Glacier Mill (Noun)
Meaning
A chute through which supraglacial water enters a glacier, boring either to the bedrock or to the depth of common crevasse formation; "the icy river plunged, roaring, into the moulin's blue depths".
Classification
Nouns denoting man-made objects.
Examples
- A moulin is essentially a vertical shaft that forms when meltwater from the surface of the glacier reaches a crack in the ice and plunges downward into a glacier mill.
- Glaciers in temperate zones like those found in Iceland, Alaska, and Patagonia typically have moulins, also known as glacier mills, due to heavy snowmelt during warmer months.
- These deep shafts known as moulins or glacier mills act as the conduits that facilitate this subglacial discharge and enable meltwater to eventually reemerge as freshwater sources downstream.
- This waterfall fell from a lake at the glacier's edge, into a moulin or glacier mill that disappeared deep within the glacial mass, finally surfacing in the lagoon as meltwater that eventually mixed with saltwater from the ocean.
- While traversing this temperate glacier we stumbled upon several glacial lakes, meltwater rivers, crevasses, seracs, and ice tunnels feeding glacier mills, collectively presenting breathtaking displays of dynamic glacial scenery.