1.Any of the geologic epochs characterized by an ice age. Thus, the Pleistocene epoch may be termed a "glacial epoch." 2.Generally, an interval of geologic time that was marked by a major equatorward
advance of ice. This has been applied to an entire ice age or (rarely) to the individual glacial "stages" that make up an ice age. The term "epoch" here is not used in the most technical sense of a geologic epoch.
(1) Any of the geological epochs characterised by an ice age. Thus the Pleistocene may be termed a glacial epoch. (2) Generally an interval of geological time which was marked by a major equatorward a
dvance of ice. It applies to an entire ice age or, rarely, to the individual glacial stages which make up an ice age.
A boulder swept from its place of origin by glacier advance or retreat and deposited elsewhere as the glacier melted; after glacial melt, the boulder might be stranded in a field or forest where no ot
her rocks of its type or size exist.
Glacial flour is the fine-grained sediment carried by glacial rivers that results from the abrasion of rock at the glacier bed. Its presence turns lake water aqua blue or brown, depending on its paren
t rock type. Rivers originating beneath glaciers are choked with glacial flour, the silty fine-grained sediment produced by the abrasion of rocks at the glacier bed.
The deformation of the Earth and its gravity field due to the response of the earth-ocean system to changes in ice and associated water loads. It is sometimes referred to as glacio-hydro isostasy. It
includes vertical and horizontal deformations of the Earth's surface and changes in geoid due to the redistribution of mass during the ice-ocean mass exchange.
A change of glacier surface elevation due to vertical motion of the glacier bed under the influence of mass redistribution in the underlying solid Earth. Present-day mass redistribution in the Earth's
interior is dominated by continuing adjustment to the redistribution of surface water at the end of the most recent ice age. Corrections are also required for vertical motions of tectonic origin in some regions, such as the Karakoram.
During a period of glacier recession, back from a terminal moraine, a lake may form. This lake is impounded by an unstable pile of debris and buried ice. Catastrophic failure of the moraine will resul
t in a devastating flood. Usually associated with high mountain regions such as the Andes and Himalaya.