Right lateral moraine of a temperate glacier, Findelen Gletscher, Switzerland

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

This is the right lateral moraine of Fendelen Gletscher, which can be seen on the right side of the image as the glacier appeared in 1978. In contrast to its more subdued left lateral moraine (image 0125) which is composed of miceceous deris eroded from mica schists, the ice-contact face of this moraine, composed of dense, finer-grained debris derived by glacial erosion of various lithologies of ophiolitic affinity, has a near vertical slope and shows limited evidence of post-exposure slumping. When the Findelen Gletscher expanded to overtop this moraine during the Little Ice Age, it shed debris down the outer slope of the moraine, building it up as it has done several times in the last 10,000 years. Image 0171 gives a more distant view of the outer face of this moraine. See also image 0140 for a close view of a soil buried by sediment that flowed off the glacier, down the outer slope during the last glacier expansion in the mid-19th century. The chemical composition of the right lateral moraine contrasts strongly with that of the left lateral moraine in that it is significantly enriched in Nickel, Cobalt, Chromium and other components typically enriched in its ophiolitic source rocks (Shilts, W.W., 1995, Geochemical Partitioning in Till; in Bobrowsky, P. T., Sibbick, S.J., Newell, J.M., and Matysek, P. F., editors, Drift Exploration in the Canadian Cordillera; British Columbia Geological Survey Branch, Paper 1995-2, p.150.),

Updated 04/29/2010 AW