when you said that an outwash is sediment deposit by meltwater, what you mean by that? The rivers can't flow anymore?

-- Susie Villacis (villacis@oswego.edu), October 21, 2002

Answers

When a glacier is melting, especially in warmer areas at the end of a glacier where the ice melts more rapidly, streams of meltwater can develop. If flow velocities in these streams are fast enough, they can transport sediment that melted out of the glacier. These sediments may be transported some distance away from the end of the glacier. When they are deposited (in bars or on floodplains), the material is said to be an outwash deposit.

-- Sharon Gabel (gabel@oswego.edu), October 30, 2002.