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📘 How a glacier moves downhill

Follow glacier flow through deformation, basal sliding, meltwater, and mass balance.

lessons

~10 min

to learn

🔬 Science

subject

Adults

level

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What you’ll learn

Gravity
Deformation
Basal sliding
Velocity profile
Mass balance
Meltwater
Crevasses
Erosion
Terminus
Measurement

Questions this course answers

What drives a glacier downhill?

Gravity makes ice deform and move toward lower elevations.

What is basal sliding?

Basal sliding is motion at the ice-bed interface.

What does a negative mass balance mean?

A negative balance means ablation exceeds accumulation.

Why do crevasses form?

Tensile stress opens fractures in brittle upper ice.

Does a retreating terminus mean the glacier flows backward?

Retreat describes the front’s position, not reversal of ice flow.

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