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Glacial Clast

Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

A pebble to boulder-sized particle transported, modified, and deposited by glacial ice.

Synonyms

Till clast

A type of glacial deposit

Description

Glacial clasts are typically subangular to subrounded, exhibit asymmetrical wear patterns, and often have characteristic polished and faceted faces with abundant striae oriented parallel to the long axis of the clast (Benn and Evans 2010).

Subtypes

Subglacial, englacial.

Morphometry

Clasts can range from pebble (4–8 mm) to boulder (>256 mm) size and can be of varying lithologies. They can exhibit a variety of shapes but are characteristically subangular to subrounded, and clasts exhibiting bullet, pentagonal, and/or stoss and lee forms are considered especially diagnostic (Boulton 1978; Sharp 1982; Krüger 1984; Eyles 1993; Benn and Evans 2010). Clast shape and roundness can be visualized using RA-C40 plots developed by Benn and Ballantyne (1994), systematized using TRI-PLOT by Graham and Midgley (2000) and used by Atkins (2003) to...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Studies, Green Mountain College, Poultney, VT, USA

    John G. Van Hoesen

Authors
  1. John G. Van Hoesen
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Correspondence to John G. Van Hoesen .

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Van Hoesen, J.G. (2014). Glacial Clast. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_182-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_182-1

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  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Glacial Clast
    Published:
    30 September 2022

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_182-2

  2. Original

    Glacial Clast
    Published:
    25 April 2014

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_182-1

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