Miage Glacier, Courmayeur, Aosta Valley, Italyi

Regional Level Types
Miage Glacier	Glacier
Courmayeur	Commune
Aosta Valley	Autonomous Region
Italy	- not defined -

Miage Glacier, Italy's longest glacier (ca. 10 km) and also the largest debris-covered glacier in Europe, flows from Col de Bionnassay (3892 m) in a generally southerly direction towards Veny Valley (Val Veny). Its most northerly arm or tributary is the Glacier de Bionnassay Italien (Ghiacciaio di Bionnassey), which arises from a cirque between the south eastern side of Aiguille de Bionnassay, Col de Bionnassay and the Calotte des Aiguille Grises. This descends for 2.5 km below the Col Infranchissable then turns south-east to merge with other three glaciers (Dôme Glacier [Glacier du Dôme or Ghiacciaio del Dôme], Monte Bianco Glacier [Ghiacciaio del Monte Bianco], and Tête Carrée ice tongue), thence continuing as the Miage Glacier (Glacier du Miage or Ghiacciaio del Miage).

Approximately 5 km² of its total area of ~11 km² is covered with debris originating primarily in rockfall from surrounding walls and avalanching in accumulation areas of its four tributaries. Debris carried along within the glacier is also being exposed at increased rates due to the accelerating thinning of the glacier tongue. Debris cover becomes continuous at ~2400 m and remains unbroken to the terminus. Patchy areas can occur, however, where crevasses or moulins occur. Debris thickness generally increases from a few centimetres at 2400 m to over 1 metre at the terminus at ca. 1775 m, although the spatial distribution of thicknesses is heterogeneous especially on parts of the northern terminal lobe.

Miage Lake (2020 m a.s.l., coordinates: 45.77836 N, 6.87102 E) is an ice-contact lake near the Miage Glacier southern end, located on the outside of the glacier's 90° bend eastwards. It is a popular tourist attraction due to the spectacular ice cliffs rising up to one side and its two-coloured appearance. The colours reflect varying sediment concentrations in the water which arise as a result of the filtering effect of the debris.

Jardin du Miage is an area with well-developed arboreal vegetation (hence the name jardin, i.e., garden) between the northern and southern terminal lobes of the Miage Glacier. The arboreal vegetation (mostly European larch and spruce) surrounding the Jardin du Miage Lake (1830 m a.s.l., coordinates: 45.78546 N, 6.89023 E), also known as Lac Vert, is occasionally drowned along the lake edge and impacted by water level changes.

Quite huge collecting area (glacial moraines and lateral rock falls) rich in meta-granite boulders hosting Alpine fissures with well-crystallized minerals.

Notes:

According to the analytical data (Scaini & Giorgetta, 1967; Passaglia, 1970), "chabazite" is nowadays ascribable to chabazite-Ca. Also in "heulandite" and "stilbite", Ca is the most abundant non-framework cation member.

Fossils

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Other Databases

Wikipedia:	https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miage_Glacier
Wikidata ID:	Q212613
GeoNames ID:	3173477

Localities in this Region

References