What is the largest glaciation called? Where are the largest ice sheets located? Vatnajokull Glacier, Iceland

peninsula of Africa. 3) Strait,
separating Africa from the larger
mainland island. 4) Cape, the most
western point of Africa. 5) The most
large bay in western Africa. 6)
The canal separating Africa from Eurasia.
7) Strait separating
Africa from Eurasia. 8) Sea washing
north of Africa. 8) Cape, southernmost
point of Africa. 9) The most large island
at eastern shores Africa. 10) Sea,
washing the northeastern shores
Africa.

Determine which country of the South American continent we are talking about. The Country of Ancient Civilizations, the “archaeological museum” of South America. One of

"fish" powers of the world. The country has the largest alpine lake in the world. According to natural conditions, it is divided into 3 parts: Costa, Sierra, Selva. The country has huge reserves of copper. The country is home to the Quechua and Aymara Indian peoples. Two official languages: Spanish and Quechua.

It is necessary to enter the republics and the missing ones (numbers, names)

1. The region is located in the southern part of Altai; on its territory is highest peak Siberia - mountain _____. The unusually picturesque landscapes of this region with the most beautiful lake _____ are classified as world objects natural heritage. (____).
2. The region is located in the south of the West Siberian Plain. From the confluence of the rivers ___ and ____, the largest river in Western Siberia, ____, originates here. This is the breadbasket of the entire region. The production of tractors, agricultural machinery, and carriages has been developed. The lakes of the Kulundinskaya steppe contain significant reserves of salts: table salt and Glauber salt (mirabilite). (____).
3. The largest coal mining basin is located here, and iron and polymetallic ores are also mined. Enterprises of the Siberian metallurgical base are concentrated in the region. In the south, in Mountain Shoria, a small Turkic-speaking people live ___. (___).
4. The center of the region is the easternmost millionaire city in Russia, the largest in Siberia science Center. This is an important agricultural region of Siberia. The only hydroelectric power station in the region was built on the ____ river. Here is the largest endorheic, slightly saline lake in Western Siberia ___. (___).
5. Various landscapes are common in the region: from taiga to steppe. The center of the region - a millionaire city - is located on the largest tributary of the Ob - the ___ River. Mechanical engineering, petrochemistry and oil refining are developed. This is a large agricultural region. (___).
6. On the territory of the region there is the world's largest ____ swamp. The regional center is located on the river of the same name, a tributary of the Ob. The famous economic geographer N.N. Baransky was born here. The largest timber processing complex is located in the region. (___).
7. The largest region in the country by area, which includes two autonomous districts, where the main centers of oil and gas production are located. Main city- the first Russian city in Siberia. (___).
8. The largest autonomous district in the country in terms of population and number of large cities. This is the oil center of Siberia and all of Russia. The largest oil field is located here - ___. Two thirds of the district's territory is occupied by swamps. The forestry and fishing industries, fur trade, and woodworking are developed. (___).
9. More than 90% of Russian gas is produced here and the world's largest gas fields are located: ____ and ____. Most of the territory is tundra and forest-tundra. The main city was called Obdorsk until 1933; this is one of the basic centers for the development of northern Siberia. (___).

1)Which language family do most of the peoples of Europe belong to? 2) What type of reproduction does Europe belong to? 3)The capital of Poland?

4) What is the level of urbanization Foreign Europe?

5) The only colonial possession in political map peace?

6)Where is Europe's largest natural gas field located?

7) High natural population growth in Europe is characterized only by...?

8)The second most important branch of specialization in Europe?

9) The undisputed trendsetter is...?

10) the first place in Europe in the production of woolen fabrics is...?

11)The largest universal port in the world?

12)Which country does the Volvo car brand belong to?

13) The largest and most modern of the metallurgical plants built in sea ​​ports, located...?

Vatnajökull Vatnajökull is the largest ice cap in Iceland, covering 8% of the island. The Vatnajökull glacier is located in southwest Iceland and is popular place for walking tours of glaciers and ice caves.

Interesting facts about the Vatanjökull glacier

  • Surface: 8,100 km2
  • Average thickness: 400 - 600 m
  • Maximum thickness: 1000 m
  • Altitude: 1400 - 1800 m
  • Highest peak: 2,200 m (Hvannadalshnjúkur)

Information about Vatanjökull glacier Vatnajökull

The Vatnajökull Glacier lies within the larger Vatnájökull National Park, which covers the former national parks of Skaftafell, in the southwest, and Jökulsárgljúfur, in the north. The highest point of the Vatnajökull glacier is Hvannadalsnjökull, which lies on top of a stratovolcano known as Öræfajökull.

Beneath the glacier are some of the most active volcanoes in the country, the most notable of which are Grímsvötn, Öræfajökull and Bárðabunga. Volcanic activity in the region has occurred for centuries, and many geologists believe that this will continue in the near future. If their calculations are correct, this means significant volcanic activity for Vatnajökull over the next half century.

The glacier boasts more than 30 glacier tongues that flow from the ice caps but remain confined to the sides of the valley. The main tongues of the Vatnajökull glacier are Dingujökull in the north, Breidramerkurhökull and Skiarrajökull in the south. In the west the languages ​​Síðujökull, Skaftárjökull and Tungnaárjökull can be found.

Glaciers are in constant motion under the weight of the ice. Every year, due to the melting and movement of ice, new ice caves appear, which soon disappear.

Ice caves in Vatnajökull

Anyone who has seen photographs of ice caves knows that it is worth seeing. Since Vatnajökull is the largest glacier in Europe, it is one of the best places to see this natural wonder - ice caves. Every year, visitors get the chance to see a natural ice cave in Vatnajökull National Park.

Ice caves only form in winter, when glacial rivers disappear and the water freezes. Their locations, shapes and sizes are constantly changing, making them a distinctive and unique spectacle.

If you are planning to try your luck and see an ice cave in Iceland, please do so under professional guidance - the weather and circumstances can pose a big risk!

Vatnajokull Glacier Tours

There are many companies running tours to the Vatnajökull Glacier, many of them departing from the visitor center national park Skaftafell.

Glaciers play an important role in replenishing all the world's rivers. 16 million sq. km is their total area, this is about 11% of the entire landmass. They contain huge reserves fresh water. There are a huge number of them in Russia, with an area of ​​about 60 thousand square meters. km. Glaciers in Russia are divided into two types, according to the method of their formation:

  • Integumentary. This is the vast majority of all glacial systems in the country. These include the ice of Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and other Arctic islands. The average thickness on the islands in the Arctic Ocean is from 100 to 300 meters. They store huge reserves of fresh water.
  • Mountain glaciers of Russia. Their share in the total area is only 5%. These are glacial accumulations of the mountain ranges of the Caucasus, Urals, and Kamchatka. For their formation, two conditions must be met: negative air and precipitation temperatures. Often, if it rains frequently in the mountains, it is accompanied by warm weather.

Variety of glaciers

There are many classifications of glaciers, including mountain ones. What varieties of them can be found in our country?

  • Snow spots. Snow accumulation in gentle valleys and slopes.
  • Glaciers of step-like slopes. The snow mass collects at the shady foot of the mountain and is fed by avalanches.
  • Hanging glaciers. They are located on steep slopes, as if hanging over it. They are small in size, but pose a danger as they can fall down.
  • Tar glaciers. Snow masses in armchair-shaped valleys, with a steep back wall.
  • Glaciers of volcanic peaks. They occupy the tops of mountains.
  • Subsurface glaciers. They have a common beginning - the top of the ridge, but the rates are in the opposite directions from it.
  • Norwegian type. This type of glaciers is transitional from mountain to cover glaciers. The ice caps of the plateau-shaped peaks spread downwards. Having reached the edge, they go down in separate pockets.
  • Valley ones are located in mountain valleys.

Mountain glaciers in Russia do not remain the same in area. Some shrink, others increase, and there are those that change their location by moving. What are the largest glaciers in Russia? List of 5 largest mountain systems with multi-year ice looks like this.

Caucasus

This is the largest center of accumulation of mountain glaciers. On the Russian part, i.e. On its northern slope, huge masses are concentrated, with a total area of ​​1400 sq. km. This is more than 2000 glaciers. Mostly they are small in size, up to 1 square. km in diameter. Most big glacier in Russia - this is a complex in Kabardino-Balkaria, with an area of ​​over 120 square meters. km. Another large snowy peak in the Caucasus is the peak extinct volcano Kazbek. It is here that more than 60% of all ice in the Caucasus is concentrated. A special feature is their alpine character. Russian part of the snowy peaks Greater Caucasus located on its northern slope, it is smoother and more extended, unlike the southern one. There is more than 70% of the ice in the Greater Caucasus. The southern slope is steep and steep, there is 30% snow on it Caucasus Mountains. The glaciation of this ridge is important for feeding the rivers that originate here. These are Belaya, Zelenchuk, Laba - and - Ardon, Urukh, Baksan. The glaciers of the Caucasus Mountains are retreating and their area is shrinking. Although this decrease is insignificant, river nutrition is affected by it. Over the century, the level of the snow line has risen by 70-75 cm. Sometimes there is a short-term advance of ice in some areas.

Altai

In second place on the list of the largest mountain glaciers in the country are the snows of Altai. Here, in the south of Siberia, there are about 1,500 outbreaks that occupy an area of ​​more than 900 square meters. km. The largest glaciations are on the Katunsky, South Chuysky and North Chuysky ridges. Large masses are concentrated on Mount Belukha, where the great Altai river Katun and its tributaries originate. These places have become the most beloved and popular among climbers throughout Altai. The Akkem glacier is located here. Some believe that it has a special energy and charges its visitors with it. Another snowy peak of Altai is Aktru. The mountain is famous for its colossal temperature difference. In summer there is unbearable heat, and in winter there is severe cold. For this reason, Aktru is considered a local cold spot. The temperature here drops to minus 62ºС. But even despite such difficult climatic conditions, there are a lot of people who want to see these glaciers of Russia. The pictures of their landscapes are simply mesmerizing.

Kamchatka

The modern glaciation of the peninsula is significant. The snow masses here are larger than in the Caucasus. There are about 450 of them, with a total area of ​​over 900 square meters. km. Their main concentration is on the Sredinny Ridge and the Klyuchevskaya group. Glaciers of Russia in Kamchatka have interesting feature. They are classified as so-called caldera due to the method of formation. They are formed in calderas and craters of volcanoes and hills, of which there are a huge number on the peninsula. In Kamchatka, the warm season is short, and the snow that falls on the tops of the hills does not have time to melt. Another feature of the snows of Kamchatka is their low location. Glaciers descend from the peaks to a height of 1600 meters. Volcanic eruptions are of great importance in the life of snow. During an eruption, glaciers actively melt and fill rivers with meltwater.

Koryak ridge

It is also called Located on Far East, captures the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and the Kamchatka Territory. The total number of glaciers here is 1330, and their area is more than 250 square meters. km. The Koryak Highland consists of short ridges and ridges that stretch from northeast to southwest. The glaciers of Russia in the Far East are elongated, up to 4 km long. They are located very low, much below the snow line, at a level of 700-1000 meters. This is explained climatic conditions and close proximity to the cold sea. Another glacier on the territory of Russia - its most highest point is located at a level of 2562 meters.

Mountains of Suntar-Khayata

These glaciers of Russia are located on the territory of Yakutia and Khabarovsk Territory. There are 208 of them here, with a total area of ​​over 200 sq km. The ridge stretches for 450 km, and its highest point - Mount Khaya Cape - is at a level of almost 3000 meters. In addition to mountain glaciers, there are about 800 square meters. km Tyrynov. This is the name given to large, perennial ice that forms when groundwater freezes.

The thickness of such ice is usually about 8 meters. Suntar-Khayata is a watershed of such large rivers Siberia, like Indigirka, Aldan, and rivers of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk basin.

Totten is one of the largest glaciers within East Antarctica, and the most voluminous mass of ice in the world. Given that 2016 was named one of the hottest years, is it any surprise that scientists claim that Totten has begun to melt at a record speed?

Extent of melting

An international team of researchers published a report in the journal Science Advances that says abnormally warm ocean water is pouring into the base of the glacier at a rate of 220,000 cubic meters per second. This is enough to cause the melting of 73 billion tons of ice per year.

The melting of huge glaciers like Totten is contributing to rapid sea level rise. To make matters worse, meltwater from the glacier destroys the ice at the edge of the continent, and more water flows freely into the sea.

The ice area of ​​the Totten catchment is the size of Spain. If all this ends up in the ocean, global sea levels will rise by 3.5 meters.

Scientists' work

Scientists from the University of Tasmania and the University of Texas at Austin were able to collect this data by sending their research vessel into one of the crevices carved into the seashore. Once under Totten, they were able to see the extent of the erosion in real time for the first time.

Like many of Greenland's glaciers, Totten is being eroded from below by increasingly warmer and more acidic seawater. This is directly related to the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the oceans. Warm water always leads to glacier erosion, but there are certain structural configurations that increase the likelihood that the entire ice structure will collapse.

How does erosion occur?

The Totten Glacier is deeply rooted below sea level. It is located on a relatively solid rock base. In some places this rock is flat, but in others its slopes are quite steep. If the underbelly of a glacier erodes at a point where it is solely on a sloping area, it will begin to move at an abnormal speed.

A sloping zone may be found in the middle of the glacier's current region, a recent study has shown. IN last time the glacier was balanced about 3.5 million years ago. Then the level carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was about 400 parts per million, that is, identical to what is observed today.

So this is truly terrible news. This huge glacier is really falling apart and may soon begin its inexorable and irreversible slide into the sea. At least this should convince skeptics who believe climate change is a hoax.

American researchers from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calculated that over the century (since 1913) the average temperature on Earth has risen by half a degree Celsius. As a result, some ice has melted in the Arctic and Antarctic. And This caused the level of the world's oceans to rise by almost 20 centimeters.

Ice now covers 10 percent of the Earth's surface.

Its volume, according to rough estimates, is 9 million cubic kilometers. What happens if all this frozen water melts? What will our planet look like after the flood?

The land after the flood is shown on maps National Geographic; The white line indicates the boundaries of the land before the flood.

Antarctica

Australia

North America

South America

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In glaciology, there has long been a tendency to distinguish between the concepts of cover and mountain glaciations, cover and mountain glaciers [Koryakin, 1981] and even to distinguish sections of cover and mountain glaciology. However, the cover glaciers of Antarctica and Greenland cannot be spoken of as anything other than mountainous, since they form high-elevation ice plateaus up to 4000 m (with individual peaks up to 5140 m) in Antarctica and 3700 m in Greenland, where the ice covers plateaus and mountain ranges . The ice cover of Antarctica reaches a thickness of more than 4300 m (average 1720 m), Greenland 3400 m (average 2300 m). True, in a significant part of Antarctica there is no real mountainous terrain with its deep dissection; an ideal, highly elevated ice plain spreads over vast areas. But the point is not only that certain sections of this plain on geographical maps are called plateaus (Polar Plateau, Sovetskoye Plateau and a number of others). In accordance with the criterion for separating mountain landscapes from flat ones, the nival-glacial landscapes of Antarctica cannot be classified as flat: there is no latitudinal-zonal change in landscape types, which would be at lower absolute altitudes, and it actually exists on the Antarctic coast, where in the free seas In ice areas, oases are located with non-glacial landscapes of polar (Antarctic) deserts, and not with a nival-glacial landscape. E. S. Korotkevich especially emphasizes the disturbance of the latitudinal zonality of Antarctica by altitudinal zonation (zonation), which is especially pronounced here, and considers this continent as a glacial massif with a single vertical zonation. The same applies to Greenland, where coastal landscapes in the middle and southern parts islands even to the polar, and subpolar (subarctic). Undoubtedly, the cover glaciers of Novaya Zemlya, as well as the ice sheets of the Arctic lowlands of Severnaya Zemlya, also belong to the mountain glaciers in the physical-geographical sense. Where the ice covers mountain ranges with sharp peaks or plateaus with outliers rising above the main plateau-like surface, in places, mainly along the outskirts of the ice sheet, lonely rocks called nunataks protrude from under the ice onto the day surface. Parts of the ice sheet, identified as outlet glaciers, flow down depressions of the subglacial surface towards the seas and oceans. Most of them received their own geographical names. They reach the coasts, break off there and give rise to floating ice islands - icebergs.

In Greenland and Novaya Zemlya, individual glacial streams descend from ice sheets into deep fjords and form fjord glaciers. In previous classifications of glaciers, ice sheets were identified as continental ice sheets or Greenland-type glaciers [Kalesnik, 1939]. In general, we are against the use of our own geographical names to designate types in classifications of geographical phenomena according to their properties (typological classifications). But since such names are in some cases firmly rooted in the literature (or the corresponding types actually have local specifics), in some cases they will have to be used. Glaciers like the Antarctic, Greenland, Novaya Zemlya, etc., are now distinguished under the name of ice sheets, separating ice sheets from them (in mountainous areas), when the subglacial relief is reflected in a softened form in the surface of the glacier. An intermediate link between mountain and cover glaciation is reticulated glaciation (related to mountain cover glaciation), which occurs when there is very abundant nutrition, when ice, having filled the valleys, begins to flow through depressions in individual ridges. Sometimes this glaciation is called the Svalbard-type glacier, which was identified by Nordenskiöld. However, it is more correct to talk about the Svalbard glaciation, which includes a wide variety of types of individual glaciers. The specific features of the morphology of glaciation in the Spitsbergen archipelago are determined by the degree of its development at the stage between mountain and cover. Glaciation of this kind is common only in polar regions. mountain ranges, except Spitsbergen in Alaska, Novaya Zemlya, southern Patagonia. Among the mountain glaciers themselves, closely related to the mountainous terrain, which determines the shape and direction of their movement, glaciers of peaks, slopes and valleys are distinguished. In the series of valley glaciers, in addition to simple valley glaciers, complex valley and dendritic glaciers are distinguished.

Double and complex valley glaciers are composed of two or more branches. Dendritic, or tree-shaped, glaciers resemble a branched tree in plan. In the latter case, abundant snow feeding leads to the fact that the glaciers of the side valleys (tributaries) connect with the glacier located in the main valley. This type includes large valley glaciers of the mountains of Central and Central Asia, in particular the Karakoram and the Himalayas, as well as mountains of high latitudes. With a large influx of solid atmospheric precipitation into the feeding area of ​​a valley glacier, an increase in its thickness leads to the fact that the glacier does not fit in the mountain valley and moves out onto the foothill (or intermountain) plain.

Then a foothill glacier of the Malaspina type is formed. Flat-top glaciers appear on highly elevated, leveled surfaces. Two subtypes can be distinguished here: glaciers with tongues spreading in different directions along steep-walled deep valleys (Scandinavian subtype) and flat-top glaciers themselves without significant ice tongues, often completely devoid of them (Tien Shan subtype). Cone glaciers are formed on conical mountain elevations, most often of volcanic origin. The ice and firn covering the cone create a kind of cap, from which the tongues of individual glaciers, known as their own, descend radially geographical names. This type includes the Caucasian glaciers of Elbrus, Kazbek and glaciers of many other volcanoes. The glaciers of the tops of young volcanic cones, not dissected by valleys and cirques, are called star-shaped. Caldera glaciers are found in the craters of volcanoes [Kalesnik, 1939]. Often in the mountains there are hanging glaciers, which come in two subtypes: cirque-valley, located in a cirque, but beginning to slide from the cirque into the valley, and hanging glaciers, which are not associated with any clearly defined depressions, but use only the gentle concavity of the slope. Hanging glaciers themselves usually end high on the slope, as if glued to it with their entire mass [ibid., p. 216]. Apparently, glaciers that cover the wide and gentle slopes of the mountains in the eastern part of the Gissar-Alai (Surkhob basin) and in the Eastern Pamirs with a thin (several tens of meters) layer are close to this subtype. V. M. Kotlyakov called them slope glaciers. There are very numerous cirque glaciers in the mountains, small ones that form in bowl-shaped depressions (cirques) on the slope of a ridge or in the upper reaches of a valley. They are deprived or almost deprived of the glacial tongue as such, which is common in the valleys. Wind-blown glaciers form in negative relief forms and on the leeward side of elevations from wind-blown snow, which in polar and subpolar latitudes does not have time to melt during the summer. They arise at the bottom of rocky ledges of terraces, at the back walls of ravines, in narrow shaded gorges and consist of firn and firn ice. For a long time, it was believed that the ice of moving glaciers very actively erodes the underground bed (this process is called glacial erosion or gouging) and the presence of piles of stone blocks (moraines) in front of the front of a moving glacier was cited as one of the evidence. In the late 1940s and 1950s, it was believed that the bulk of the clastic material forming modern moraine deposits came from the surfaces of the slopes rising above the glacier.

The role of the bottom moraine is negligible, and there is no reason to talk about the glacier as a factor that effectively erodes. However, now the essential excavation work of moving ice has been restored again. New studies based on modern methods indicate that the plowing activity of mountain glaciers is comparable in intensity to water erosion, and the main moraine material enters the glaciers not only from the surrounding mountain slopes, but to a large extent also from the glacial bed. At the beginning of the previous section, the chionosphere is mentioned. This is a part of the troposphere within which, given favorable terrain features, accumulations of snow, firn and ice can form, i.e., glaciers can form [Kotlyakov, 1968]. Many mountains protrude beyond the lower boundary of the chionosphere, and that is why glaciers originate on them. The thickness of the chionosphere apparently lies within 3–5 km and varies relatively little over different areas earth's surface[ibid., p. 137]. Even the highest mountains probably do not reach the upper boundary of the chionosphere. In any case, they cannot reach it in low latitudes, where the highest mountain elevations of the Earth are located (the Himalayas and Karakoram, the Andes), since there the lower boundary of the chionosphere, indicated by the snow line, is raised very high. It is believed that the line of intersection of the lower boundary of the chionosphere with the mountain slopes is the climatic snow line [Shchukin, Shchukina, 1959, p. 66]. However, the snow line does not completely coincide with the boundary of the chionosphere. The snow line is the most important glacioclimatic indicator, reflecting the connection between glaciation and climatic conditions. Its height, which largely determines the intensity of glaciation in the region (the relationship here is inverse), is associated with geographical latitude(and, therefore, with the thermal resource), as well as the degree of continental climate. In polar latitudes, the snow line is located within the low-mountain layer (Svalbard altitude 200,370 m on the windward slopes, 250,800 m on the leeward). Under the tropics it rises to 6000 m or more: in the Andes South America near the tropics in the south of Puna and in the Pampine Sierras it exceeds 6500 m (the highest position in the world). At the equator, its height is 5300-5400 m. At the same high altitude there is a snow line on the most continental highlands of the subtropical zone, for example in the Eastern Pamirs (up to 5200 m). It turned out, however, that in the Eastern Pamirs, the dry climate of which was judged by data from weather stations located on the flat bottoms of valleys and basins with a height close to 4000 m, and showing an annual rainfall of only 100 mm, in the uppermost tier of the mountains, in their glacial zone, 800-1000 mm of precipitation falls per year, which is very much for such a generally dry area.