Image: Franz Jozef Glacier NZ fig13

Description: Figure 13.-Historic variations of the terminus position of the Franz Josef Glacier, Westland, New Zealand and associated events. 1907-A viewing gallery giving access across a sheer rock face above the northeast margin on the snout was scraped off the rock face by this small advance shortly after being built. 1930-1949-A proglacial lake formed but soon filled with outwash gravels. The lake was popular for boating until a large ice block, held submerged by debris, released its load and erupted through the lake surface. 1965-During a heavy rainstorm in December, the main subglacial channel was apparently blocked beneath the glacier snout, and the accumulated water burst upward through the glacier to continue downvalley as a spectacular flood wave of water and ice. There was some damage but no casualties. 1984- A shelter hut, built in 1981 for visitors helicoptered to the inaccessible southwest edge of the glacier snout, was knocked off of its foundation by a large ice block that fell from the glacier front, which was advancing at the rate of a meter per day. The hut was removed from the site, which now remains well under the glacier.
Title: Franz Jozef Glacier NZ fig13
Credit: Chinn, Trevor J.H. "Glaciers of New Zealand". U.S. Geological Survey, U.S.Department of the Interior. http://pubs.usgs.gov/prof/p1386h/nzealand/nzealand2.html.
Author: Chinn, Trevor J.H.
Permission: Public Domain
Usage Terms: Public domain
License: Public domain
Attribution Required?: No