kame

North-looking oblique aerial photograph of a complex sediment mass deposited by the retreating Malaspina Glacier in Malaspina Lake. Included are meandering eskers, linear crevasse fills and a massive ice cored kame. Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park, Chugach Mountains, Alaska. Photo credit: USGS

A deposit formed by a subglacial stream near the terminal margin of a melting glacier. Streams flowing down mountain sides onto glaciers deposit sand and gravel at the point where the stream first reaches the ice, or where the water goes down into a crevasse. The accumulation of sand and gravel gradually fall down to the valley floor as the ice melts.

Kames are generally small features, 20–30m (65–100ft) in length or breadth. Shapes include hills, mounds, knobs, hummocks, or ridges.

Related category

• GEOLOGY AND PLANETARY SCIENCE

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