Tyndall Glacier is a small
cirque glacier
A cirque glacier is formed in a cirque, a bowl-shaped depression on the side of or near mountains. Snow and ice accumulation in corries often occurs as the result of avalanching from higher surrounding slopes.
If a cirque glacier advances far eno ...
in
Rocky Mountain National Park in the U.S. state of
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
.
Tyndall Glacier is on the east side of the
Continental Divide and in a cirque to the north of
Hallett Peak
Hallett Peak is a mountain summit in the northern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The peak is located in the Rocky Mountain National Park Wilderness, southwest by west ( bearing 240°) of the Town of Estes Park, Colorado, ...
. Tyndall Glacier is both an ice and a
rock glacier, with the lower portions of the glacier being composed primarily of rock debris and a small portion of ice.
Tyndall Glacier is named after
John Tyndall, an Irish scientist and Alpine mountaineer who in 1861 first ascended the
Weisshorn
The Weisshorn (German, lit. ''white peak/mountain'') is a major peak of Switzerland and the Alps, culminating at above sea level. It is part of the Pennine Alps and is located between the valleys of Anniviers and Zermatt in the canton of Val ...
and made an early attempt on the
Matterhorn
The (, ; it, Cervino, ; french: Cervin, ; rm, Matterhorn) is a mountain of the Alps, straddling the main watershed and border between Switzerland and Italy. It is a large, near-symmetric pyramidal peak in the extended Monte Rosa area of the ...
prior to its first ascent. In 1861 Tyndall identified
carbon dioxide
Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a chemical compound made up of molecules that each have one carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms. It is found in the gas state at room temperature. In the air, carbon dioxide is trans ...
as a heat-trapping
greenhouse gas; the glacier that bears his name appears to be retreating.
See also
*
List of glaciers in the United States
This is a list of glaciers existing in the United States, currently or in recent centuries. These glaciers are located in nine states, all in the Rocky Mountains or farther west. The southernmost named glacier among them is the Lilliput Glacier ...
References
Glaciers of Rocky Mountain National Park
Landforms of Larimer County, Colorado
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