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Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms pp 1811–1828Cite as

Rock Glacier and Debris-Covered Glacier

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Note

There is no consensus among different schools on what the definition should be based on: morphology or origin.

Category

A type of periglacial, glacial, or permafrost landform.

Morphological Definition and Terminology

  1. (1)

    A rock glacier is “a slow-moving accumulation of (angular) rock debris, usually with a distinct ridge/furrow pattern and steep front and side slopes, whose length is generally greater than its width (tongue-shaped) existing on a mountain valley floor” (van Everdingen 1998).

  2. (2)

    A debris-covered glacier is a glacier, partly or wholly covered by weathered debris in its terminal (snout) area. The term may refer to a long, active glacier or to an area of ice slowly down-wasting under a debris cover. These may be sometimes associated with rock glaciers.

Morphological definition of rock glaciers is preferred by supporters of glacial formation model (e.g., Potter 1972) because the “permafrost model” assumes that the presence of permafrost, not explicit in imagery,...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geography, Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, Canada

    W. Brian Whalley

  2. Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Norikazu Matsuoka

  3. Department of Physical Geography, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary

    András Sik

  4. Konkoly Thege Miklos Astronomical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

    Ákos Kereszturi

  5. NASA Ames Research Center/NPP, MS 239-20, Moffett Field, CA, 94035, USA

    Henrik Hargitai

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  1. W. Brian Whalley
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  2. Norikazu Matsuoka
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  3. András Sik
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  4. Ákos Kereszturi
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  5. Henrik Hargitai
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Correspondence to W. Brian Whalley .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Ames Research Center/NPP, Moffett Field, CA, USA

    Henrik Hargitai

  2. Konkoly Thege Miklos Astronomical Institute, Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

    Ákos Kereszturi

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Whalley, W.B., Matsuoka, N., Sik, A., Kereszturi, Á., Hargitai, H. (2015). Rock Glacier and Debris-Covered Glacier. In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_320

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