A deposit formed by a subglacial stream near the terminal margin of a melting
glacier. Streams flowing down mountain sides
onto glaciers deposit sand and gravel at the point where the stream first
reaches the ice, or where the water goes down into a crevasse. The accumulation
of sand and gravel gradually fall down to the valley floor as the ice melts.
|North-looking oblique aerial photograph of a complex
sediment mass deposited by the retreating Malaspina Glacier in Malaspina
Lake. Included are meandering eskers, linear crevasse fills and a
massive ice cored kame. Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park, Chugach
Mountains, Alaska. Photo credit: USGS
Kames are generally small features, 20–30m (65–100ft) in length
or breadth. Shapes include hills, mounds, knobs, hummocks, or ridges.
AND PLANETARY SCIENCE