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Rick B

Rick B - Oct 2, 2012 3:25 am - Voted 10/10

Learned something new

Thanks!

- Rick

Alex Wood

Alex Wood - Oct 3, 2012 1:18 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Learned something new

Awesome! Thanks for stopping by Rick!

Sarah Simon

Sarah Simon - Oct 2, 2012 8:14 am - Voted 10/10

Great article

Informative and fun read. Thanks for sharing! Sarah

Alex Wood

Alex Wood - Oct 3, 2012 1:19 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Great article

Thanks Sarah. I am sure you see a lot of them in your explorations in Colorado!

Scott

Scott - Oct 2, 2012 9:34 am - Voted 10/10

Good article.

I enjoyed it.

Alex Wood

Alex Wood - Oct 3, 2012 1:19 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Good article.

Thank you Scott!

Marcsoltan

Marcsoltan - Oct 2, 2012 10:06 am - Voted 10/10

It was about time...

for someone to do an article on this subject. Enjoyed reading it and checking out your great diagrams. Thank you Alex.

Alex Wood

Alex Wood - Oct 3, 2012 1:20 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: It was about time...

Yeah I was thinking the same thing. Even on the web there is a lack of information about them. The diagrams took forever, but at least I got an A on the project! Thanks for the comment!

silversummit

silversummit - Oct 2, 2012 8:07 pm - Voted 10/10

Thanks for writing this...

Now I will think about what I am walking through when I hike in the mountains.....

Alex Wood

Alex Wood - Oct 3, 2012 1:21 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Thanks for writing this...

No problem! I am thinking about writing a few more geologic articles. Its cool knowing what you are hiking through. Cheers!

lcarreau

lcarreau - Oct 2, 2012 8:31 pm - Voted 10/10

Awesome article ..

Now I KNOW what I'll be walking through when I hike in the mountains ... especially if there's cattle in the vicinity!

Alex Wood

Alex Wood - Oct 3, 2012 1:22 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: Awesome article ..

Thanks Larry! There is actually a rock glacier or two on the San Francisco Peaks. What do the cattle do?

lcarreau

lcarreau - Oct 3, 2012 2:03 pm - Voted 10/10

Re: Awesome article ..

What ... you had to ask ?

There's "free range" in the Prescott National Forest, and there's
nothing like the aroma of a freshly made COW PIE!

Matt Lemke

Matt Lemke - Oct 3, 2012 3:25 am - Voted 10/10

yay for geology!

Everything seemed very accurate...it's now officially peer reviewed!

Alex Wood

Alex Wood - Oct 3, 2012 1:24 pm - Hasn't voted

Re: yay for geology!

Thanks Matt. Thats good to hear. We don't really study glacial processes here at NAU, but with on of my classes (my junior level writing) I decided to teach myself about the topic

selinunte01

selinunte01 - Oct 14, 2012 11:22 am - Voted 10/10

An interestig read...

... and a nice coincidence as recently I discussed this topic with my co-worker Reinhard (we are both geologists) during a weekend tour on top of Ötztal Alps Geigen ridge. I posted and attached two photos which give a good impression of some of the many many rock glaciers in the Alps.

The first photo shows retreating Sonnenkogel Glacier which nowadays is sort of "overwhelmed" by the amount of talus coming down from the slopes of Sonnenkogel / Puitkogel southeast faces, where the permafrost retreats and constant rock fall can be heared and experienced during summer.
Behind, in the same position and with nearly the same size is Southern Puitkogel Glacier, clearly having "glacier appearance". This glacier is, due to the form and extension of its upper slopes, more "avalanche snow fed" than "talus buried", the latter only covering its rims.
Here we have a region with "dying glaciers" in a height of 3100 m down to 2800 m with the same amount of precipitation throughout the year and with the same exposition (eastsoutheast). So the existing rock glaciers here (and there are many of them along the Geigen Ridge) seem to be a sort of transformation phenomenon and the crucial point of their existence is wether there is more talus supply during summer or more avalanche snow during winter and spring time, the latter keeping the real glacier alive.

Photo 2 shows a beautiful example of a dying rock glacier in the same area, now with western exposition, which tends to be slightly warmer throughout the year, and at a height of 2700 m to 2500 m. We wondered wether there still is an ice core. The head wall shows first signs of plant life so movement seems to have come to a standstill. Behind you can see the huge end moraine of Weißmaurach glacier, dating from around 1890. The glacier has almost disappeared, it had an extension of about 1 km length, 500 m width and it must have had a thickness of about 150 m. A glacier with a volume of about 75.000.000 m³ melts away within 120 years!

Alex Wood

Alex Wood - Oct 22, 2012 2:00 am - Hasn't voted

Re: An interestig read...

That is awesome! Nice photos as well! It is interesting to see those same processes happening on different continents. Thanks for posting them! Feel free to attach them to this article!

BobSmith

BobSmith - Oct 14, 2012 12:56 pm - Voted 10/10

Good stuff!

When I saw your article I was getting ready to send you a photo I took recently of the rock glacier spilling down into Blue Lakes. But I see you specifically use that as a model!

Alex Wood

Alex Wood - Oct 22, 2012 2:01 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Good stuff!

The Blue Lakes Rock Glacier is pretty awesome! I am glad someone else noticed it! Colorado just has a lot of awesome rock glaciers in general. Thanks for the comment!

ktnbs

ktnbs - Oct 14, 2012 5:25 pm - Hasn't voted

fascinating

thanks for the informative read and complimentary photos

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