Glaciers Galore!

Buenas Dias!

Nathan and I have been visiting a lot of glaciers lately in Parque Nacional de Los Glaciares, or Glaciers National Park, and Ms. Beth is in heaven! Glaciers are one of my favorite landforms and they are so interesting and beautiful. A glacier (spelled glaciar en espanol) is a very large mass of ice that can actually flow and move much like a river. They move VERY slowly though so you can´t actually see them move.

Here in the South Patagonian Ice Field we have been able to see lots of glaciers. We spent four days backpacking in the park and hiked to see many glaciers. This first picture is of the Glaciar Torre, and the second is the Glaciar Piedras Blancas.


Do you notice the brown lines running through the sides and middle of the glaciers? As the glacier moves, it breaks up and pulverizes the rock it moves over and this sediment gets mixed into the ice. Also, you might notice that in each picture, at the bottom of the glaciers, you see water. These are the glacial lakes that form as the ice melts in the warmer months. This melted water fills the valleys that the glaciers have carved out and forms lagos, or lakes.

This next glacier is one of the most famous in the world because it is one of the few advancing ice sheets, which means it is actually growing and moving forward. It is called the Perito Moreno and thousands of people visit it every year. While we stood in front of the glacier we could see huge pieces of ice calve off the front and fall into the lake below. First you hear a really loud craaaaack and when the piece falls it makes a huge splash and lots of waves! So cool!!

In a few days we will visit another park in Chile where we hope to see lots more glaciers and beautiful mountains too!