CLIMATE CHALLENGE
NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK
Glaciers and Water
Grade Level: 4th-8th grade
Activity Time: Day 1: 30 minutes
Day 2: 20 minutes
Subject Area: Earth/Physical Science
Geography
materials (per group):
Access to a freezer
Paper cup
Gravel
Water
Objectives:
Students will:
Marker
Paper plate
Smooth piece of soft wood
(about 12 inches long)
Create their own glacier.
Predict what will happen when they scrape
their glacier over landforms.
Simulate what happens when glaciers move
over landforms.
Observe and document the result of glacial
scraping.
vocabulary:
Glacier – Moving mass of ice found on land that
stays year round. They are most often found at high
elevations and latitudes.
Glacial Scraping – As glaciers move, or recede
rocks embedded in their surface scrape along rocks
or other objects below them.
Glacial Striations – This the name for the
marking left behind, left by glaciers scraping.
Glacial Scouring – Another example of glacial
scraping that leaves more of a polished surface.
background:
Glaciers glisten as the most striking mountaintop
feature of the North Cascades. Boasting over 300
glaciers and countless snowfields, the North Cascades
National Park Service Complex is one of the snowiest
places on earth and the most heavily glaciated area
in the United States outside of Alaska. Glaciers form
when more snow accumulates in winter than melts
or evaporates during the following summer. As the
snow accumulates and compacts into ice, it slowly
moves downhill. As glaciers move, they gouge and
scrape the land redefining the landscape.
The North Cascades glaciers are disappearing; most
have shrunk dramatically during the last century. This
is due to the combined effects of less precipitation
and warmer summers, which scientists now attribute
to climate change. Glaciers mirror the trends of
climate change, resulting in life changes through soil
development and distribution of vegetation. Glaciers
are indicators of climate changes such as temperature
and precipitation. As reservoirs of snow from past
winters, pollutants may wash into mountain lakes
1
CLIMATE CHALLENGE
NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK
Glaciers and Water
and streams where they enter the food chain. Salmon
and other aquatic life, along with plant and animal
life could encounter difficulties and dramatic change
as glaciers disappear.
(www.nps.gov/noca/naturescience/glaciers.
htm?eid=270096&root_aId=203#e_270096)
Day 1 Activity: Make a Glacier
1. Discuss with your students what they know about
glaciers and how they think scientists can tell if
glaciers have moved over the land. Explain that rocks
and gravel freeze into the ice and are dragged over
the land by the bottom of a glacier moving. How
would the land be affected by the moving glacier?
What evidence of glaciation do glaciers leave behind?
2. Show the students the photos of glacial striations
and scouring to demonstrate what kinds of evidence
glaciers leave behind.
3. Ask how climate change affects glaciers. Explain
that increased temperatures cause glaciers to melt at
an increased rate. Also, if more rain falls instead of
snow, it is harder for glaciers to replenish themselves.
4. Explain to the students that they will be simulating
the way landforms are affected by glaciation, but
that first they will need to make their own glacier.
introduction:
In this activity students will create their own glaciers
and model how they “redefine the landscape”
through glacial scraping. Examples of glacial scraping
are glacial striations and scouring (see handouts at
end of lesson). The activity will take two days, as the
first day students create their glacier, and then they
need to be frozen overnight. The next day students
will use their glacier to model glacial scraping and
then document what they see.
Prep:
Preparation for each “glacier”: Cover the bottom
of a paper cup with gravel. Pour water into the
cup, over the gravel, and freeze overnight. You can
use a marker to mark the “glaciers” if you need to
differentiate between them.
5. Each group should cover the bottom of a paper
cup with gravel. Pour water into the cup, over the
gravel, and freeze overnight. Each group should
name their glacier and label it.
Day 2 activity: Glacial Scraping
Simulation
1. Ask students to predict what they think will
happen when they scrape their “glaciers” over wood.
2. When the “glaciers” are frozen solid, have
students peel off the paper cups and scrape them,
gravel end down, over a smooth piece of wood. This
is done to simulate the action of a glacier, so make
sure students only scrape in one direction.
3. Ask students to observe the patterns the gravel
made on the wood. Have each student sketch his or
her patterns and write a short observation explaining
what has happened.
2
CLIMATE CHALLENGE
NORTH CASCADES NATIONAL PARK
Glaciers and Water
4. Look back at the photos of glacial striations and
scouring and compare them with the marks and
patterns left by the student’s own glaciers.
wrap up:
Ask students how their predictions compared with
the results. Discuss with the students how patterns
of glaciation provide clues to climate change. For
example, if evidence of glacial scraping is found in
an area that is too warm for glaciers, what climate
changes have occurred over a period of time?
Extension activities:
The North Cascades National Park Thirsty River
activity http://www.nps.gov/archive/noca/
journey/activities/glacier/balance01.htm
resources:
North Cascades National Park Glacier Reference Page
www.nps.gov/noca/naturescience/glaciers.htm
North Cascades Glacial Climate Project
www.nichols.edu/departments/glacier/intro.htm
Will Steger Foundation
www.willstegerfoundation.org
Make Ice Cores with your students and discuss
what can be learned about the climate in the
past from looking at them. One version of
this activity can be found at; www.wbur.org/
special/dispatches/greenland/teacherguides/
teacherguide_icecores.asp
The National Park Foundation is the national charitable
partner of the National Park Service.
3
EXAMPLE OF GLACIAL STRIATIONS
EXAMPLE OF GLACIAL SCOURING