Moraine

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A moraine is an accumulation of a mixture of material moved by a glacier.[1]

Moraines consist of silt, clay, sand, gravel and rocks, all gathered from different locations the glacier crossed.[1] Different parts of a moraine may consist of different proportions of the basic ingredients.

Terminal moraines form at the greatest extent of a glacier, ploughed up like a snow-plow.[1]

Other moraines form when a glacier starts to melt, released silt, clay, sand, gravel and rocks that had been frozen within.[1] Melting water carries the released material to a lower point on the glaciers surface. And, once the glacier has fully melted away, there is a pile of glacially carried material.

Long Island, a large island off the coast of New York and Connecticut, is a terminal moraine.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 (2006) Principles of sedimentology and stratigraphy, 4th. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. ISBN 0131547283.