The Mendenhall Glacier

September 2013

      Alaska Glacier Thaws Revealing Ancient Forest From Beneath

Links: http://m.livescience.com/39819-ancient-forest-thaws.html ,
http://www.newsmax.com/TheWire/alaska-glacier-thaws-ancient/2013/09/23/id/527149

   

     Alaska's Mendenhall Glacier is revealing an ancient forest as it thaws. The Mendenhall Glacier, an icy expanse of 36.8 square miles, has withdrawn about 170 feet each year since 2005. In a thousand years, many tree stumps are now being exposed to the sunlight. About five feet of gravel most likely encased the bases of the trees when the glacier first advanced, keeping the stumps upright even as the glacier plowed over and snapped the stumps' trunks and limbs. Cathy Connor, an Alaskan geology professor, states, "There are a lot of them, and being in a growth position is exciting because we can see the outermost part of the tree and count back to see how old the tree was."  

Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska 1990

Mendenhall Glacier, 2013