Author Question: What are some of the ways in which glaciers lead to the formation of ... (Read 35 times)

jessicacav · **on:** Aug 7, 2018

What are some of the ways in which glaciers lead to the formation of lakes?

Question 2

Describe hanging valleys and explain how they form.

kescobar@64 · **Reply #1 on:** Aug 7, 2018

Answer to Question 1

Lakes can form where glaciers create depressions. Cirque lakes and paternoster lakes can be found in bedrock depressions carved by alpine glaciers (in cirques and valleys, respectively). The Great Lakes of North America sit in basins carved out by glacial ice. In depositional settings, kettles form where isolated blocks of ice are partly buried by sediment before melting away. They become lakes if they intersect the water table.

Answer to Question 2

Hanging valleys are glacial valleys connected to larger, deeper glacial valleys, with a significant difference in elevation between the two valley floors. Hanging valleys form where tributary glaciers flowed into larger trunk glaciers. The difference in elevation between the tributary and trunk valley floors is not apparent when the ice is present, but once the ice is gone floors of tributary troughs can be seen perched along the walls of the trunk glacial valley.