Moraines and Tarns

Moraine is a general term for the accumulation of drift lodged by glacial ice. Often, but not always, moraines take the form of  a ridge. Moraines form in a variety of ways, one of which is the dumping of debris at the terminus of a glacier that was once incorporated in its base. Moraine surface is often hummocky and pocked with depressions where underlying ice has melted, and bouldery. Tarns, like that found in Isabelle cirque, are depressions scoured into the floor and occupied by water.

Figure 6.3 Isabelle Glacier moraine (Photo credit: N.C. Heywood)

Figure 6.4 Isabelle tarn (Photograph: N.C. Heywood)

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| Table of Contents | Stop 1 Lodgepole Pine | Stop 2: Subalpine | Stop 3: Ecotone | Stop 4: Tundra |
| Stop 5: D1 | Stop 6: Isabelle Glacier | Stop 7: Pawnee Cirque | Stop 8: Green Lakes Valley | Wrap - up |

Created by Michael Ritter ( mritter@uwsp.edu ) Last revised June 25, 1997