is most commonly used to cool down our drinks and if you have ever noticed that ice in different shapes melt at different rates, then you are on to something. Ice with greater surface areas melt faster than ice with lesser surface areas.

So you now know how sedimentary rocks are formed and how the Colorado River majorly eroded all the rock creating canyons. But here comes the million dollar question: where did all the rocks come from? The answer to that question is The Continental Drift. The Earth's continents are not fixed in place, but rather float on a sea of molten rock, meaning that they move around quite a bit. Over 250 million years, that “quite a bit” can turn into land masses moving thousands of miles. Moreover, the Earth is made up of 20 Tectonic plates. Seven of these plates are very large and consist of entire continents or sea floors. The plate that the Grand Canyon is located on is called “The North American Plate”. At one time, this plate was considerably further south and consequently had a very different climate than

Immediately following the upheaval, various collisions between the Pacific and Farralon plates resulted in the reversal of the original plate movement. At one point, some geologist believe that Death Valley and the surrounding mountains Panamint, Black, and Cottonwood were actually all stacked on top of each other and the separation lead to the present valley.

Remote sensing has become a very valuable tool for documenting the response of glacier to changing climate (Bamber and Kwok, 2003; Kuhn, 2007; Pellikka, 2007; Solomon et al, 2007) because the rugged terrain, inaccessibility and legendary poor weather of glacier areas has resulted in relatively few field- based studies. Indeed, in order to use glaciers and their changes as indicators of climate change, or as an early warning signal for sea level rise, remote sensing is the only tool to provide glacier change information from all the continents and from a large number of glaciers and ice sheets. On the other hands, because space borne and airborne remote sensing data provide superior cost- effective and area effective data and methods for monitoring the glaciers and their changes, part of this monitoring can be carried out by it.

A glacier is a large body of ice that moves slowly across land and are formed by there being a higher snow gain rather than a snow melt. Glaciers move by a small amount of ice melting and the glacier sliding. Glaciers can help and destroy the landscape in front of them but they can also shape the land into something amazing. Glaciers were once present in Minnesota thousands of years ago and played a massive role on the landscape we live on today, and as they melted they left behind large amounts of water and formations.

For example, The appalachian Mountains were formed by a massive continental collision over 300 million years ago. According to page 88 in my science notebook, the rocks in the Chattooga River is evidence of the continental collision. Mountains are formed when two continental plates collide, and form the mountains. The Appalachian mountains, were formed during Pangea. The North American Plate and the African Plate collided. When this happened the Appalachian Mountains were formed. These mountains then grew bigger, but as soon as it started growing, it also eroded. Erosion and

Environments where sediments are elated and deposited quickly are high energy environments like ocean shores, or rushing rivers. Eco systems where small particles of sediments are often deposited in low energy areas. This is found in regions where there are deep lakes or swamps. Landforms shaped by erosion are tall, jagged structures with grazes in layers of rock and landforms produced by deposition are flat and low lying. Landforms created by deposition are alluvial fans, sandbars, moraines, eskers, and deserts. While landforms created by erosion are mountains, valleys, hoodoos, sea arches, sea caves, plains, sea cliff and

As this river of ice moved slowly over the hidden rocks, the base of the glacier grazed millions of sediments in the Earth. The after math composed of soil, pebbles, cobbles and boulders that pushed forward, smashing rocks into glacial dust. Then the climate began to warm. Melted water from the glaciers carried the soils and rocks away from the dissolving glacier, depositing its leftovers throughout the landscape. This combination of soils and rocks deposited. Then low hills, or moraines, were created across the state. Michigan's glacial drift averages 200 to 300 feet. The scraping of boulders created particles. The heaviest pieces formed ridges, which made the stream's flow in a certain direction. Lighter materials were carried further, dropping on the way as the flowing water slowed. These materials dried forming enormous, flat colored areas of sand, silt, clay creating a mixture called the outwash plains. The weight of the glacier over the Michigan basin was dropping, and the Earth began to recoil, like a sponge coming back to its original shape. The Michigan landscape began to appear. Plants began to approach on the shriveled landscape. Individual plants found a suitable growing environment near each other, which created a suitable home for

Powerful forces of the earth cause a landmass to slide under the water. The hot water from the floor of the ocean then melted the rock from the land, forming granite rocks (U.S. Department of the Interior). Mesozoic volcanic and sedimentary rock are scattered through Sierra Nevada Batholith, which covered most of the park during the Jurassic and Cretaceous times (Harris). Weathering and the batholithic makeup impact the exterior of the landforms within these national parks. Yosemite National Park has a very similar geological history compared to the Sequoia and King Canyon National parks, due to the fact that they all lie in the Sierra Nevada’s peak and western slopes (Harris). When it comes to lithospheric extension in the Death Valley Region, during the time of rapid growth, the plates in this region rapidly expanded. In the region of the Sequoia and King Canyon national park the plates did not expand rapidly, thus indicating that more extension occurred in the Sequoia and Kings Canyon region (Jones). Under the surface, there are many marble caves that are endemic to the area (U.S. Department of the Interior). It is clear that natural forces like these have the ability to create beautiful and interesting geology. The description of the tectonic plates would be an ocean continent subduction zone (U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey). This occurs because of the above process. A specific rock located in the national park is the Moro Rock. Moro rock is a large granite rock that is shaped like a dome. It was made by the process of exfoliation that has to do with the layers of granite expanding over time (U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey). The exfoliation process creates many of the rock features located in the park. This exfoliation process is the same one that creates many of

began to flow along weak layers that define the folds and faults and carved the resistant

A glacier occurs when the climate of an area is so cold that new snow does not completely melt each summer and more snow is added in the winter. After many winters the accumulation of this snow becomes compact and re-crystallizes, thus forming a glacier. Currently, glaciers cover about ten percent of the Earth's surface. Yet, in the past, glaciers covered much more land and were thousands of meters thick. (Tierney)

Another issue that has been discussed is that these receding glaciers is that this could actually create excess of water in different ways. When the glaciers recede, they can leave little lakes of their own which are dammed by the rock and other debris which has been left by the glacier. Combining this with avalanches, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, it can cause excess flooding and

Glaciers are one of the most fundamental phenomenon on the planet, and much of their purpose and impact on earth has been well documented and published. Ice sheets, Ice Caps and Glaciers trap nearly 90% of the world's fresh water, and are replenished by snowfall each year. Their existence on this planet dates back 650,000,000 years and yet they are always moving, always shifting and always melting. Before, human existence and even during the brief era of humans, ice dominated all of the earth's landmass and have regulated, created and altered many of the landscapes around the world.

A glacier is a slowly moving mass of ice formed over years by the buildup and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles. Most of the world's glaciers are found near the poles (because the very cold and snowy conditions found there) but glaciers actually exist on all the continents including africa! The perfect conditions to form glaciers are mostly found in regions with high snowfall in winter and cool temperatures in summer. These conditions allow snow to build up in winter and not melt in summer these conditions usually occur in polar regions and high alpine regions. Global warming is the gradual increase of the earth's atmosphere from carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels. Unfortunately the spreading disbelief of global