The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1899-11-08
HOW ICEBERGS FORM
ONE OF THE MOST BEAUTIFUL OF
THE WORKS OF NATURE.
These Dazzling Mountains Have
Their Origin In Arctic Glaciers,
Whence They AajcsticaIIy Wend
Their ResistIesH Way to the Sen.


Whence They MnjcsticaIly Wend
Their ResistIers Way to the Sen.
OF the many things Of interest which
engage ones attention on Il voyage to
the far north there is none more .fas-
lcinating than tho study Of iccbergs. If
any person who has never seen these
remarkable and beautiful forms will
look at piece of ice us it floats freely
In tumber of water. he will form 4
most imperfect idea of what an iceberg
really looks like.
Perhaps the only feature which the
floating ice mountain and the fragment
of ice appear. on consideration. TO have
in common, is that they both have IN
immense proportion Of their bulk I'M
der watcr-the exact proportion being
somewhat gre 'cr in fresh water than
IN salt water; /. ere being in salt water
about seven-cighths Of the entire mass
under water. varying, OF course, more
or less in different attitudes, according
to the saltness Of the sea and the con-
seQuent difference of the buoyancy
given to objects floating therein.
And here it may be said that it is
most difficult. when one is looking at
an iceberg, to steady the mind from
wandering II great deal from the real
iZation of SO simple fact as this. ow-
f-.g, one would. d.supposc. to the difficulty
of concciving Of the enormous quantity
Of ice which is hidden below the seq
level Of the berg-in the case of some
OF the larger bergs implying many mil
lions Of tons Of ice.
One striking difference between the
appearance Of the iceberg and that
Of our lump Of Ice is the seemingly
general opnquencss Of the berg and the
smooth and dazzling whiteness Of It's
surface, much Of it presenting the ap-
pearance Of frosted silver, the frac-
lures or vents which are frequently
visible Oh It's glittering faces being
generally emerald green, merging into
i.lue, varying from that Of turquoise
almost to indigo.
Presently It will appear that an ice
berg must always consist of frozen
fresh water Frozen sea water, it is
true. does occur in vast quantities in
the sea, but this Is In general quite
different in form and size and entirely
different in the origin of its formation.
This ice is called foe ice, pack ice or
field ice. according to where and how it
is disposed.
The formation Of icebergs is some
thing like this: The whole Of the in
terror OF tie continent Of Greenland,
which consists Of upward Of 100000
square miles of mountainous platcaus.
is perpetunlly covered to depth of
many hundred feet with one vast
desert Of snow, called the lice cap"
This receives a constant increase Of
newly fallen snow. that during the
summer becomes, by the action OF the
sun and wet weather by day. and by
regulation ut night, changed into n
granulated condition.
4Afterward it is recongcalcd into ice,
and, being impelled by enormous pres
sure from behind and above, throws
off 4 great number OF rivers Of ice, or
glaciers, rs they are called presenting
the appearance Of n noble torrent sud-
denly petrified by some overwhelming
force.
The snOwfields, which lie Mt the up
per part Of every glacier, are composer
of crystallized snow, which continues
unchanged SO long as it remains dry,
but undergoes n great transformation
when the sun, melting the upper sur
faca. allows the water to trickie down
into the substance Of the mass of snow.
This fluid congealing again during
the night transforms the snow into
granulated mass formed Of small.
round icicles, half snow and half ice.
BY the repetition Of this process.
which also displaces the air, and by
pressure from the subjacent layers, the
whole mass is now united and consoli-
dated to form ice. AS an illustration
OF regelation Of ice when the air is ex-
cluded. we may take two pieces Of ice
and under water place them together
30 that they touch. They will immedi-
ately freeze together. AS q string Of
small fragments Of Ice may easily thus
be formed, 80 also are chains Of ice
bergs sometimes met with.
From the interior these glaciers wend
their slow and res:st;ess way down the
mountain sides or through the valleys
toward or into the sea. AS the width
and length, 30 does the height or thick
moss Of the glacier vary. in some in
stances the measurement being as
much as 800 or 400 feet, rising out Of
the sea or ford like solid waH Of
glass, with an unknown and almost un-
fathomable depth Of Ice below the sen
level.
The foot Of the glacier. where 1t
Scaches the sea. may often be many
miles IL width. Tine great Humboldt
glacier has precipitious facial edge of
some GO miles ip length. The disrup-
ton Of great masses Of it's substance.
between the combined action Of the
upraising force Of the tides on Its un-
der surface and its own overhanging
weight as it protr1des down into the
sea, accompanied at such moment by
q detonation md thunder like the noise
Of artillery, forms icebergs.
AS the immense mass strikes the wa
ter many fragments, forming smaller
bergs, are shaken of. The white fonm