Glacial_Paternoster_Lakes_in_Mull_in_Scotland

A paternoster lake is one of a series of

glacial lake A glacial lake is a body of water with origins from glacier activity. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land and then melts, filling the depression created by the glacier. Formation Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10, ...

s connected by a single

stream A stream is a continuous body of surface water flowing within the bed and banks of a channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to by a variety of local or regional names. Long large streams ...

or a braided stream system. The name comes from the word ''Paternoster'', another name for the

Lord's Prayer The Lord's Prayer, also called the Our Father or Pater Noster, is a central Christian prayer which Jesus taught as the way to pray. Two versions of this prayer are recorded in the gospels: a longer form within the Sermon on the Mount in the Gosp ...

derived from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

words for the prayer's opening words, "Our Father"; Paternoster lakes are so called because of their resemblance to

rosary The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or ...

beads, with alternating

prayer beads Prayer beads are a form of beadwork used to count the repetitions of prayers, chants, or mantras by members of various religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Umbanda, Islam, Sikhism, the Baháʼí Faith, and some Christian denom ...

connected by a string or fine chain. Paternoster lakes occur in

alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams ove ...

s, climbing one after the other to the valley's head, called a corrie, which often contains a

cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landf ...

lake. Paternoster lakes are created by recessional

moraines A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris ( regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice she ...

, or rock dams, that are formed by the advance and subsequent upstream retreat and melting of the ice.Christopherson, R. W., 2002, ''Geosystems (Fourth Edition)'': Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, Prentice Hall. The local variation in rock types can also be a factor in creating these lakes. A glacier encountering weaker rocks at its base, will be able to erode deeper than when it experiences harder, less erodible rocks. As the glacier melts, lakes form where weaker rock was excavated. Excellent examples of this occur in

California's California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada () is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primar ...

, where many stream courses above 3000 m in elevation contain paternoster lakes. Glacier National park provides another example of paternoster lakes. Five lakes in a row; Lake Sherburne, Swiftcurrent Lake, Lake Josephine, Grinnell Lake, and Upper Grinnell Lake all form a nice "rosary" that has produced some spectacular photographs. The U shape of the valley confirms that it was formed by a glacier long ago, as opposed to a V shaped valley cut by a river. More good examples of paternoster lakes can be found in Waterton Lakes National Park, Canada. The three Carthew lakes are in a hanging cirque, reflecting their glacial origins, with Anderson Lake lower in elevation but still clearly part of this paternoster lake procession. Another good example can be found in Yoho National Park, Canada. Lake OHara, Lake Oesa, and the large pools in the stream that connect the two give a total of five stair-stepped lakes/ponds. The presence of a rock glacier in the area points strongly to the glacial origins of this chain of lakes.

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