Author Question: How does glacier ice form? What will be an ideal response?[br][br][b][color=#566D7E]Question ... (Read 39 times)

mspears3 · **on:** Jul 16, 2018

How does glacier ice form?

What will be an ideal response?

Question 2

Glaciers are sometimes called rivers of ice but while it is easy to observe rivers, it is difficult to directly observe glacial flows because the ice is opaque and moves very slowly.

How do geologists overcome these obstacles to studying glacier movement, erosion, and deposition?
What will be an ideal response?

Jane · **Reply #1 on:** Jul 16, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Glacier ice forms in two different ways:
One process is the metamorphism of snow into ice by recrystallization that changes the pointy snowflakes into a densely consolidated mass of intergrown ice crystals.
The other process is the summer melting of snow at the surface of the glacier with formation of ice as the meltwater infiltrates into the colder depths of the glacier.

Answer to Question 2

The slow flow of a glacier is monitored by long duration studies of stakes driven into the glacier surface and drill pipes that penetrate most or all of the glacier thickness. Tunnels at the base of some glaciers permit some direct observations of movement at the bottom of a glacier.