The Saskatchewan Glacier is located in

Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, approximately northwest of the town of Banff, and can be accessed from the Icefields Parkway. Saskatchewan Glacier is the largest outflow glacier from the Columbia Icefield, which rests along the

Continental Divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

. The glacier is a primary water source for the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...

. The glacier is approximately long and covers an area of 30 km² (11.5 mi²) and was measured in 1960 to be over thick at a distance of from the terminal snout. Between the years 1893 and 1953, Saskatchewan Glacier had receded a distance of , with the rate of retreat between the years 1948 and 1953 averaging per year. The glacier, which flows northeast, exhibits a prominent medial morraine.

References

Gallery

File:Castleguard Mountain with Saskatchewan Glacier.jpg, Saskatchewan Glacier with Castleguard Mountain from Parker Ridge File:Saskatchewan Glacier & Parker Ridge.jpg, Saskatchewan Glacier & Parker Ridge from glacier's toe File:Athabasca Glacier animation.gif, In this animated gif of the Columbia Icefield, glaciated areas in 1990 are compared to 2000. The Saskatchewan Glacier is the large tongue shaped glacier on the left, which has both retreated and thinned along most of its length during the period. Banff National Park Glaciers of Alberta {{Canada-glacier-stub

See also

References

Gallery