Glaciers and Glaciation in Glacier National Park, Montana

Carrara PE. 1993. Glaciers and Glaciation in Glacier National Park, Montana. USGS Open-File Report 93-510. National Park Service. Denver, Colorado

Glacier National Park presently contains only about 50 small glaciers. Many of these glaciers are in remote and inaccessible areas rarely visited by anyone. However, the park is applicably named as the spectacular scenery that surrounds the visitor everywhere is due to the great glaciers that occupied the park and surrounding region until quite recently (geologically speaking, of course). These great glaciers scoured the high areas of the park forming the jagged peaks and sheer walls that we find so breath-taking. In the lower areas of the park these glaciers deposited their great loads of debris damming many of the valleys and forming the beautiful large lakes that the park is noted for. This pamphlet will provide you with information about the glacial history of Glacier National Park, features of glacial erosion and deposition in the park that you can see first hand, and some general information on glaciers and ice ages.

Type
Published Report
Authors
Carrara, Paul
Date of Issue
1993
Publisher
National Park Service
Units
CRCO , GLAC , HIST
Keywords
Glaciation, Glacier, Glacier National Park, Glaciers, Montana

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