Occurs in unconstrained topographic areas (lowland); Expanding glacial fronts; Radial frontal shape; If it terminates into sea, use class calving and piedmont; Icefield formed on a lowland by lateral
expansion of one or coalescence of several glaciers
A fan or lobe-shaped glacier, located at the front of a mountain range. It forms when one or more valley glaciers flow from a confined valley onto a plain where it expands. The 30-mile wide Malaspina
is the largest in Alaska.
A glacier the lower tongue of which is fan-shaped and significantly wider than the upper tongue. The lateral expansion of a piedmont glacier is markedly greater than that of an expanded-foot glacier.
In some classifications piedmont glaciers are distinguished from expanded-foot glaciers by requiring that a piedmont glacier have two or more coalescing tributaries. See the related but not synonymous ice piedmont.