The ice wall is about 60-80 feet high. The whiter parts are where recent calving has occurred, whereas to the left you can see an older, dirtier and weathered part of the wall that has been more stable. In the background is an alpine ridge with small cirques and glaciers feeding this larger one. This photo is from the inner part of Hornsund fjord in Spitsbergen. Takes 12-200 years to complete.
Processes involved include melting and refreezing and deformation, compaction and recrystallization.
Sensitive to climatic parameters. Location and patterns a function of underlying bedrock geometry and the flow pattern in the ice. This is because the crust if floating in a sense. When ablation dominates and the icecaps is melted, then the crust rebounds, but over a time frame of thousands of years. It is similar to unloading and loading a boat, but where the boat floats in very viscous fluid so that it takes time for the response.