A crevasse is a deep crack in an ice sheet or glacier (as opposed to a crevice, which forms in rock). Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the sheer stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rates of movement. The resulting intensity of the shear stress causes a breakage along the faces.
Crevasses often have vertical or near-vertical walls, which can then melt and create seracs, arches, and other ice formations[1] . These walls sometimes expose layers that represent the glacier's stratigraphy.
Crevasses are more narrow at depth as it is here that pieces of the glacier may rub and break against each other. Crevasse size often depends upon the amount of liquid water present in the glacier. A crevasse may be as deep as 45 meters, as wide as 20 meters, and can be up to several hundred meters long.
The presence of water in a crevasse can significantly increase its penetration. Water-filled crevasses may reach the bottom of glaciers or ice sheets and provide a direct hydrologic connection between the surface, where significant summer melting occurs, and the bed of the glacier, where additional water may lubricate the bed and accelerate ice flow.
Transverse crevasses are the most common crevasse type and they form in a zone of longitudinal extension where the principal stresses are normal to the direction of glacier flow, creating extensional tensile stress. These crevasses stretch across the glacier transverse to the flow direction, or cross-glacier. They generally form where a valley becomes steeper[2].
Splaying crevasses form as a result of shear stress from the margin of the glacier, and longitudinal compressive stress from lateral extension. They extend from the margin of the glacier and are concave up with respect to glacier flow, making an angle less than 45° with the margin. At the center line of the glacier, there is zero pure shear from the margins, so this area is typically crevasse free.
Longitudinal crevasses form parallel to flow where the glacier width is expanding. They develop in areas of compressive stress, such as where a valley widens or bends. They are typically concave down-glacier, and form an angle greater than 45° with the margin[2].
A bergschrund is a crevasse that divides moving glacier ice below the bergschrund from the stagnant ice above it and may extend to bedrock below.
An Ice Pinnacle is formed when multiple crevasses intersect at the end of a glacier.
A crevasse may be covered, but not necessarily filled, by a snow bridge made of the previous years' accumulation and snow drifts. The result is that crevasses are rendered invisible and thus lethal to anyone attempting to navigate their way across a glacier. Occasionally a snow bridge over an old crevasse may begin to sag providing some landscape relief, but this cannot be relied upon. Anyone planning to travel on a glacier should be trained in crevasse rescue.
|