RESEARCHES IN ALASKA 



530 



GLACIER RESPONDING TO EARTHQUAKE 



The retreat of Nunatak Glacier from 1905 to 1909 (a to c), followed by advance (c to b) 



before June, 1910. Photo by Lawrence Martin 



The second of these glaciers, which is 

 a small unnamed ice tongue between 

 Haenke and Hubbard, was stagnant and 

 moraine covered in 1899 an ^ l 9°5< an d 

 I had not learned until the winter of 

 1910 that it was crevassed and advanc- 

 ing in 1 90 1, as a photograph proves. 

 Besides these nine, three or more of the 

 smaller glaciers probably advanced be- 

 tween 1899 and 1905, and the neighbor- 

 ing Turner and Hubbard glaciers have 

 each had one or more minor advances, 

 perhaps due to the thrust from some 

 responding tributary far back in the 

 mountains. Hubbard Glacier, which may 

 be twice as long as Nunatak, began such 

 a minor advance in 1909, but in 19 10 it 

 had not progressed very far, though the 

 west part of the ice front had come for- 

 ward 600 feet and the crevassed area of 

 the east margin had increased slightly. 

 Other points on the ice front had re- 

 treated 500 to 1,000 feet between 1909 

 and 1910. 



Lucia Glacier, which was advancing 



so rapidly in 1909, had perhaps nearly 

 ceased its unusual activity ; at least, when 

 we . saw it in 1910 it had not overridden 

 the Lucia nunatak, which it surrounded 

 and nearly covered the year before, and 

 no great abundance of new streams 

 emerged from its borders to Yakutat 

 Bay. This. I am sorry to say, was all 

 we were able to determine about Lucia 

 Glacier, for we were unable to visit it 

 and see more because of the unusual ice- 

 jam in Yakutat Bay in June, 19 10. From 

 what we were able to see of it from a 

 distance with field glasses, however, it 

 was apparently behaving as all the other 

 glaciers have when affected by the earth- 

 quake avalanche supply. The advance 

 was sudden, the transformation great, 

 and the activity Avas soon over. This 

 seems to be the case in Lucia Glacier. 



How great the advance of Nunatak 

 Glacier will be is impossible to predict 

 at present, for this is the first great tidal 

 glacier in Yakutat Bay to advance since 

 the earthquakes. If the slightly smaller 



