A meltwater channel (or sometimes a glacial meltwater channel) is a channel cut into ice, bedrock or unconsolidated deposits by the flow of water derived from the melting of a glacier or ice-sheet.[1] The channel may form on the surface of, within, beneath, along the margins of or downstream from the ice mass. Accordingly it would be referred to as supraglacial, englacial, subglacial, lateral (or ice-marginal) or proglacial.
Different forms of subglacial channel are described in glaciological literature including Nye or N-channels, Röthlisberger or R-channels and Hooke or H-channels.[2] Tunnel valley is a related term descriptive of subglacial channels. Some examples of tunnel valleys in northwest England have also been described as iceways.[3]
The depositional landforms known as kames and eskers may often be found in association with meltwater channels.
An urstromtal is a proglacial or ice-marginal channel common in Germany and Poland formed during various of the Pleistocene glaciations which gave rise to the substantial Scandinavian ice sheet. A spillway is a term sometimes used for a channel carved by water overflowing from, for example, a proglacial lake. Examples of major glacial lake outbursts creating spillways along the southern margins of the Laurentide icesheet in North America are documented.[4]
Meltwater channels associated with glaciation have also been identified on Mars.[5]
^"Meltwater channel".
^Walder, J S. 2010. Röthlisberger channel theory: its origins and consequences, US Geological Survey, Cascades Volcano Observatory, https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/39BCA503939401F57BB79A5B0044528D/S0022143000213282a.pdf/rothlisberger_channel_theory_its_origins_and_consequences.pdf.
^R K Gresswell, 1964 Origins of the Dee and Mersey Estuaries
^"Catastrophic glacial-lake outburst spillways: Form and process relationships".
A meltwaterchannel (or sometimes a glacial meltwaterchannel) is a channel cut into ice, bedrock or unconsolidated deposits by the flow of water derived...
A subglacial meltwaterchannel is a channel beneath an ice mass, such as ice sheets and valley glaciers, roughly parallel to the main ice flow direction...
The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern...
basal channel is a type of subglacial meltwaterchannel that forms on the underside of floating ice shelves connected to ice sheets. Basal channels are...
meltwater flow is common to all theories; hence a key to understanding channel formation is an understanding of subglacial meltwater flow. Meltwater may...
was also initiated by meltwater. Sediment-filled valleys are recorded from the Telford area, one of which, the Lightmoor Channel, runs southeast from Madeley...
talus. However, in 1994 the rocks parted, revealing a crevasse or meltwaterchannel in the buried ice. One witness described it as being "40 feet [12 m]...
pyramid-shaped pile of pillow lava that comprises Tennena Cone. A meltwaterchannel thawed from the base of the cone provided the pathway for a thin lava...
of the Hudson River) rises near Lake Ontario and runs in a glacial meltwaterchannel just north of the Catskill range of the Appalachian Mountains, separating...
northwesterly extending Glogau-Baruther Urstromtal, an ancient ice-parallel meltwaterchannel, toward which the park slopes steeply downward. Lower Saale Valley...
the highest elevation in the region. The Buschgraben is a glacial meltwaterchannel, located on the southwest border of Berlin, stretching in a north–south...
ice age, at the edge of the Scandinavian ice sheet and was formed by meltwaters that flowed more or less parallel to the ice margin. Urstromtäler are...
are cut by numerous geological faults. Cwm Gwaun is a major glacial meltwaterchannel which divides the northern tops such as Mynydd Carningli from the...
snow bridges. Below the equilibrium line, glacial meltwater is concentrated in stream channels. Meltwater can pool in proglacial lakes on top of a glacier...
supraglacial stream channels. The meltwater then flows through various different streams either entering inside the glacier into englacial channels or under the...
north towards the community of South Fork where it follows a glacial meltwaterchannel that was formed during the last ice age. The river continues in a...
channel formed by the Missouri River and glacial meltwater pouring from Glacial Lake Great Falls. It is one of the most famous prehistoric meltwater channels...
lies in the Teufelssee-Pechsee-Barssee channel, a glacial meltwaterchannel. All of the lakes in the channel with no outflow were created by dead ice...
which defines the western edge of the Howgills is a major glacial meltwaterchannel. The Howgill Fells in Cumbria www.visitcumbria.com Name Origin Research...
granite which occurs in the area of Whiteadder Reservoir. Glacial meltwaterchannels are common along the northern and eastern margins of the hills, with...
constituent of many of the igneous rocks. The Shonkin Sag, a glacial meltwaterchannel, borders the Highwood Mountains to the north. A dense stream network...
Subglacial streams are conduits of glacial meltwater that flow at the base of glaciers and ice caps. Meltwater from the glacial surface travels downward...
generally collects into a river through surface runoff from precipitation, meltwater released from natural ice and snowpacks, and other underground sources...
ranges of the ridge is known as the Beeston Gap. It was formed by a meltwaterchannel at the end of the Ice age. The crag, just like the neighbouring Peckforton...
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