Glacial Lake MissoulaLake Missoula was a prehistoric proglacial lake in western Montana that existed periodically at the end of the last ice age between 15,000 and 13,000 years ago. The lake measured about 3,000 square miles (7,770 km) and contained about 500 cubic miles (2,100 km) of water, half the volume of Lake Michigan.
Glacial lake outburst floodA glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a type of outburst flood caused by the failure of a dam containing a glacial lake. An event similar to a GLOF, where a body of water contained by a glacier melts or overflows the glacier, is called a jökulhlaup. The dam can consist of glacier ice or a terminal moraine.
Missoula floodsThe Missoula floods (also known as the Spokane floods, the Bretz floods, or Bretz's floods) were a series of cataclysmic glacial lake outburst floods that swept periodically across the area that would become eastern Washington, northern Idaho and northern Oregon, and down the Columbia River Gorge at the end of the last ice age. These floods were the result of periodic sudden ruptures of the ice dam on the Clark Fork River that created Glacial Lake Missoula.
Cordillera BlancaThe Cordillera Blanca (Spanish for "white range") is a mountain range in Peru that is part of the larger Andes range and extends for 200 kilometres (124 mi) between 8°08' and 9°58'S and 77°00' and 77°52'W, in a northwesterly direction. It includes several peaks over 6,000 metres (19,690 ft) high and 722 individual glaciers. The highest mountain in Peru, Huascarán, at 6,768 metres (22,205 ft) high, is located there.
Last Glacial PeriodThe Last Glacial Period (LGP), also known as the last glacial cycle, occurred from the end of the Last Interglacial to the beginning of the Holocene, from around 115,000–11,700 years ago, and thus corresponds to most of the timespan of the Late Pleistocene. It thus formed the most recent period of what is colloquially known as the "Ice Age".
GlacierPersistent body of ice that moves downhill under its own weightGlacier of the Geikie Plateau in GreenlandThe Taschachferner in the Ötztal Alps in Austria. The mountain to the left is the Wildspitze (3,768 m), the second highest in AustriaThe Baltoro Glacier in Pakistan. It is 62 kilometres (39 mi) long, the fifth longest alpine glacier in the world.A glacier (US: ; UK: or ) is a persistent body of natural ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving under its own weight.
Ice sheetLarge mass of glacial iceOne of Earth's two ice sheets: The Antarctic ice sheet covers about 98% of the Antarcticcontinent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth. It has an average thickness of over 2 kilometers.In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacialice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km (19,000 sq mi). The two current ice sheets are the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet.
MoraineA 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 sheet.
AndesMountain range in South AmericaThe Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (Spanish: Cordillera de los Andes; Quechua: Anti) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is 8,900 kilometres (5,500 mi) long and 200 to 700 kilometres (120 to 430 mi) wide (widest between 18°S and 20°Slatitude) and has an average height of about 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).
Isostatic depressionIsostatic depression is the sinking of large parts of the Earth's crust into the asthenosphere caused by a heavy weight placed on the Earth's surface, often glacial ice during continental glaciation. Isostatic depression and isostatic rebound occur at rates of centimeters per year. Greenland is an example of an isostatically depressed region.
GreenlandAutonomous territory of DenmarkAutonomous territory in the Kingdom of DenmarkGreenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark and is the largest of the kingdom's three constituent parts by land area, the others being Denmark proper and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenland are citizens of Denmark. They are thus citizens of the European Union (EU), although Greenland is not part of the EU.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.