1) "The thin and tapered side (less steep) of the drumlin points in the direction of glacier movement"
But is it pointing to the direction of glacial advance or glaical retreat? The quote confuses me because a glacier moves both ways, i.e. advance and retreat, they move in opposite directions)
For example, in the diagram below, the thin and tapered side (less steep) of the drumlin is pointing to the bottom right, would this be pointing in the direction of glacial advance or glacial retreat?
http://courses.missouristate.edu/ejm893f/creative/GndwGlaWnd/contdepos.jpg



2) Is a drumlin created when a glacier advance or when a galcier retreat?



3) "A col is a ridge separating 2 hanging valleys. It stretches from one horn to another"
Can someone explain? Is col indeed a ridge, not a valley?


4) "An interlobate moraine form between lobes of the ice sheet"
Between lobes? What actually does a glacier lobe mean?

Technically a glacier only "moves" one way: it advances. The mass-balance may be said to be retreating, but all glaciers advance: they never stop moving downward. In common terminology, they say "retreating," but actually this only means that it is shortening in length by melting. In the above diagram, the drumlin field is undergoing erosion in the direction of the glacier melt as the glacier retreats. As you can see, the melt is flowing down to the right in front of the glacier forming little pools.

A "Col" is the saddle-like link between two mountain peaks:

"Mountains can be said to be "linked" to their parent mountains by means of the col between the two of them. For example, Resplendent is linked to its parent Mount Robson by the Resplendent-Robson Col [Mount Robson Provincial Park, British Columbia]. The saddle itself is the "link" or "connection" between the two." http://bivouac.com/PgxPg.asp?PgxId=190

http://austral.as.utexas.edu/michael/climbing/res12_thumb.JPG

http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~mdobbs/logbooks/2003-08_MtRobsonResplendent/2003-08_CanRockies0073.JPGThumbN.jpg

"The "ridge route" from the Robson/Respelendent col to the bottom of the
kain face follows this snow/rock ridge."

Source: http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~mdobbs/logbooks/2003-08_MtRobsonResplendent/index_003.html


A "col" is a French word for "mountain pass" that pertains to high summit passes, such as those of Mt. Everest. "In a range of hills, or especially of mountains, a pass (also gap, notch, col, saddle, bwlch or bealach) is a lower point that allows easier access through the range." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain_pass

"An arête is a thin, almost knife-like, ridge of rock. Arêtes are typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. An arete is the thin ridge of rock that is left separating the two valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode towards one another, although frequently this results in a saddle-shaped pass, called a col." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arete_(landform)

Mount Everest:

"Southeast Ridge: From Camp II, climbers ascend the Lhotse face on fixed ropes up to a small ledge at 7,470 m (24,500 ft). From there, it is another 500 metres to Camp IV on the south col at 7,920 m (26,000 ft)....On the South Col, climbers have entered the death zone. Climbers typically only have a maximum of two or three days they can endure at this altitude for making summit bids."

http://www.biocrawler.com/w/images/thumb/3/39/250px-Mt_Everest_cropped_els_1991.jpg
The South Col: "In 1953 the summit was finally reached by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay from Nepal climbing the South Col Route.

"Northeast Ridge: ...To reach Camp IV on the north col, climbers ascend the glacier to the foot of the col where fixed ropes are used to reach the north col at 7,010 m (23,000 ft). From the north col, climbers ascend the rocky north ridge to setup Camp V at around 7,775 m (25,500 ft)."
http://www.biocrawler.com/encyclopedia/Mount_Everest

http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~mdobbs/logbooks/2003-08_MtRobsonResplendent/2003-08_CanRockies0081.JPGThumbN.jpg

"The icy summit of Mt Resplendent (3500m) is visible in the distance.
The normal route goes around the rockband on the right, ascending to
the Robson/Resplendent col and then the summit."

Source: http://www-physics.lbl.gov/~mdobbs/logbooks/2003-08_MtRobsonResplendent/index_004.html

1) The quote confuses me because a glacier moves both ways, i.e. advance and retreat, they move in opposite directions
See valich's answer above.
2) Is a drumlin created when a glacier advance or when a galcier retreat?They are created under the ice. It doesn't really matter whether it is advancing or retreating since, as valich noted above, the glacier is always moving forwards. The exact manner of formation is still questioned: either slow progressiveaccretion of material or catastrophic deposition during sub-glacial flooding by high pressure water. I suspect both mechanisms ma be at work.
3) Is col indeed a ridge, not a valley?

Valich's excellent photographs don't quite answer your question, unless you already know the answer. A col isn't really either. It is closer to being a ridge than a valley. It is the lowest point on a ridge connecting two peaks. The South Col on Everest, that valich included a small photograph of, is the highest col on the planet. Higher than most mountains. Though not of course Everest or Lhotse.
What actually does a glacier lobe mean?When a glacier comes out of the constraints of a valley and moves onto more open ground it is able to spread out. Minor variations in topography may encourage it to split up into several fingers, or lobes. Moraine can be deposited between these.

DAmmit, Kingwinner, you need a good geology field trip.
I remember seeing glacial features in a glen down teh back of Stob Binnein in the HIghlands when I was there with Scouts, and how amazing they looked. They looked even more amazing when I learnt the geology behind them.

Bugger me! [It's OK. Bhudda1 doesn't visit these threads. I'm safe.] Stob Binnein is one of the few Munro's I've actually got around to climbing.

Through a quick search, I only found that the French word "col" is used in reference to passes between high peaks. That's really all I can say about it. I wish I could have found better pictures, but I thought they would suffice to show that a col is a pass between peaks. If you still have a question about it, I could find more examples.

One last word on this, more accurately, I should've said that a "col" is used to refer to a pass between two high peaks that are "linked together." That's why in the pictures you can see that these passes are not very deep. A col is not a ravine or valley between two mountains, it is usually a pass between two linked summits.

Also, Glaciers never retreat in the sense that they flow backwards - it only appears that way because the teriminal end line moves up. Glaciers form when the accumulation of the snow at the top or base freezes into ice and applies a downward pressure. Through the accumulation of snow at the source, the lower layers of the glacier have to move out under this pressure. Without the accumulation of snow and ice at the source, glaciers melt at their foot or terminus: their depositional end. This is called the ice front. As the meltwaters flow out in the unrenewed glacier, they cause erosion and streams. The ice front is gradually diminished back (retreats).

Friction has a lot to do with how fast a glacier flows and thus how thick or thin the glacier becomes. The moraines in your diagram are the rocks and other depositional material that the glacier carries along with it underneath its bottom layer. When a glacier retreats, these depositional rock moraines become visual. Notice the hump in what they call the "end moraine." This occurs with every glacier sooner or later and shows you the exact point where a glacier stopped advancing and started retreating. The elongated teardrop-shaped drumlins in the drumlin fied are thought to be caused by erosional streamling of rock obstacles by the ice and the slow addition of concentric layers of till (unsorted, fine-graded, glacial sediments, such as clay or shale). Bigger drumlins are composed of coarser-grained till. Kanes are similar to drumlins but are formed by the meltwater of glacial stream, are irregular in shape and consist of unsorted coarse-grained sand or gravel deposits.

http://www.nps.gov/ccso/nnl/nnl14.jpg

Withrow Moraine and Jameson Lake Drumlin Field:

"Withrow Moraine is the only Ice Age terminal moraine in the Columbia Plateau natural region. The drumlin field is the best example of this type of feature within the natural region. Together they provide dramatic evidence of depositional and erosional processes that accompany continental glaciation."

The drumlins are behind the river in the background. You can see one in the upper lefthand corner, a narrower one in the center to center left, and the upper teardrop side of a much larger one (10-15 meters high) in the center right.

http://www.nps.gov/ccso/nnl/nnlw.htm


http://nsidc.org/glaciers/gallery/images/drumlin_field_mt_large.jpg

Drumlin field. Manitoba, Canada.

http://nsidc.org/glaciers/gallery/drumlin_mt.html

http://nsidc.org/glaciers/gallery/images/bylot_island_moraine_large.jpg

Retreating glacier with an obvious, large end moraine.

"End moraine of a piedmont glacier, Bylot Island, Canada. The sharp-crested ridge of till (end moraine) was pushed up at the ice margin during the glacier's maximum advance, probably during the Little Ice Age."

http://nsidc.org/glaciers/gallery/bylot_island_moraine.html

Not bad munro is it Ophiolite. Given the history of the science of geology associated with Scotland, there should be more people running around looking at the geology. Plus I think schools should be encouraged to do field trips, its more interesting seeing it all for yourself.