Rock materials, ranging in size from minute clay particles to large boulders, blanket the land surface in any area which has been invaded by a glacial ice mass. These deposits, known collectively as drift , are made up of crushed and mixed rock fragments picked up by the ice along its path. During the final stages of ice movement and especially upon stagnation and decay of the glacier, the sediments carried by the ice are deposited on the land surface. Final deposition may occur directly from the ice or indirectly when sediments are picked up from the ice by running water and are deposited later as stream or lake deposits.
Block diagrams showing an area undergoing glaciation by a continental ice sheet and the resulting topography and deposits after the ice has melted away.
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Shepps, V.C. (1968). Glacial deposits . In: Geomorphology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31060-6_149
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-31060-6_149
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