![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/12_morteratsch_valley_from_glacier.jpg) The proglacial area of Vadret da Morteratsch, seen from the glacier, showing the braided river, scanty vegetation cover, extensive dead ice and the left-lateral Little Ice Age moraine. (MH) | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/13_ova_morteratsch_braided.jpg) Telephoto of the braided section of Ova da Morteratsch, surrounded by rubble deposited directly from the glacier. Note the turquoise pond filling a kettle hole towards top right. (MH) | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/14_fast_flowing_glacial_stream.jpg) Turbulent flow of the milky waters of Ova da Morteratsch around river-bed boulders, captured at a low shutter speed. (MH) | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/15_river_bars.jpg) Gravel and sand bars, with the milky water indicating suspended silt, in the Ova da Morteratsch, looking down-river. (MH) |
![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/16_silt_ripples.jpg) Close-up view of current ripples consisting of sand in the bed of Ova da Morteratsch. Flow is towards the camera. (MH) | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/17_silt_ripples_overview.jpg) Current ripples of sand encroaching on a substrate of gravel in the bed of Ova da Morteratsch. Flow is towards the camera. (MH) | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/18_morteratsch_delta.jpg) Slack flow in the bed of Ova da Morteratsch, illustrating sand bars and sediment-laden meltwater, originating from the glacier in the background; September 2008. (MH) | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/19_marginal_kettle_hole.jpg) To the side of the main channel and still connected to it is a kettle hole. The striking turquoise colour arises from light reflected on silt-sized particles derived from granite-gneiss bedrock. Compare with the telephoto view of the braid-plain from the glacier. (MH) |
![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/20_kettle_hole_flowers.jpg) Isolated kettle hole surrounded by alpine flora, down-valley of Vadret da Morteratsch. This feature is the result of melting of buried glacier ice and creation of a depression in the alluvial plain. (MH) | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/21_morteratsch_hummocky_moraine.jpg) Small hummocky moraines with early stages of colonisation by vegetation marking the mid-1970s position of the glacier snout. | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/22_morteratsch_river_low_flow.jpg) Ova da Morteratsch a short distance up-valley from the railway station in the early morning when the water level was low and many boulders on the riverbed were exposed. | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/23_morteratsch_river_evening.jpg) Similar view in the late afternoon, when the water level was high and most of the boulders were under water. (MH) |
![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/24_morteratsch_outside_moraines.jpg) Vegetation is markedly denser just outside the Little Ice Age limit of Vadret da Morteratsch, as can be seen here with well established larch and pine. (MH) | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/25_yellow_mountain_saxifrage.jpg) One of the early colonising plants following deglaciation – the yellow mountain saxifrage (Saxifraga aizoides) – is here growing on coarse glaciofluvial sediment next to a granite boulder. (MH) | ![Proglacial area 2006 Proglacial area 2006](icons/26_morteratsch_englacial_tunnel.jpg) Englacial conduit surrounded by medial moraine debris on lower Vadret da Morteratsch in 2006. Water entering this tunnel ultimately reaches the bed. (MH) | |