Small boulders melted out of glacier ice and resting on larger boulder

Location: Stagnation Glacier, Bylot Island, Nunavut, Canada

Small, naturally perched boulders on top of a recently exposed, larger boulder at the forefront of Stagnation Glacier (46201, B28). As this glacier retreats 25 meters or more per year, it melts down, and debris distributed vertically through the glacier is deposited in the same sequence it was originally arranged. That is, the large boulder was located near the base of the glacier, and the smaller boulders were distributed at various levels through the ice. Patches of diamicton can be preserved on top of recently exposed boulders but wash away after a few years.

Updated 03/29/2010 AW