Evening star., 1932-07-27
RETREAT OF ICE
FOUND UNSTEADY
Scientist Declares Glaciers
OsciIIate in Withdrawal From
Hot Rays Of Sun.
BY THOMAS r. HENRY.

/ AGbA CaOtAASs bub WAtAA AAAIAACA "
suspected backward and forward move
men: instead Of the steady recession
as the earth gets farther from the last
great ice age
This is indicated In a report just
! prepared by the Glacier Committee of
the American Geophysical Union,
headed by F. E. Mathis of the Geo.
logical Survey, on the behavior Of these
great rivers of ice within the contin-
entail United States.
To secure further evidence, 1t is an
nounced, the National Park Service has
agreed tcis Summer to lay base lines
| in front of 20 different glaciers in the
Rocky Mountain. Grand Teton and
Glacier National Parks. These already
have been established in the Noun.
Rainier and Yosemite National Parks.
The actual movements of the glaciers
can BE- determined for years to come
by comparing their fronts with these
base lines.
Probably New Formations.
Evidence also Is presented in the
report to the effect that the great
American glaciers may not be, as Is
commonly supposed remnants OF the
last ice age but of comparatively recent
origin. They have advanced within
comparatively recent times and now are
retreating. furnishing evidence of un-
suspected climatic variations owe: COM
paratively short periods.
The most notable case cited By the
committee is that of the Nisqually
Park, from which arises the Nisqually
River, which furnishes power to Ia
coma. Wash Either actual measure
ments or estimates are available since
its discovery in 1857. During this pc
riod it has retreated more than 5000
feet and has been shortened nearly
1000 feet in the last Is years, during
which very accurate measurements have
been taken by Park Service engineers
every year. In 81 years there has been
loss of ice equivalent to a covering a
foot deep over 10000 acres. The re-
duction in the Summer flow Of the river
is estimated at 10 per cent.
From the age of the bushes and trees
in the successive zones Of vegetation on
the sides of the canyon hanking the
glacier, it has been ascertatned that its
last great advance came just prior to
1850. Three other big glaciers in the
park now are being studied to see If
they show the same behavior.
Logs Arc Discovered.
The report describes as discovery of
paramount interest the finding of
tangled mass of logs protruding from
under the moraine Of the zig-zag Gla-
cier on the southwest side Of Mount
Hood.
Evidently" Matthias says, "a forest
Of tall, straight trees grew here at an
altitude corresponding to the present
timber line and then was overwhelmed
by the glacier during recent advance
1t seems altogether probable that these
ancient forests grew on the sides of the
mountain when the climate was much
milder and rainier than now and when
the glaciers either were confined to the
summit of the peak or had vanished
altogether"
Corroborative evidence, he says, has
recently been found in the northern
part of the Cascade Mountain Range
consisting of remnants of a forest of
great columnar trees, many of them 5
or feet in diameter, that occur up to
the level Of the present timber line.
Glaciers could not have existed on this
range at their present levels during the
thousands Of years of mild, rainy con-
ditions indicated by the big trees.
Hence, Matthias says, 1t Is probable some
Of the present glaciers have come into
existence only within the last few Gen.
turies.
Hundreds Have Disappeared.
The evidence indicates, the report
says, that hundreds Of small glaciers
have disappeared altogether from the
Yosemite National Park during the last
I1o f1y-c%
discovered by John Muir in 1871 in the
Sierra Nevadas now has ceased to exist,
1t is reported.
The great glaciers Of Alaska also ap-
parently are retreating, but with an
oscillatory movement. These glaciers
are described as great tidal ice
tongues" Two Of the largest have
receded approximately II miles each
since 1879, when the first records we're
made, but some others have remained
almost stationary. Definite records are
being compiled for IL glaciers In this
region.
Some Of the most curious glaciers
mentioned in the report are the great
ice rivers emptying into Prince William
Sound. Some of them have remained
stationary, while others are advancing
and retreating in alienation. The
western portion of the front Of the
great Columbia glacier, the report says,
advanced 1900 feet, overrunning part
of forest, between 1899 and 1914.
Then 1t turned around and retreated
900 feet. Measurements last Fall show
that it is again advancing several inches
day. Five of the large and five of the
small glaciers in this region have re-
treated since 1914. Two others have
advanced but apparently now are sta
tionary. Two large ones now are ad-
VancinR over ground they have not