In geology, a proglacial lake is a lake formed either by the damming action of a moraine or ice dam during the retreat of a melting glacier, or one formed by meltwater trapped against a ice sheet due to isostatic depression of the crust around the ice. At the end of the last ice age approximately 10,000 years ago, large proglacial lakes were a widespread feature in the northern hemisphere. Geology (from Greek γη- (ge-, the earth) and λογος (logos, word, reason)) is the science and study of the Earth, its composition, structure, physical properties, history and the processes that shape it. ... Scrivener Dam, in Canberra, Australia, was engineered to withstand a once-in-5000-years flood event A dam is a barrier across flowing water that obstructs, directs or retards the flow, often creating a reservoir, lake or impoundment. ... Moraine at Mono Lake, California, United States Moraines clearly seen on a side glacier of the Gorner Glacier, Zermatt, Switzerland. ... An ice dam is a geological phenomenon. ... An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² (19,305 mile²). The only current ice sheets are Antarctic and Greenland; during the last ice age at Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of Canada... Isostasy is a term used in Geology to refer to the state of gravitational equilibrium between the Earths lithosphere and asthenosphere such that the tectonic plates float at an elevation which depends on their thickness and density. ... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years For the animated movie, see Ice Age (movie). ...

In some cases, such lakes gradually evaporated during the warming period after the quart-cén ice age. In other cases, such as Glacial Lake Missoulia and Glacial Lake Wisconsin in the United States, the sudden rupturing the supporting dam allowed a rapid catastrophic floods, resulting in the formation of gorges and other structures downstream from the former lake. Glacial Lake Wisconsin was a prehistoric proglacial lake that existed approximately 15,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age, in the central part of present-day Wisconsin in the United States. ...

See also

• List of prehistoric lakes
• Pluvial lake