Icefall
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icefall
[′īs ‚fȯl] (hydrology)
That portion of a glacier where a sudden steepening of descent causes a chaotic breaking up of the ice. Also known as ice cascade.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Icefall
the section of a glacier that is broken by deep fissures into separate blocks of varying shape and size. Icefalls form on the site of steep declivities in the longitudinal profile of the glacier bed, where there is an increase in the rate of the ice’s movement, resulting in crevasses.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.