Colonial Glacier is in
North Cascades National Park
North Cascades National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in Washington (state), Washington. At more than , it is the largest of the three National Park Service units that comprise the No ...
in the U.S. state of
Washington
Washington most commonly refers to:
* George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States
* Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A ...
and is immediately northwest of
Neve Peak
Neve Peak () is in North Cascades National Park in the U.S. state of Washington. Located in the south unit of the park, Neve Peak is west of Colonial Peak. The Neve Glacier is just south of Neve Peak while the Colonial Glacier descends from ...
. Colonial Glacier flows generally north, descending from .
Between 1950 and 2006, Colonial Glacier is estimated to have retreated more than and a newly formed
proglacial lake
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 t ...
filled the recently vacated former terminal moraine. The reduction in size of the glaciers of the North Cascades will reduce summertime meltwater runoff which is used to maintain a steady supply of electricity from hydroelectric power plants.
See also
*
List of glaciers in the United States
Glaciers are located in ten states, with the vast majority in Alaska. The southernmost named glacier is the Lilliput Glacier in Tulare County, California, Tulare County, east of the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of California.
Apa ...
References
Glaciers of the North Cascades
Glaciers of Whatcom County, Washington
Glaciers of Washington (state)
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