Proglacial area 2006

Proglacial area 2006
The proglacial area of Vadret da Morteratsch, seen from the glacier, showing the braided river, scanty vegetation cover, extensive dead ice and the left-lateral Little Ice Age moraine. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
Telephoto of the braided section of Ova da Morteratsch, surrounded by rubble deposited directly from the glacier. Note the turquoise pond filling a kettle hole towards top right. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
Turbulent flow of the milky waters of Ova da Morteratsch around river-bed boulders, captured at a low shutter speed. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
Gravel and sand bars, with the milky water indicating suspended silt, in the Ova da Morteratsch, looking down-river. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
Close-up view of current ripples consisting of sand in the bed of Ova da Morteratsch. Flow is towards the camera. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
Current ripples of sand encroaching on a substrate of gravel in the bed of Ova da Morteratsch. Flow is towards the camera. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
Slack flow in the bed of Ova da Morteratsch, illustrating sand bars and sediment-laden meltwater, originating from the glacier in the background; September 2008. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
To the side of the main channel and still connected to it is a kettle hole. The striking turquoise colour arises from light reflected on silt-sized particles derived from granite-gneiss bedrock. Compare with the telephoto view of the braid-plain from the glacier. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
Isolated kettle hole surrounded by alpine flora, down-valley of Vadret da Morteratsch. This feature is the result of melting of buried glacier ice and creation of a depression in the alluvial plain. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
Small hummocky moraines with early stages of colonisation by vegetation marking the mid-1970s position of the glacier snout.
Proglacial area 2006
Ova da Morteratsch a short distance up-valley from the railway station in the early morning when the water level was low and many boulders on the riverbed were exposed.
Proglacial area 2006
Similar view in the late afternoon, when the water level was high and most of the boulders were under water. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
Vegetation is markedly denser just outside the Little Ice Age limit of Vadret da Morteratsch, as can be seen here with well established larch and pine. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
One of the early colonising plants following deglaciation – the yellow mountain saxifrage (Saxifraga aizoides) – is here growing on coarse glaciofluvial sediment next to a granite boulder. (MH)
Proglacial area 2006
Englacial conduit surrounded by medial moraine debris on lower Vadret da Morteratsch in 2006. Water entering this tunnel ultimately reaches the bed. (MH)