Misplaced Pages

#94905

17-406: The glacier flows from an extensive icefield which covers the northern flanks of 14,163 feet (4,317 m) Mount Wrangell , a large shield volcano . It heads initially east past other volcanic peaks including Mount Blackburn and Atna Peaks and then turns north to its terminus near 3,000 ft (900 m) elevation, about 15 mi (24 km) south of the old mining settlement of Nabesna at

34-401: A large accumulation of snow which, through years of compression and freezing, turns into ice. Because of the susceptibility of ice to gravity, ice fields usually form over large areas that are basins or atop plateaus, thus allowing a continuum of ice to form over the landscape uninterrupted by glacial channels. Glaciers often form on the edges of ice fields, serving as gravity-propelled drains off

51-799: A mountain valley located in the northern end of the Gobi Desert . There are no ice fields in Australia . New Zealand has Reference: The only large ice fields in mainland Europe are in Norway (e.g., Dovre and Jotunheimen ). There are several dozen small ice fields in the Alps and tiny remnants of permanent ice in Sweden , the Apennines , the Pyrenees and the Balkans . Since

68-465: Is the world's second largest contiguous extrapolar ice field. At about 16,800 square kilometers, it is second only to southeastern Alaska's approximately 25,000 square kilometer Kluane / Wrangell–St. Elias / Glacier Bay / Tatshenshini-Alsek Ice Field . Another notable icefield is Campo de Hielo Norte ( Northern Patagonian Ice Field ), which is located entirely in Chile ; and a third smaller icefield, known as

85-746: The Coast Mountains , Alaska Range , and Chugach Mountains of Alaska , British Columbia , and the Yukon Territory . The 6,500 km Stikine Icecap (located between the Stikine and Taku Rivers ) and the 2,500 km Juneau Icefield (located between Lynn Canal and the Taku River ) both straddle the British Columbian-Alaskan border. Farther north, the Kluane Icecap — which feeds

102-647: The Sargent Icefield and the Harding Icefield . Throughout the Alaska Range there also large icefields (including one surrounding Denali ) which are mostly unnamed. In South America there are three main ice fields. The main ice field, known as Campo de Hielo Sur ( Southern Patagonian Ice Field ) is located at the Southern Patagonic Andes , and it is shared between Chile and Argentina . It

119-761: The Ice Fields of the Darwin Range, which is located on the western ( Chilean ) portion of Tierra del Fuego proper . Veleta (Sierra Nevada) Veleta (from the Arab word "Balata", meaning cliff) or Pico del Veleta is the third highest peak of the Iberian Peninsula and the second highest of the Sierra Nevada . Its height is given variously as 3,394 metres (11,135 ft), 3,396 metres (11,142 ft) and 3,398 metres (11,148 ft). The mountain can be seen from

136-619: The city of Granada . Veleta's northern slopes are home to the Sierra Nevada Ski Station . The access road that takes one to approximately 10 metres below the summit is the highest paved road in Europe across the mountains from Granada to the western Alpujarras . This road was built before the creation of the Sierra Nevada National Park in 1999. It has since been closed to general traffic beyond Hoya de la Mora, just above

153-490: The colder climates and higher altitudes of the world where there is sufficient precipitation for them to form. The higher peaks of the underlying mountain rock that protrude through the icefields are known as nunataks . Ice fields are larger than alpine glaciers, but smaller than ice caps and ice sheets . The topography of ice fields is determined by the shape of the surrounding landforms, while ice caps have their own forms overriding underlying shapes. Ice fields are formed by

170-634: The disappearance of the last remaining ice field in Andalucía , with the disappearance of the Corral del Veleta glacier in 1913, the southernmost surviving permanent ice field in continental Europe is Snezhnika in Bulgaria . Beyond the mainland of continental Europe, there are substantial ice fields in Iceland , Svalbard and Franz-Josef Land and smaller surviving ice fields on Jan Mayen and Novaya Zemlya . One of

187-753: The end of the Nabesna Road . The vast expanse and length of the Nabesna is fed by approximately 40 tributary glaciers. Melting ice at its terminus forms the Nabesna River , which flows northward through Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge and into the Tanana River . The glacier was named for the Nabesna River in 1902 by F. C. Schrader of the U.S. Geological Survey . It provides the normal route of access into

SECTION 10

#1732855398095

204-513: The heart of the eastern Wrangell Mountains, for ski mountaineers , climbers, and scientists. Ski-equipped bush planes can typically land between 6,000 and 7,000 ft (1,800-2,100 m) on the central portion of the glacier when the ice and crevasses are covered by winter snow. The glacier has been undergoing a slow, near-continuous retreat since at least the early 1900s. There is evidence to indicate that this retreat may have been going on even longer than that, as glacial deposits much farther down

221-581: The ice field which is in turn replenished by snowfall. While an ice cap is not constrained by topography, an ice field is. An ice field is also distinguishable from an ice cap because it does not have a dome-like form. There are several ice fields in the Himalayas and Altay Mountains (the border range between the Central Asian Republics and China ). One unexpected ice field is located in Yolyn Am ,

238-713: The immense Malaspina and Hubbard Glaciers as well as the Bagley Icefield — sits upon the British Columbia-Yukon Territory-Alaska border and surrounds most of the Saint Elias Mountains as well as both Mount Saint Elias and Mount Logan ; it extends as far west as the Copper River . There are also large ice fields located in the Kenai Peninsula - Chugach Mountains area, such as

255-592: The more celebrated North American ice fields is the Columbia Icefield located in the Rocky Mountains between Jasper and Banff , Alberta . Easy access by road contributes to the status of this ice field as one of the most visited in North America, although it is actually a comparatively small ice field within the huge and largely ice-free American Cordillera . Many particularly expansive ice fields lie in

272-474: The ski station. However, the road is still used by ski station employees, national park rangers, observatory staff, cyclists and walkers, and by a microbus service which takes hikers up to Posiciones del Veleta, a viewpoint 3,100 metres above sea level. In summer it is a relatively easy walk up to the summit from there. The Corral de la Veleta or Corral del Veleta glacier, at 37° N the southernmost glacier in Europe, disappeared in 1913. The IRAM 30m telescope

289-464: The valley indicate that it may have once been over 200 miles long. This article about a glacier in Alaska is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Icefield An ice field (also spelled icefield ) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in

#94905