Question

If the budget of a valley glacier were balanced for an extended time span, what feature would you expect to find at the terminus of the glacier? Is it composed of till or stratified drift? Now assume that the glacier’s budget changes so that wastage exceeds accumulation. How would the terminus of the glacier change? Describe the deposit you would expect to form under these conditions.

Answer 1

Answer:

Explanation:

The budget of a boundary is determined by snowline. The boundary between a snow patched surface and a snow free surface is known as the snow line.

The snow falling is been divided by the snowline into two categories:Zone of accumulation and zone of wastage.

Where the snow accumulation, ice formation occur is known as zone of accumulation. The glacier thickens more upon the addition of snow,and it moves down the whole mass of snow.

Zone of wastage occurs when glaciers melt, glaciers breakdown to cross the  snowline.

A balance between the ice accumulated in the zone of accumulation and the zone of wastage is known as glacier budget. A balance in the glacier budget leads to an extension in the glacier margin to the zone of accumulation and the terminus of a glacier becomes stationary.

In a case where the glacier budget has more wastage than accumulation, the ice-font retreats. When there is an increase in the trend of warming, there will also be an increase in the zone of wastage. The decrease in snow fall decreases the zone of accumulation, thus causing the ice-font to retreat.

The extent zone of wastage decreases upon the termination of retreat in the glacier. Thus a new balance will be achieved in time between the wastage and accumulation, and the ice-font becomes stationary.

The ice present in the glacier keeps moving forward, regardless of whether the ice front is stationary, or moving either forward or backward.

In the diminishing glacier base, the ice keeps flowing forward, and not at a greater speed to attain wastage.