Nature has a way of leaving records for the curious.Late 18th century Swiss alpinists were the first to recognize bedrock scratches and gouges as evidence of a moving glaciers.
|Glacial striation left by ice-age glaciers on a shore cliff|
Otaniemi, Espoo, Finland
|Glacial striation north of Observation Rock|
Mount Rainier National Park
Like sandpaper, the abrasive fragments must be harder than the bedrock. Quartz can cut shale, but shale cannot cut quartz rich bedrock.“As long as I live, I'll hear waterfalls and birds and winds sing. I'll interpret the rocks, learn the language of flood, storm, and the avalanche. I'll acquaint myself with the glaciers and wild gardens, and get as near the heart of the world as I can".”
― John Muir
Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.
— Stanley Horowitz
- Glacial Striation, Wikipedia.
- Surface Processes and Landforms, 2nd Edition, by Don J. Easterbrook. 1999.
- Winter is an Etching: An Artistic Quotation, by Jessica Cline, Mid-Manhattan Library, Art and Picture Collections, November 15, 2011.