What Role Does Gravity Play In Glacial Movement

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.

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.

These formations caused the water level in many lakes to drop, and flow into rivers. With the weight of the glacier removed from the land, isotonic equilibrium occurred. The region began to rise, at a rate of about thirty centimeters per century (Leelanau, 2004). Water levels in the upper basin began to rise, forming lakes that filled the Michigan, Huron and Superior basins. Today, this isotonic rebound is still occurring, but at a rate of 53 centimeters per century. The rebound occurs at different rates across the area that was covered by the glacier. The difference in rates emerges from the difference in weight of the glacier. Areas that are rising the fastest today are those that had a thicker or heavier glacial ice, or those areas that had ice covering those most recently. Because of the difference in rates, the lower basin rose more slowly that the northern outlets (Leelanau, 2004). As the water changed directions to flow through the St. Clair River, the shape of the Great Lakes reached a point close to what they are at today. The shorelines and water level has changed, but the basic flow of water has stayed the same for the past 2,000 or so

There are coarsening-upward sequences preserved, with flooding surfaces represented by low-relief erosional contact of trough-cross-stratification (runnel) upon low-angle planar bedding (swash zone).

The present configuration of the Great Lakes basin is the result of the movement of massive glaciers through the mid-continent, a process that began about one million years ago. . . . Studies in the Lake Superior region indicate that a river system and valleys formed by water erosion existed before the Ice Age. The Glaciers undoubtedly scoured these valleys, widening and deepening the and radically changing the drainage of the area (Encyclopedia Britannica )

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.

Of course, the rock cycle is also linked with the concept of erosion, as the breaking down of material is very important to the cycle (Hamilton & Hamilton, 2008). A prime example of this occurrence can be found at the site of the Glasshouse Mountains in Australia.

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

In the 1920’s, geologist J. Harlen Bretz challenged the current concept of how various geological formations happened. At the time, geologists believed in uniformitarianism, which meant that geologic change in the past resulted from the same slow, steady processes at work today.

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

Similar to how other gorges are created, it was the energy of the river water rushing from the melting glacier that was able to cut into the surface of the bedrock. Streams carved through

At Laurel Hill Duke Forest there is a large granodiorite cliff adjacent to a river on one side. This cliff is not smooth and has several parallel fractures instead of one steep slope. Observations of this cliff were taken in order to gather data and find possible explanations for why this cliff is where it is located and why the river adjacent to it follows a V-shaped path. One observation was that the range of the strikes and dips of the fractures facing river were all near parallel ranging from strike of 170-190 degrees and dips ranging from 70-90 degrees. There were other fractures oriented differently on other sides of the outcrop. Also, the surface of the outcrop was highly weathered in some parts where the rock type was not distinguishable without using a rock hammer and had moss growing over it.

There are different types of glaciers that exist. Valley or alpine glaciers exist in mountain valleys. They occupy the space where a stream once was and become a glacial stream flowing down the valley. Ice sheets are a very different type of glacier. They are much larger and are at times referred to as continental ice sheets. They flow in all directions and cover the land they are on. An ice cap is another kind of glacier that covers the uplands and plateaus. They cover the surface they are on totally, but are smaller than ice sheets. The final type of glacier is a piedmont glacier. These cover the land at the bases of mountains and

The processes of erosion are wind, water, mass movements, glacier ice, and ocean waves. Wind erosion occurs when gusts of wind carry smaller sizes of sediment to different places. Wind erosion typically takes place in “...mostly in flat,

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.