The farther a glacier moves from its source of accumulation into warmer, lower-elevation regions, the more likely it is to ablate, or melt. As the ice ablates, it begins to deposit the material it has eroded in the mountains, as well as any rock debris that has fallen into its crevasses. Just as streams of liquid water create landforms when they deposit their load of material, streams of frozen water — glaciers — drop their burden and shape the landscape as they recede.
- elevation [ˌeliˈveiʃən] n. 海拔
- ablate [æbˈleit] v.融化
- melt [melt] v. 融化
- erode [iˈrəud] v. 侵蚀
- debris [ˈdebri:]n. 碎片(plural: debris [ˈdebri:z])
- crevasse [kriˈvæs] n. 裂缝
- burden [ˈbə:dən] n. 负载
- landscape [ˈlændskeip] n. 地形
- recede [riˈsi:d] v. 后退
