Piedmont glaciers form where valley glaciers exit from the mountains and meet flat ground. There they spread out in a fan or lobe shape. Piedmont glaciers commonly are a merger of several valley glaciers. Glaciers of this kind are especially common in Alaska. The lower portion of this glacier is almost flat and covered with so much soil and rock debris that it supports a thick forest. The Malaspina Glacier in Alaska is one of the most famous examples of this type of glacier. It is the largest piedmont glacier in the world.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Arora, M. (2011). Piedmont Glaciers. In: Singh, V.P., Singh, P., Haritashya, U.K. (eds) Encyclopedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2642-2_407
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2642-2_407
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-2641-5
Online ISBN: 978-90-481-2642-2
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Earth and Environmental Sciences