Figure 47. Icebergs cubic in form. 



Pyramidal icebergs are characteristic of rapidly moving glaciers located in the more south- 

 erly latitudes, which are conditioned by high gradients of velocity and strong waste of the ends of 

 the glaciers due to melting. The most fantastic iceberg shapes of the Northern Hemisphere are 

 evidently yielded by the Jakobshaven Glacier, as Smith points out. 



In time, the icebergs, due to unequal destruction of their under- and above-water parts, be- 

 come constantly more fantastic and variated in their shape. 



Iceberg classification (I have used Smith's classification as the basis of it) is as follows: 



"Table-like" forms (right-angle, cubic, with more or less precipitous side walls) are char- 

 acteristic of young icebergs calved under severe climatic conditions by slowly moving glaciers. 



"Pyramidal" forms are characteristic of young icebergs calved by rapidly flovnng glaciers. 



"Rounded" forms are characteristic of old icebergs under severe climatic conditions, whose 

 sharp outlines have been rounded by the action of the sun and the wind. The rounded forms are 

 particularly characteristic of icebergs which have floated up and also of icebergs which have turned 

 over or floated up after their underwater parts have been destroyed (figure 48). 



"Fantastically eroded" forms are characteristic of young icebergs calved by rapidly moving 

 glaciers. 



"Columnar" and "grotto" forms are characteristic of icebergs whose underwater part is con- 

 siderably destroyed by the sea and atmosphere. Such forms are ordinarily distinguished by strongly 

 developed under-water projections. 



"Winged" and "horned" forms are characteristic of icebergs in the last stages of destruction 

 of their above-water parts (figure 49 . ) 



128 



