Ice contact face of the left lateral moraine of Findelen Gletscher

Location: Near the Matterhorn and Zermatt, Switzerland 45° 59’ N, 7° 44’ 47” E

Lateral moraines built up by repeated advances and retreats of Findelen Gletscher. The ice-contact face of the glacier’s left lateral moraine is in the distance. This moraine is composed of debris eroded from miceceous schists (schistes lustres) on the south side of the valley. The ice contact face of the right lateral moraine (images 0128 and 0140) is much more vertical and not cut by the type of rills seen in this face because debris deposited by the north part of the glacier was derived from peridotites and other lithologies of ophiolitic affinity, giving it distinctly different physical and chemical properties. A complete discussion of these moraines and their history of formation can be found in: in ‘Roethlisberger, Freidrich and Schneebeli, Walter; 1979, Genesis of lateral moraine complexes, demonstrated by fossil soils and trunks; indicators of post glacial climatic fluctuations: in Moraines and Varves, Ch. Schlüchter, editor, p.387-419, A.A. Balkema, Rotterdam.’ See image 0171 for general view of the lateral moraines flanking Findelen Gletcher.

Updated 04/27/2010 AW