Recent Eskers in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming

• Main Author: Meier, Mark F.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: UNI ScholarWorks 1951
• Subjects: Norway; Wind River; glacier; glaciers; Alaska
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.uni.edu/pias/vol58/iss1/34; https://scholarworks.uni.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3334&context=pias

The origin of eskers has long been a subject of controversy. These interesting features of the glacial landscape have been studied extensively in the Midwest, New England, Scandinavia, and elsewhere, but nearly all of these studies dealt with deposits left by glaciers which had long since disappeared. Theories of origin of these eskers have, therefore, been based largely on assumption and inference. To the author's knowledge the only published technical description of recent eskers are those of I. C. Russell, who in 1897 briefly described some esker-like ridges in the stagnant margin of the Malaspina Glacier in Alaska, and W. V. Lewis, who described an esker discovered in 1947 at the foot of the Boverbreen Glacier in Norway. The purpose of this paper is to describe some eskers projecting from existing glaciers in Wyoming, and to suggest a mode for their origin. The Gannett Peak-Fremont Peak area in the Wind River Mountains is a rugged, alpine region which contains the largest glaciers of any area in the Rocky Mountains of United States, including all of Glacier National Park. These glaciers have been generally receding since at least the early 1900's, but recently the rate of recession has diminished.