MOTTA L. & MOTTA M.
Drainage state, glacial dynamics and kinds of ice at the terminus of lys Glacier (western Alps) – Condizioni di drenaggio, dinamica glaciale e tipi di ghiaccio alla fronte del Ghiacciaio del Lys
Pages 129-134
Abstract
The Lys glacier is formed of superposed layers several metres thick. Most of the layers consist of granoblastic ice with centimerric crystals and littl e inner moraine, except at their boundary, where this increases sharply and the crystals are small with evident glaciotecronic structures. At the terminus, this pile of layers rest s on a isoclinally folded stratum of ice-rich sand. Below this bed, there is granoblastic ice, which also con – stitutes th e substrate of the depositional end moraines formed during the 1980 -86: it thus seems likely that is now acting as the inert substrate of th e actively moving ice, sep arated from it by the stratum of ice-rich sand, which would seem to represent their lodgemem till. This structure is not common on the Italian side of the Alps. The peculiarity of the Lys can probably be attribute d ro its cyclical tendency ro displ ay rapid ad – vances , very similar ro «micro-surge» episodes, in years with high summer temperatures.