Glacier overtopping lateral moraine, Glacier de Tsidjiore Nouve

Location: ~20km WSW of Zermatt, Switzerland

This image shows sediment-rich glacier ice that has overtopped the left lateral moraine of Glacier de Tsidjiore Nouve. As its enclosing ice melts, debris is shed as mud flows (or flow till) down the outer slope of its moraine, adding to the moraine’s height and mass. This is the same process that created the massive lateral moraines around Findelen Gletscher (image 0171) when that glacier achieved maximum development. See Roethlisberger and Schneebeli, (1979) for further discussion.

Updated 04/29/2010 AW