how do glaciers erode the land?

Question

thank you

Answer 1

Due to the sheer size and weight of glaciers whenever they shift they cause massive friction between themselves and the earth below. As the glacier moves (by moving down an escarpment, expanding, or retracting) the rocks beneath rub against each other and erode.

This activity is similar to when you rub sand-paper along a wooden plank, but on a much larger scale.

Answer 2

How Glaciers Erode

Answer 3

When people think of large ice sheets, they think of ice eroding land. In most cases, this is wrong. Ice has a hardness less than that of most rock minerals--there is no way ice can physically abrade rock. However, rocks (boulders, sand, etc) frozen into the bed of the glacier can act as sandpaper. If the bed of the glacier is resting on bedrock, these materials frozen into the bed will scratch and abrade the underlying bedrock as the glacier slides forward. Often there is a layer of material (rocks, sand, mud, etc) beneath the glacier (called till) that can protect the bedrock from being eroded.

Without going into the difference between cold-based glaciers and warm-based glaciers, another method of erosion which may actually erode land much faster than the above-mentioned mechanism is freeze/thaw. Water melting inside the glacier can penetrate cracks in the rock below the glacier. That water freezes (for whatever reason; seasonal temp swings, seasonal temp swings, changes in pressure, etc), expands, and breaks apart rock.

Answer 4

Okay, think about this. The glaciers are hugh bodies of ice which weigh thousands of tons. And as the move what do the do they erode the land. It just like taking a hugh rock, tying a chain around it, and dragging it with a truck across your lawn. Do you get the picture? I hope this helps.

Answer 5

land eroded is visable everywhere; you will need deep pockets of snow to represent glaciers. When this ice-snow event begins to melt it slides over land where we have placed agricultural and constructed living quarters and entertainment centers. The sliding process draggs or pushes these improvements and depletes land.