Glacier Polish on Granite, looking down-valley or South from
East Eagle Cirque—Eagle Cap Wilderness . . .

Written is the rocks . . .

What geologists call glacier polish is a kind of flowform
in extreme slow motion, created not by water, but by ice.

As the massive bodies of Pleistocene ice retreated, the bottom
ice surface, lubricated by melt water and embedded with countless
fine and sharp debris particles, worked like a directional
scouring brush. The hard, massive slabs of solid granite, like
the beautiful rose-colored East Eagle granite pictured above,
were by this action polished smooth. The linear lines left in the rock's
surface also reveal the direction of retreat, usually parallel to sides
of the valley. So with a little experience and imagination, one
can almost see (and hear) the glacier pulling back in front of
one's feet!

On the road in the American Northwest.

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