You are viewing a free preview of this lesson.
Subscribe to unlock all 10 lessons in this course and every other course on LearningBro.
Meltwater is one of the most powerful agents of erosion, transport, and deposition in glacial environments. The landforms created by glacial meltwater — collectively called fluvioglacial (or glaciofluvial) landforms — are fundamentally different from those produced by direct ice action. Understanding these differences is a key requirement of the AQA A-Level specification.
Meltwater originates from:
Glacial meltwater has distinctive properties:
| Property | Description |
|---|---|
| Discharge | Highly variable — peak flow in summer, minimal in winter; diurnal variation linked to daytime temperatures |
| Sediment load | Very high — meltwater carries enormous volumes of fine sediment (rock flour), giving it a characteristic milky blue-grey colour |
| Energy | High — meltwater often flows under hydrostatic pressure beneath the glacier, giving it considerable erosive power |
| Temperature | Near 0°C year-round |
Subscribe to continue reading
Get full access to this lesson and all 10 lessons in this course.