Show ICE PACK SETTING RECORD FOR SPEED scientists ts measure 25 root foot daily advance fairbanks aska alaska if alanskas black rapids glacier is moving at the rate the frontal portion is reported to be advancing the speed is shattering all known scientific records E N patty former head of alaska colleges school of mines said here on return from the area patty said that before the black rapids glacier began its rapid advance the record was held by the M muir air glacier which moved at the rate of seven feet a day this measurement was made by scientists who marked its progress by using a row of stakes otto william geist of the university of alaska museum department also returned from the glacial site where he conducted investigations to determine the distance the glacier has moved in the last few months the rate of its progress at present and other data relating to the sudden and extraordinary glacial advance on scene 10 days after spending 10 days on the glacial field geist and his party found that the speed of its advance averaged 25 feet a day or a total movement of feet during the length of their observations assuming the advance began last november 1 and that the glacier then receding was at t the minimum distance of three miles from the point where it originally started and its present position it must have traveled more than 90 feet a day geist said of course the average speed could easily have been several times this indicated minimum the present movement of 25 feet a day would only account for feet of advance during the time indicated K is evident that the extreme maxi maximum speed attained may have been easily many times that of the minimum average requirement quakes are a factor it is quite possible possie that earthquakes frequently registered on the university seismograph may have vastly accelerated movement of the ice pack geist said he also pointed out that a series bof of enormous avalanches from the steep high mountains surrounding the glacial valley during recent years has had a great deal to do with the advance rate of the glacier patty explained the rapid rate of advance in saying that the pressure I 1 of snow and ice dc accumulating cumulating at higher elevations increase the speed at which it moves |