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What would likely happen to a boulder in the path of a glacier?

It would stop the glacier from moving.
It would cut a hole through the glacier.
It would be ground into fine sediment by the glacier.
Nothing would happen since glaciers do not move.

2 Answers

4 votes

Answer:

The correct answer is:

C.

It would be ground into fine sediment by the glacier.

User Kcrisman
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3 votes

Answer:

answer is "It would be ground into fine sediment by the glacier"

Step-by-step explanation:

A glacier is an immense body of ice that is in constant movement under its own weight. Glaciers slowly change shape and flow due to stressed caused by its own weight, creating discerning patterns, and tend to move downhill due to gravity and the internal deformation of the ice. For this reason, the final option is incorrect. When they move, they erode the rock and debris from the ground, creating different types of landforms, such as cirques and moraines; and even transporting pieces of rock, called glacial erratics, which can vary in size from small pebbles to large boulders. An erratic is a piece of rock that has been eroded and transported by a glacier to a different area, sometimes even thousands of kilometers, and it's left behind when the ice melts. Scientist use erratics to know about the direction of ice movement and distances transported. Glaciers erode terrain through two main processes, abrasion and plucking. Plucking occurs when the flow of the glacier causes the bedrock underneath to soften, due to the subglacial water that penetrates fractures in the bedrock, and thus causes blocks of ice to be lifted into the ice, in this way, sediments of all sized become part of the glacier. Abration occurs when the ice slides over bedrock causing a sandpaper effect, polishing the bedrock below, and producing a pulverized rock called rock flour. This material incorporated into a glacier is carried to the point where the glacier melts, before being deposited.

User Aurovrata
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