For Quick Alerts
ALLOW NOTIFICATIONS  
For Daily Alerts
Oneindia App Download

Striped candy like iceberg discovered in Antarctic Ocean

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

London, Mar 18 (UNI) An iceberrg that looks like a striped candy has been discovered in the waters of Antarctic.

Norwegian sailor Oyvind Tangen, on board a research ship around 1,700miles south of Cape Town and 660miles north of the Antarctic discovered some beautiful icebergs.

One of them looks like a giant mint candy, with clear blue, green and brown stripes. The other looks as if it has been shot through with a streak of spearmint. These stunning banded icebergs are believed to have been formed over hundreds of years . Some of the stripes formed when layers of the iceberg melted and refroze.

Others were created from the dust and soil picked up when the ice sheet that gave birth to the iceberg was sliding down an Antarctic hillside. The first iceberg was about 150ft long and 30ft high, and the second about 100ft tall, the Daily Mail reported.

Over time, the snow is compressed to form more ice, which slides slowly towards the sea. There it either breaks off into the water, or forms an ice shelf. Most appear white as a result of the tiny bubbles trapped within them which scatter light in every direction.

Blue stripes are often created when a crevice in the ice sheet fills up with meltwater and freezes so quickly that no bubbles form.

When an iceberg falls into the sea, a layer of salty seawater can freeze to the underside. If this is rich in algae, it can form a green stripe. Brown, black and yellow lines are caused by sediment, picked up when the ice sheet grinds downhill towards the sea.

UNI XC ARB SSC1341

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X