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| Glaciers
are heavy ice forms that are found at the North and South Poles or
on high mountain tops. They are formed when layers of snow fall in
an area that has temperatures way above freezing all year long. Snow
layers fall one year, never melt, and new snow falls on top of the
old snow until it is stacked up very high. After many years the older
snow is flattened by the weight of the snow on top and becomes ice.
Eventually the snow piles up high enough to form a glacier. When the
glacier forms over an area that has a slope, gravity pulls it down
the slope. Glaciers grow to be many miles long, and in some places
glaciers are almost a mile high. Glaciers hold more than one-half
of the fresh water on earth today. |
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| This
is an example of a glacier that is coming down between mountains.
These are called valley glaciers. |
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| Glaciers
that cover the land and are not in the mountains are called continental
glaciers. |
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