5. Glacial Geomorphology

Based on a geomorphological analysis, a timeless glacial model of the island is presented, that is, a model that could be applied to any of the Pleistocene glaciations of the region. This model is basically oriented towards the formation of large valley glaciers, fed by cirque glaciers and small, local ice caps. Several of these glaciers excavated their troughs following the orientation of tectonic alignments, such as faults and folds and also, stratigraphic, intra-formational boundaries. In the southern sector of the island, the glaciers became in contact with the ocean quite soon, ending in an ablation process of the “calving” type, that is, the formation of icebergs. The glaciers of the northern coast, instead, were flowing nested in deep valleys until they reached the extensive plain located north of their mountain sources, a plain that had been covered by the sea during the interglacial periods, as it happens today. There, these ice bodies ended as piedmont glaciers, in an ablation process by simple melting of their terminal portions.