TOP 10 ALASKAN GLACIER SURPRISES

by Larry O'Hanlon

Glaciers are majestic, powerful, awesome, blah, blah, blah. You already know that speel. Want to find out something less cliche about glaciers for a change? I've been digging around some U.S. Geological Survey publications and found a bunch of glacial surprises in Alaska. Here are my top ten. -Larry O'Hanlon

1. Glaciers are Art Snobs

Eat your heart out Salvadore Dali: You never had a canvas this vast. Glaciers don't even use paint. This freaky masterpiece was created by the competing surges and retreats of two different lobes of the Malaspina Glacier over the years. Every time the icy lobes of the glacier surge forward, they plow up the ground and build these ridges, called moraines. This 1972 picture was taken by airplane and also shows the Samovar Hills in the background.

Credit: Austin Post, U.S. Geological Survey