Proglacial area 2006
The proglacial area of Vadret da Morteratsch, seen from the glacier, showing the braided river, scanty vegetation cover, extensive dead ice and the left-lateral Little Ice Age moraine. (MH)
Telephoto of the braided section of Ova da Morteratsch, surrounded by rubble deposited directly from the glacier. Note the turquoise pond filling a kettle hole towards top right. (MH)
Turbulent flow of the milky waters of Ova da Morteratsch around river-bed boulders, captured at a low shutter speed. (MH)
Gravel and sand bars, with the milky water indicating suspended silt, in the Ova da Morteratsch, looking down-river. (MH)
Close-up view of current ripples consisting of sand in the bed of Ova da Morteratsch. Flow is towards the camera. (MH)
Current ripples of sand encroaching on a substrate of gravel in the bed of Ova da Morteratsch. Flow is towards the camera. (MH)
Slack flow in the bed of Ova da Morteratsch, illustrating sand bars and sediment-laden meltwater, originating from the glacier in the background; September 2008. (MH)
To the side of the main channel and still connected to it is a kettle hole. The striking turquoise colour arises from light reflected on silt-sized particles derived from granite-gneiss bedrock. Compare with the telephoto view of the braid-plain from the glacier. (MH)
Isolated kettle hole surrounded by alpine flora, down-valley of Vadret da Morteratsch. This feature is the result of melting of buried glacier ice and creation of a depression in the alluvial plain. (MH)
Small hummocky moraines with early stages of colonisation by vegetation marking the mid-1970s position of the glacier snout.
Ova da Morteratsch a short distance up-valley from the railway station in the early morning when the water level was low and many boulders on the riverbed were exposed.
Similar view in the late afternoon, when the water level was high and most of the boulders were under water. (MH)
Vegetation is markedly denser just outside the Little Ice Age limit of Vadret da Morteratsch, as can be seen here with well established larch and pine. (MH)
One of the early colonising plants following deglaciation – the yellow mountain saxifrage (Saxifraga aizoides) – is here growing on coarse glaciofluvial sediment next to a granite boulder. (MH)
Englacial conduit surrounded by medial moraine debris on lower Vadret da Morteratsch in 2006. Water entering this tunnel ultimately reaches the bed. (MH)