Mo*raine" (?), n. [F. Cf. Prov. G. mur stones broken off, It. mora a heap of stones, hillock, G. murbe soft, broken up, OHG. muruwi, AS. mearu tender, Gr. to cause to wither, Skr. mla to relax.] Geol. An accumulation of earth and stones carried forward and deposited by a glacier.
Lyell.
If the moraine is at the extremity of the glacier it is a terminal moraine; if at the side, a lateral moraine; if parallel to the side on the central portion of the glacier, a medial moraine. See Illust. of Glacier. In the last case it is formed by the union of the lateral moraines of the branches of the glacier. A ground moraine is one beneath the mass of ice.
© Webster 1913. | 
