USGS Logo Geological Survey Professional Paper 631
Analysis of a 24-Year Photographic Record of Nisqually Glacier, Mount Rainier National Park, Washington

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

Abstract

Introduction

Purpose and scope
   Reasons for the program
   Purpose of the report
   Selection of study area
Previous investigations
   Photographs
   Surveys and maps
Acknowledgments

Description of the area

Physiography
Climate

The photographic program

Network of stations
Photographic series not published
Time of year and weather conditions
Camera equipment
Light conditions
Scale corrections on prints

Quantitative interpretations from the photographs

Changes in ice thickness
Changes in lateral ice margins
Longitudinal slope of the ice surface
Snow lines and firn edges

Qualitative interpretations

Characteristics of the terminus
Debris cover and its distribution
Moraines
Crevassing and general character of the glacier surface
   Terminus to profile 1
   Profile 1 to about 1,000 feet (300 m) above profile 2
   1,000 feet (300 m) above profile 2 to above profile 3
Erosion and deposition
   Banks and lateral moraines
   Outburst floods
      Flood of October 14, 1932
      Flood of October 24-25, 1934
      Flood of October 25, 1955
   Natural changes below glacier from floods and other causes

Conclusions

Recommended photographic procedures

Photographic stations
Optimum light conditions
Selecting the view
Equipment
Recording the photographic data

References


ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE

1. Map of Nisqually Glacier and vicinity, showing locations of the photographic stations and cross profiles (omitted from on-line edtion)


FIGURES

1. Map of south side of Mount Rainier and vicinity
2-5. Photographs of Nisqually Glacier, from confluence with Wilson Glacier to the nunatak, as seen from station 7:
2. 1890 (date uncertain)
3. August 1915
4. August 22, 1945
5. August 27, 1963
6. Photograph showing ice margins for selected years in period 1890
7-10. Photographs across glacier in series 14—W (profile 2) used to determine slope and changes in ice thickness:
7. August 21, 1942
8. August 27, 1952
9. September 8, 1960
10. August 30, 1965
11. Graph showing changes in ice-surface elevation, or glacier thickness, at profile 2 and above profile 3
12. Photograph of area where changes in ice thickness above profile 3 were measured on the photographs in series 15, showing minimum ice conditions in 1944
13. Photograph showing ice margins around the nunatak for selected years in the period 1942-65
14. Graph showing longitudinal slope of the glacier surface at profile 2
15. Photograph showing several areas of firn outlined on a 1955 view taken from station 13
16-19. Photographs of the terminus in series 1—NE, taken from points at or near the old highway bridge:
16. 1903
17. 1908
18. July 5, 1929
19. August 19, 1942
20-25. Photographs showing the lower part of Nisqually Glacier, as seen from station 5:
20. August 31, 1942
21. August 22, 1951
22. September 1, 1954
23. September 11, 1959
24. September 8, 1962
25. August 30, 1965
26. Photograph showing patterns of small recessional lateral moraines on east bank in 1940, as seen from station
27-31. Photographs of Nisqually Glacier near the nunatak, as seen from station 6:
27. August 27, 1952
28. September 1, 1954
29. September 5, 1958
30. September 6, 1961
31. August 30, 1965
32-34. Photographs of upper reaches of Nisqually and Wilson Glaciers, as seen from station 13:
32. August 28, 1949
33. August 30, 1957
34. August 30, 1965
35. Photographs showing erosion of old lateral moraine from 1947 to 1965
36-38. Photographs of Nisqually valley below the glacier, as seen from station 3:
36. 1934
37. August 25, 1947
38. August 31, 1965
39. Photographs showing river channel just above the highway bridge, as viewed downstream from station 2 in 1949, 1950, 1956, and 1965


TABLE

1. Descriptions of the photographic series, 1890-1965



United States Department of the Interior
Walter J. Hickel, Secretary

Geological Survey
William T. Pecora, Director

Library of Congress catalog-card No. 71-602805

A contribution to the International Hydrological Decade

United States Government Printing Office
Washington: 1969


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Last Updated: 01-Mar-2006