Mt. Powell, Montana

April 18, 2018

MtPowell (1)

Photographer: Rod Benson
Summary Author: Rod Benson 

This photo of Mt. Powell (10,168 ft. or m) in western Montana shows an impressive cirque, shaped by a glacier that once flowed from Powell’s northeast slope, down toward the valley of the Clark Fork River. According to geology maps, the strange flow-shaped mass of rocks near the bottom of the cirque was left by a rock glacier. Apparently, during the final decades of Mt. Powell’s glacier, there were more rocks than ice in the mix. Eventually, even the ice between the rocks melted away, and the rocks were left without a ride. From the summit, the deposit looks like a fluid blob of rocks, but without the matrix of ice the rocks are no longer flowing. Photo taken on July 8, 2016.

Photo Details: Camera: Panasonic Model DMC-LX7; Software: iPhoto 9.6.1; Exposure Time: 0.0005s (1/2000); Aperture: ƒ/2.8; ISO equivalent: 80; Focal Length (35mm): 24.