A fan or lobe of ice that forms where a valley glacier emerges from a valley and spreads out into the adjacent plain.

a type of glaciation characteristic of Alaska; large valley glaciers meet to form an almost stagnant sheet of ice

A fan or lobe-shaped glacier, located at the front of a mountain range. It forms when one or more valley glaciers flow from a confined valley onto a plain where it expands. The 30-mile wide Malaspina is the largest in Alaska.

A valley glacier that flows out of a mountainous area onto a gentle slope or plain and spreads out over the surrounding terrain.

A large glacier formed from the merger of several alpine glaciers.

large ice lobe spread out over surrounding terrain, associated with the terminus of a large mountain valley glacier. The massive lobe of Malaspina Glacier in Alaska is clearly visible in this photograph taken from a Space Shuttle flight in 1989. Agassiz Glacier is the smaller glacier to the left. The Malaspina Glacier is one of the most famous examples of this type of glacier, and is the largest piedmont glacier in the world. Spilling out of the Seward Ice Field (visible near the top of the photograph), it covers over 5,000 square kilometers as it spreads across the coastal plain. (Photo courtesy of SPACE.com and NASA.)