Types of glacier

There are two types of glacier:

1) Unconstrained
2) Constrained

1. Unconstrained

This type of glacier can be broken down into two:

1) Ice Sheet= characteristics are that they submerge landforms as are 2-3km thick producing nunataks (e.g Greenland)




2) Icefield/Ice cap= characteristics are that they cover areas less than 50,000km2 (e.g Iceland)







2. Constrained

This type can be broken down into 3:

1) Cirque glacier 










2) Piedmont glacier










3) Valley glacier