A glacial meltwater river drained from Greenland Ice Sheet (IMAGE)

GFZ Helmholtz-Zentrum für Geoforschung

A glacial meltwater river drained from Greenland Ice Sheet

Caption

A glacial meltwater river that has drained from the Greenland Ice Sheet. These rivers contain high amounts of suspended glacial flour as the ice sheet acts like a natural bulldozer, giving the rivers a grey milky color. The meltwater is enriched in surprisingly high concentrations of biologically essential micronutrients like iron, manganese or zinc.

Credit

Jon Hawkings, GFZ

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