thumb|The [[Southern Patagonian Ice Field between Chile and Argentina.]]
thumb|The [[Harding Icefield on the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska, United States.]]
An ice field (also spelled icefield) is a mass of interconnected valley glaciers (also called mountain glaciers or alpine glaciers) on a mountain mass with protruding rock ridges or summits. They are often found in the colder climates and higher altitudes of the world where there is sufficient precipitation for them to form. The higher peaks of the underlying mountain rock that protrude through the icefields are known as nunataks. Ice fields are larger than alpine glaciers, but smaller than ice caps and ice sheets. The topography of ice fields is determined by the shape of the surrounding landforms, while ice caps have their own forms overriding underlying shapes.
Formation
Ice fields are formed by a large accumulation of snow which, through years of compression and freezing, turns into ice. Because of the susceptibility of ice to gravity, ice fields usually form over large areas that are basins or atop plateaus, thus allowing a continuum of ice to form over the landscape uninterrupted by glacial channels. Glaciers often form on the edges of ice fields, serving as gravity-propelled drains off the ice field which is in turn replenished by snowfall.
While an ice cap is not constrained by topography, an ice field is. An ice field is also distinguishable from an ice cap because it does not have a dome-like form.
Ice fields of the world
Asia
There are several ice fields in the Himalayas and Altay Mountains (the border range between the Central Asian Republics and China). One unexpected ice field is located in Yolyn Am, a mountain valley located in the northern end of the Gobi Desert.
Oceania
There are no ice fields in Australia.
New Zealand has
- Garden of Eden Ice Plateau
- Garden of Allah ice field
- Olivine Ice Plateau
Reference:
Europe
The only large ice fields in mainland Europe are in Norway (e.g., Dovre and Jotunheimen). There are several dozen small ice fields in the Alps and tiny remnants of permanent ice in Sweden, the Apennines, the Pyrenees and the Balkans. Since the disappearance of the last remaining ice field in Andalucía, with the disappearance of the Corral del Veleta glacier in 1913, the southernmost surviving permanent ice field in continental Europe is Snezhnika in Bulgaria. Another notable icefield is Campo de Hielo Norte (Northern Patagonian Ice Field), which is located entirely in Chile; and a third smaller icefield, known as the Ice Fields of the Darwin Range, which is located on the western (Chilean) portion of Tierra del Fuego proper.
See also
- List of glaciers and icefields
- Nunatak