Glacier Movement: A Hands-On Model for Understanding Glacial Dynamics, Study notes of Environmental Science

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How Do

Glaciers Move?

Glaciers are massive bodies of ice that move across the surface of the Earth. Even though Glaciers are solid, they move across the Earth like rivers. Just a very slow moving river (think 1000s of years!) As glaciers move they change the surface of the Earth by picking up loose rocks and soil and depositing them somewhere else. Glaciers can move some pretty big boulders! Wallowa Lake was carved by a glacier and the moraines are mounds of sediment that was left behind.

WHAT IS A GLACIER?

In your bowl, mix 10 tsp of water into ½ cup cornstarch. Mix to where very little water is left standing on the surface.

Place a golf-ball-sized spoonful of the mixture in the center of a piece of waxed paper. Observe how the material behaves. Does it flow? This is much like the way ice deep in a glacier flows.

On top of the glacier, place another spoonful of the mixture in the center. This is “new snow” over the ice cap during the winter. What do you observe about the edge of the glacier?

Sprinkle sand, gravel, and soil in a 1 ½ inch ring around the edges of the glacier. Use a marker to mark the outer edge of the soil on the waxed paper.

Place a second piece of waxed paper on top of the glacier. Carefully turn it over so you can see the bottom of the glacier. What do you notice about the position of the sand and soil particles?

DO YOU NOTICE ANY SIMILARITIES BETWEEN

YOUR MODEL AND A REAL GLACIER?

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