| Summary: | Eccentric Glacier Changes Its Pace; Confounds Savants. Eccentric Glacier Changes Its Pace; Confounds Savants FAIRBANKS, Alaska (JP)—Alaska's runaway Black Rapids glacier dumfounded observers Saturday .with a startling change of pace. After a hunderstorm and heavy rain, the glacier shoved forward 250 feet in 24 hours. The next day it slowed to a foot an hour. Formation of three lakes on the glacier's surface—one of them described by a pilot as large enough for a plane landing—created the possibility of a flood should the water be suddenly released. Otto William Geist of the University of Alaska, who made a 10-day survey of the glacier this spring, said it is "possible but not probable" it will dam the Big Delta river if its present speed and direction. J. G. Rivers, secretary of the Fairbanks Chamber of Commerce, returned from the scene with a prediction the ice mass would not reach the river current until October unless it moves much faster. Geist, who said a series of earthquakes in the Alaska interior probably started the glacier on its jaunt last fall, reported the ice averaged 400 feet in height along a mile and a quarter face, with some pinnacles extending nearly 500 feet above the river valley. He said the glacier has traveled three to five miles since its movement first was noted.
|
|---|