outwash plain
Sign in to saveAlso known as sandur, glacial outwash plain
plain formed from glacier sediment that was transported by water.
~8 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Skeiðarársandur in Iceland, viewed from its eastern margin at the terminus of Svínafellsjökull glacier
An outwash plain, also called a sandur (plural: sandurs), sandr or sandar, is a plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the terminus of a glacier. As it flows, the glacier grinds the underlying rock surface and carries the debris along. The meltwater at the snout of the glacier deposits its load of sediment over the outwash plain, with larger boulders being deposited near the terminal moraine, and smaller particles travelling further before being deposited. Sandurs are common in Iceland where geothermal activity accelerates the melting of ice flows and the deposition of sediment by meltwater.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “outwash plain” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.