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Glaciers and Glacial Features in Canada

Explore the history, formation, types, and features of glaciers in Canada, including erosion, deposition, and lakes shaped by these icy giants. Learn about moraines, drumlins, eskers, and more. Study the environmental past through ice cores.

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Glaciers and Glacial Features in Canada

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  1. Glaciers & Glacial Featuresin Canada March 17, 2008 SES 4U0 R. ORR Arctic Elephant Glacier Antarctic

  2. Glaciers • Definition = large, moving mass of ice that shapes the landscape by eroding, transporting, and depositing huge volumes of rocks and sediments

  3. History • last Ice Age started ~1.6 million years ago • ice sheets covered almost all of Canada • the last period began about 100,000 years ago, and the last glaciers began to leave 10,000 years ago • ice cores can be studied to learn more about the Earth’s environmental past

  4. History

  5. Formation • ice moves like a very thick liquid • Three main areas: • Zone of Accumulation (more new snow than melting & evaporation) • Balance Area or Equilibrium Line • Zone of Ablation (more melting than new snow)

  6. Formation

  7. Types of Glaciers • Valley / Alpine • found in the valleys of high mountain regions • move downhill due to: gravity, glacier temp. & thickness, and slope & shape of the valley • crevasses = deep cracks in the surface of the ice • usually move less than 4mm per day • sharpens the tops of mountains and makes broad “U” shaped valleys (from V-shaped)

  8. Types of Glaciers • Continental • much larger in size, can be 4 km thick • move out from the center (thickest) due to weight (flattens out in all directions….like baking cookies) • smooth out landscape (erode hills, fill in valleys)

  9. Glacial Features • There are three main types of formations: • Erosion • Deposition • Lakes

  10. Erosion • Plunking = pieces of rock breaking off when a valley glacier moves • Striations are formed by small rocks, whereas grooves are formed by larger rocks

  11. Erosion: Striations • Also known as Glacial Scarring • Scratches formed by rocks trapped on the bottom of the glacier • (Left) Run in the same direction as the glacier movement Credit: Phil Kor

  12. Erosion: • Other types of features formed by erosion include: (see handouts) • hanging valleys • cirques • waterfalls • U-shaped valleys • horns • aretes

  13. Erosion: Cirques

  14. Deposition: Moraine • Large, long hill where the glacier stopped • (Left) Eagle Finlayson Moraine: the green band from lower right to upper left (left) is probably the longest single moraine ridge in Ontario.Credit: Phil Kor

  15. Deposition: Drumlin • Tear-drop or egg-shaped hill of glacial debris • 4000+ in ON (e.g. between Guelph and Orangeville) • (Left) A drumlin north of Kagami IslandCredit: Phil Kor

  16. Deposition: Esker • Thin, winding ridges that show where streams once flowed through tunnels within the glacier carrying sediments • (Left) Esker in Timmins, OntarioCredit: Phil Kor

  17. Deposition: Erratic • Large boulder carried far from a place and left in a strange location • (Left) A glacial erratic in Lake Superior Provincial ParkCredit: Lake Superior Provincial Park

  18. Deposition: Outwash Plain • Outwash is when a glacier melts and begins to recede, melted water floods the valley below • The area at the leading edge of the glacier is called the outwash plain

  19. Deposition: Kame • Cone-shaped mounds formed when glacial meltwater deposited sediments from above the ground • (Left) A conical kame hill along the Agutua Moraine.Credit: Phil Kor

  20. Lakes: Cirque Lakes • Cirques can fill with water • Glacier Lake (left) is located in Banff National Park in Alberta

  21. Kettle Lakes & Holes • Kettle Lakes are formed when a large chunk of ice breaks off and melts (water can’t drain) • (Left) Craig's Pit: a large kettle hole in the sand at Lake Superior Provincial ParkCredit: Phil Kor

  22. Moraine-dammed Lakes • When a terminal moraine blocks off a valley, the valley fills with water to form a lake • (Left) Great Lakes: Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario

  23. References • Mackie, Gerald L. (2001) Applied Aquatic Ecosystem Concepts. Kendal/Hunt Publishing Company: Dubuque, Iowa. • National Geographic Text. (????) Section 8.3: Glaciers. • Wearing-Wilde, J. et al. (2000) Natural History of Ontario Course Reader and CD-ROM (ZOO*2050DE). University of Guelph: Guelph, Ontario.

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