|
|
Have you ever wondered what has inspired the architecture
of a golf course? Or perhaps you've noticed how housing developments
often crop up on hilly terrain rather than on flat fields. Although
seemingly unrelated, these two examples both have one thing in
common: moraines. The association is better understood when we
look at moraines and how they are formed.
|
 |
The term 'moraine' emerged in the French Alps
several hundred years ago as a local name for the ridges of debris
found at the edges of glaciers.
Today, it is difficult to generalize about moraines as a land
form, since they can take on a variety of sizes and shapes depending
on certain glacial situations. Although many definitions have
appeared since the term first originated, moraines have one thing
in common: they are all accumulations of drift,
deposited beneath or at the edge of glaciers. |
| When glaciers begin to move, by their own internal
processes and by gravity, they slide across the rocks and sediments
on which they rest, incorporating them into the ice. Along with
debris from surrounding land, the rocks are churned and pulverized
as the ice continues to move, and the crushed debris, or drift,
may be piled up at the front or along the sides of the glacier
by melting ice. Depending on the amount of debris and where it
lands, moraines can be hundreds of kilometres long and tens of
metres high. |
| Because moraines were formed at melting ice fronts, their
sediments were deposited in a jumble of sand, gravel, mud and
detached blocks of glacier ice. When those blocks melted, they
left holes or kettles
in the jumbled drift, leaving behind a landscape of rolling topography containing
many small hills and lakes. |
 |
|
Kettle lake |
|
|
Sound familiar? Was your last round of golf played on a rolling
course interspersed with small bodies of water? Because of such
picturesque settings, golf courses are often found on moraines.
And why the housing divisions? Not only does the impressive
view from atop the rolling moraines entice housing developers,
but the high topography and coarse sediment allows for effective
drainage. The Oak Ridges moraine north of Toronto, for example,
is currently under heavy development, not only for its appealing
landscapes, but also for its natural drainage system.
|
|
|
