Tasman Glacier
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The Tasman Glacier[1] is the largest of several glaciers which flow south and east towards the Mackenzie Basin from the Southern Alps in New Zealand's South Island. It is 29 kilometres long and as much as 4 kilometres wide, and is entirely within the borders of Aoraki/Mount Cook National Park. The depth at its most is 600 meters.
The Tasman flows south from the southern slopes of the Minarets peak, along the eastern flank of Aoraki/Mount Cook, the peak of which is only five km from the glacier. It is almost met partway along its length by the meltwater of the Murchison Glacier, which approaches from the northeast before turning to flow beside the Tasman Glacier outside the moraine wall.
The waters from both these glaciers pool at the end of the glacier in Lake Tasman, before flowing south to join the outflow from the nearby Hooker and Mueller Glaciers in the wide valley of the Tasman River, whose braided streams flow south into Lake Pukaki. They eventually flow into the Waitaki River and to the Pacific Ocean north of Oamaru.
[edit] Recent retreat
Dr. Martin Brook from Massey University predicts that the glacier will eventually disappear with the new lake that is formed reaching a maximum in 10-19 years. In 1973 there was no lake and by 2008 a lake that was 7km long, 2km wide and 245m deep existed at the glacier. [2]
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Tasman Glacier, New Zealand Geographic Placenames Database, Place Name Detail, Land Information NEw Zealand website, retrieved 18 April 2008.
- ^ Tasman Glacier retreat extreme. Massey University (2008-04-23). Retrieved on 2008-04-24.
- Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World, Glaciers of New Zealand, Chinn, T.H., USGS Professional Paper 1386, 1988.
[edit] External links
