LeConte Bay
The Sea Lion cruised into LeConte Bay at the southern end of Frederick Sound at breakfast. We immediately noticed the multitude of icebergs, growlers and bergy bits. These are descriptive navigational terms for floating ice of various sizes. Everyone had an opportunity to take a Zodiac tour over the terminal moraine of the receding LeConte Glacier and to meander slowly among many small and huge icebergs. LeConte Glacier is the southernmost tidewater glacier in North America. By tidewater, we mean a glacier whose snout is affected by the tides.
One of the highlights of the day was one particularly spectacular iceberg. It reflected a spectrum of light from deep blue to white to crystal clear. It possessed massive holes, irregular fractures, amazing shapes and unique textures. The movement of this ice, driven by tides and winds, brought to mind the term “glacial debris,” which refers to rocks, sands and silts that are deposited by drifting ice as it moves away from the face of a glacier. Glacial debris can be found throughout the waterways and shorelines of the Inside Passage of Alaska. Glaciers have collected a wide variety of rock types from at least six separate geologic events that have occurred over the past millions of years. Each of these events involved tectonic movement of a piece of land that became known as an “exotic terrane.” The land masses rafted in from the Pacific Ocean, slammed into the North American continent, then were changed by pressure and heat into many different rock forms. As glaciers embed samples of these rocks into their ice, the ice moves downhill to the face of the glacier, eventually to “calve” or fall into the sea and float away. As icebergs melt, they drop angular rocks of various sizes into the channel. The largest icebergs may drift many miles from the original glacier and drop their load on distant shores and floors of the waterways of Southeast Alaska. The result is a highly mixed hodgepodge of rocks. This, in addition to the dense blanket of forest and ground cover, makes the geology of Alaska the ultimate puzzle to interpret.
After lunch we traveled to Petersburg, where we had choices of fast, moderate and leisure hikes over the muskeg, kayaking along a tidal creek filled with spawning salmon, or strolling through this busy fishing community.
The Sea Lion cruised into LeConte Bay at the southern end of Frederick Sound at breakfast. We immediately noticed the multitude of icebergs, growlers and bergy bits. These are descriptive navigational terms for floating ice of various sizes. Everyone had an opportunity to take a Zodiac tour over the terminal moraine of the receding LeConte Glacier and to meander slowly among many small and huge icebergs. LeConte Glacier is the southernmost tidewater glacier in North America. By tidewater, we mean a glacier whose snout is affected by the tides.
One of the highlights of the day was one particularly spectacular iceberg. It reflected a spectrum of light from deep blue to white to crystal clear. It possessed massive holes, irregular fractures, amazing shapes and unique textures. The movement of this ice, driven by tides and winds, brought to mind the term “glacial debris,” which refers to rocks, sands and silts that are deposited by drifting ice as it moves away from the face of a glacier. Glacial debris can be found throughout the waterways and shorelines of the Inside Passage of Alaska. Glaciers have collected a wide variety of rock types from at least six separate geologic events that have occurred over the past millions of years. Each of these events involved tectonic movement of a piece of land that became known as an “exotic terrane.” The land masses rafted in from the Pacific Ocean, slammed into the North American continent, then were changed by pressure and heat into many different rock forms. As glaciers embed samples of these rocks into their ice, the ice moves downhill to the face of the glacier, eventually to “calve” or fall into the sea and float away. As icebergs melt, they drop angular rocks of various sizes into the channel. The largest icebergs may drift many miles from the original glacier and drop their load on distant shores and floors of the waterways of Southeast Alaska. The result is a highly mixed hodgepodge of rocks. This, in addition to the dense blanket of forest and ground cover, makes the geology of Alaska the ultimate puzzle to interpret.
After lunch we traveled to Petersburg, where we had choices of fast, moderate and leisure hikes over the muskeg, kayaking along a tidal creek filled with spawning salmon, or strolling through this busy fishing community.
