Types of Glacier

Glaciers can be classified according to their size and shape.

The main types are: Corrie glacier (also called a cirque glaciers or a cwm) – these occupy small hollows mainly on the sheltered north-facing slopes of mountains

Valley glacier – these are linear masses of ice which move along pre-existing river valleys in the mountains

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Piedmont glacier – these form when valley glaciers spread out on to low-lying areas and merge to form a single ice mass.

The Malaspina Glacier, Alaska is a classic example of a piedmont glacier lying along the foot of a mountain range.

The main source of ice for the glacier is provided by the Seward Ice Field to the north which flows through three narrow outlets onto the coastal plain.

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Ice caps or ice sheets are these are extremely large ice masses which cover whole mountain ranges or even whole continents e.g. Antarctica.

Vatnajokull is Iceland's largest ice cap. It covers an area of 8,100 km² and is up to 1000 metres thick.

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