Talk:Esker

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I am perplexed by the unsourced statement "Eskers are sometimes used for construction of highways as an economic measure. This includes the Denali Highway in Alaska and the Trans-Taiga Road in Quebec." Eskers often are mined as sources of gravel for construction, particularly of highways, but this statement implies that these two roads are built on top of eskers, at least in part. Does someone have a source? If not, I think the statement should be edited to discuss the use of eskers as gravel sources. --orlady 14:54, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

I was under the impression that eskers being caused by streams was by no means certain and that many geologists had actually taken issue with this explanation. Joshua 04:41, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

Where did you get that impression, Joshua? Various textbooks and other references do suggest that some features called "esker" might have formed at the ice margin (suggesting that they are misnamed, and possibly should be called kames or kame terraces), but there is much evidence for their formation as stream deposits from streams within ice tunnels or at the base of a glacier. --orlady 05:04, 11 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Glacial ridge

Is an esker the same as a glacial ridge? It looks that way from the definition but I hadn't heard the word esker before, and at least the Swedish language link leads to the word for "ridge" rather than "glacial ridge". (I think the same is true for several other language links, but at least the Danish word for glacial ridge appears to be "ås", which is the Swedish word for any kind of ridge, so it is a false friend...)

In any case I think glacial ridge should be redirected to esker, if the terms are synonymous. At the moment there is no glacial ridge article. --Bonadea 14:07, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

The terms are not synonymous. "Glacial ridge" is a nonspecific term that possibly could refer to an esker, an arête, a moraine, or possibly a drumlin or roche moutonnée.--orlady 15:21, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

Hm. OK. I think I'll leave these articles to those who know the subject! Thanks for the answer, orlady :-) --Bonadea 15:39, 29 January 2007 (UTC)