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Above: stream and crevasse on Greenland ice-sheet. Below: British Columbia (Canada), Andalucia (Spain). |
The second reason that it would
be wrong to consider glaciers in isolation from other parts of the environment
is that the same basic geomorphic principals by which we can understand
rivers, volcanoes and other phenomena also apply to glaciers.
For example, streams on glacier surfaces are controlled by forces similar to those that control streams in other environments, and crevasses on glacier surfaces are similar to the tension fractures that affect many other materials that move downhill under the influence of gravity. Compare the tension cracks at the head of the glacier and of the soil-slip in the bottom two photos here. |
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