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Esker

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

Straight-to-sinuous ridge composed of sand/gravel, deposited in a confined glacial meltwater drainage channel.

Category

A type of straight-to-sinuous ridge (Linear ridge types (various origins)).

Proposed origin of some of the inverted channels and sinuous ridges on Mars.

Description

Winding, steep sided, narrow, sharp- to broad-crested ridges of cross-stratified and massive sand, gravel, and boulders. May be mistaken for other slightly sinuous or Linear ridge types (various origins). In planform, eskers can be sinuous, anastomosing, and/or discontinuous. Isolated, closed depressions (kettles), commonly water filled, may flank or be part of broader esker ridges.

Esker Patterns

Eskers may occur in isolation or form networks that branch upflow in either subparallel or dendritic patterns (Brennand 2000) with up to fourth-order tributaries (Shilts et al. 1987). Esker systems may be composed of (in increasing order of scale) anastomosing eskers, short sub-parallel esker systems,...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Earth and Space Physics, Department of Physics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland

    Jarmo Korteniemi

  2. Geological Survey of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

    Hazen A. J. Russell & David R. Sharpe

  3. School of Geography, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK

    Robert D. Storrar

Authors
  1. Jarmo Korteniemi
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  2. Hazen A. J. Russell
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  3. David R. Sharpe
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  4. Robert D. Storrar
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jarmo Korteniemi .

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Korteniemi, J., Russell, H.A.J., Sharpe, D.R., Storrar, R.D. (2014). Esker. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_141-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_141-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Earth and Environm. ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences

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