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Concept
Moraine
Summary
A moraine is any accumulation of unconsolidated debris (regolith and rock), sometimes referred to as glacial till, that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions, and that has been previously carried along by a glacier or ice sheet. It may consist of partly rounded particles ranging in size from boulders (in which case it is often referred to as boulder clay) down to gravel and sand, in a groundmass of finely-divided clayey material sometimes called glacial flour. Lateral moraines are those formed at the side of the ice flow, and terminal moraines were formed at the foot, marking the maximum advance of the glacier. Other types of moraine include ground moraines (till-covered areas forming sheets on flat or irregular topography) and medial moraines (moraines formed where two glaciers meet).
The word moraine is borrowed from French moraine mɔ.ʁɛn, which in turn is derived from the Savoyard Italian morena ("mound of earth"). Morena in this case was derived from Provençal morre ("snout"), itself from Vulgar Latin *murrum "rounded object". The term was introduced into geology by Horace Bénédict de Saussure in 1779.
Moraines are landforms composed of glacial till deposited primarily by glacial ice. Glacial till, in turn, is unstratified and unsorted debris ranging in size from silt-sized glacial flour to large boulders. The individual rock fragments are typically sub-angular to rounded in shape. Moraines may be found on the glacier's surface or deposited as piles or sheets of debris where the glacier has melted.
Moraines may form through a number of processes, depending on the characteristics of sediment, the dynamics on the ice, and the location on the glacier in which the moraine is formed. Moraine forming processes may be loosely divided into passive and active.
Passive processes involve the placing of chaotic supraglacial sediments onto the landscape with limited reworking, typically forming hummocky moraines. These moraines are composed of supraglacial sediments from the ice surface.
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