How does an esker form?

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How does an esker form?

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DEFINATION OF ESKER

The term esker has been derived from either the Irish word eiseir or Welsh word escair meaning crooked or winding. In Scandinavia, it is known as Osar or Oss. An esker is essentially a sinuous ridge of coarse gravel representing the deposits of meltwater stream normally flowing subglacially.

Step 2

FORMATION OF ESKERS:

An esker is an outwash plain, lengthily winding hill of stratified sand and rocks. These are the landforms with glaciofluvial gravel. The remaining of stagnating sheet in the tunnel results in an esker. Eskers are generally several kilometers deep because of their distinct uniform shape.

It is generally formed of stratified glaciofluvial deposits-mainly well sorted sand, gravels and boulders -deposited by meltwater streams in or beneath the slowly moving or stagnant ice. Eskers are common in areas of continental glaciation where ice can stagnate or move very slowly and not in valley glaciers where ice moves fast and rarely stagnates. They may occur as single winding ridges or as complex assemblage of branching and joining ridges. They may or may not
follow bedrock slope. 

                                                          Geography homework question answer, step 2, image 1

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