esker

[ es-ker ]

noun

, Geology.

1. a serpentine ridge of gravelly and sandy drift, believed to have been formed by streams under or in glacial ice.

esker

/ ˈɛskɑː; ˈɛskə; -kə /

noun

1. a long winding ridge of gravel, sand, etc, originally deposited by a meltwater stream running under a glacier Also calledos

esker

/ ĕs′kər /

1. A long, narrow, steep-sided ridge of coarse sand and gravel deposited by a stream flowing in or under a melting sheet of glacial ice. Eskers range in height from 3 m (9.8 ft) to more than 200 m (656 ft) and in length from less than 100 m (328 ft) to more than 500 km (310 mi).

Word History and Origins

Origin of esker¹

First recorded in 1850–55, esker is from the Irish word eiscir ridge of mountains

Word History and Origins

Origin of esker¹

C19: from Old Irish escir ridge

Example Sentences

Every foot of the landscape from here on north would be scored and scarred with reminders of glaciation—scattered boulders called erratics, drumlins, eskers, high tarns, cirques.

From Literature

The Lost 40’s geology includes an 11,000-year-old ice age relic known as an esker, which VanNingen described as a “glacial, gravelly deposit.”

From Washington Times

The incredible terrain is in northern Canada, which is ridged with thousands of eskers — the sinuous, gravelly remains of streams and rivers that flowed beneath the ice.

From Scientific American

The esker is fully a quarter of a mile long, about thirty feet high, and four rods wide at its base.

From Project Gutenberg

In places where the low ground is marshy, roads and railways often follow the ridge-lines of hills, Lines of communication. or, as in Finland, the old glacial eskers, which run parallel to the shore.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• bluff
• cliff
• dune
• highland
• hillside
• hilltop
• ridge
• slope