Proglacial lake

Argentinian proglacial lakes: Lago Viedma (middle), Lago Argentino (left) and Lago San Martin (right). Retreating glaciers are visible at the top.
Tarn—a proglacial lake impounded by the terminal moraine of the retreating Schoolroom Glacier in Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

In geology, a proglacial lake is a lake formed either by the damming action of a moraine during the retreat of a melting glacier, a glacial ice dam, or by meltwater trapped against an ice sheet due to isostatic depression of the crust around the ice.[1] At the end of the last ice age about 10,000 years ago, large proglacial lakes were a widespread feature in the northern hemisphere.

  1. ^ Asher-Bolinder, Sigrid (1988). U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. U.S. Government Printing Office.