The Susten Pass road crosses over the Obertalbach stream. The moraine on the right indicates where the Stein glacier once extended to in 1850.
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Meltwater drains from the Stein glacier's tongue. The polished stone surface visible to the side of the stream is a result of the abrasion - or scraping - during the glacier erosion.
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The small lake left after the Stein glacier's retreat is turquoise in colour thanks to the rock dust in the water from the ice sheet's erosion.
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The water of this cascade of the Sulzbach waterfalls has a drop of 50 metres. The total height of all the stages of the Sulbach waterfalls is 116m.
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The Isorno river cuts through the gneiss helping shape the kind of gorges typical to the Onsernone valley of southern Switzerland.
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The Isorno river.
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The glacier erosion is clearly visible above the Isorno gorge.
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The artificial Mattmark lake near Saas Almagell in a side valley of the Rhone River is the largest earthfill dam in Europe. The material used came from the moraine of the Allalin glacier in 1850.
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Repeated advances and retreats of the Allalin glacier over the years left behind small lakes, which led at times to the water bursting through, flooding the Saas valley below.
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Schwarzbergtalbach stream, Saas-Almagell in canton Valais.
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The Rhine Falls are the largest in Switzerland, with 373 cubic metres of water a second flowing through them.
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The water of Lake Zurich fills the cavity left behind by the former Linth glacier over several ice ages. The lake is fed by its main tributary, the Linth river.
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The Limmat is the river flowing out of Zurich. The waterway broke through the moraine from the last ice age that reached an approximate height of the bridge pictured.
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The Aare - the tributary of the Rhine that carries the most water - flows under the Nydegg and Untertor bridges in Bern's old town.
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Bern's Untertor bridge as seen from above.
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What does global warming look like? Geography student and photographer Merlin Unterfinger has followed river courses of the Swiss Alps to document a changing landscape.
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Merlin Unterfinger
Retreating glaciers leave behind polished stone, waterfalls and small lakes of exquisite beauty. Unterfinger’s striking images tell a story of climate change that began with the last ice age and continues – at a more rapid pace – today.
Swiss researchers at the federal technology institute, ETH Zurich, say that warmer winters leading to more rain instead of snow, even at high altitudes, will mean an increase in flooding in winter months and less water in lowland rivers and lakes in summer. The reason? Water from snow melt in spring that now accounts for 40% of the water flowing through Switzerland’s rivers and lakes will drop to only 25% by 2085.
Unterfinger’s images of rushing alpine streams, and lowland waterways like Lake Zurich and the Aare River flowing through Bern’s historic centre could be very different if taken again a few decades from now. (Photos: Merlin UnterfingerExternal link)
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