- Palisade Glaciers
The Palisade Glacier and the Middle Palisade Glacier are two
glacier s on the northeast side of the Palisades in the central Sierra Nevada of California. They are the largest glaciers in the Sierra Nevada. The Palisade Glacier is larger and it is also the southernmost glacier in theUnited States . [cite book|author=J. D. Dickey|title=California|year=2003|publisher=Rough Guides|isbn=184353049X]The Palisade Glacier was created 700 years ago during the
Little Ice Age . It has an area of 0.8 km² and the glacier is 1.3 km long and 0.8 km wide. [cite book|author=James Gregory Moore|title=Exploring the Highest Sierra|year=2000|publisher=Stanford University Press|isbn=0804737037] It is located between 12,000 and 13,400 feet (3,658 - 4,084 meters). It moves at a rate of 23 feet (seven meters) a year, although it is also retreating.cite book|author=Isaac Nadeau|title=Glaciers|year=2006|publisher=The Rosen Publishing Group|isbn=1404231242] Also, the Palisade Glacier is one of the few glaciers in California that terminates in a lake dammed by its formermoraine . [http://glaciers.research.pdx.edu/california.php Glaciers Online] The lake is a turquoise colour formed by the glacial powder suspended in the water. TheBig Pine Lakes below the glacier are also the same colour. [cite book|author=Allan A. Schoenherr|title=A Natural History of California|year=1995|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0520069226] Another feature of the glacier is a moulin, which was formed in a drought during 1977 [cite book|author=Bill Guyton|title=Glaciers of California: Modern Glaciers, Ice Age Glaciers, the Origin of the Yosemite Valley, and a Glacier Tour in the Sierra Nevada|year=2001|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0520226836] , and abergschrund .Cite book|author=Mary Hill|title=Geology of the Sierra Nevada|year=2006|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=0520236955]The Middle Palisade Glacier is separated from the nearby
Norman Clyde Glacier by a ridge. [http://www.climber.org/TripReports/1999/491.html Climber.org - Trip Reports] Even though these are the largest glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, they present climbers with few of the difficulties commonly associated with glacier travel.Steve Roper, "The Climber's Guide to the High Sierra", Sierra Club Books, San Francisco, 1976, ISBN 0-87156-147-6]ee also
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List of glaciers References
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