Abstract
(1) STUDENTS of glaciology owe a debt of gratitude to M. Rabot, because information on this subject is scattered over a wide field and in unexpected places. To collect that contained in the present number of the Revue must have been a heavy task, and its value is increased by a careful classification. The earlier sections deal with matters such as precipitation, its form and relation to altitude, the rate at which snow melts, avalanches and their consequences, the formation of glaciers, their structures, their dates of movement, and their erosive effects, in regard to which last diverse opinions are quoted. If we can believe Prof. Hans Hess, a glacier deepens its bed by 1 metre in from thirty to fifty years, or, in other words, the erosive power of ice is at least ten times as great as that of running water. Figures are cited to support this conclusion, but a tolerable familiarity with glaciers and their works, for at least that time, leads us to suspect there is something wrong with the figures or the observations.
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References
(1) Revue de Glaciologie. No. 3 (avril 1903–1er janvier 1907). By Charles Rabot (Mémoires de la Société Fribourgeoise des Sciences Naturelles, vol. v., Band v., Géologie et Géographie). Pp. 344 + 30 figures. (Fribourg, Suisse, 1909.) Price 6 francs.
Les Variations périodiques des Glaciers. XVme Rapport, 1909. Rédigé par Dr. E. Brückner et E. Muret . Extrait des Annales de Glaciologie, t. v. Janvier, 1911. Pp. 177–202. (Berlin: Borntrager Frères, 1911.)
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Reports on Glaciology 1 . Nature 86, 257–258 (1911). https://doi.org/10.1038/086257b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/086257b0