Kame

This article is about the geological development of hills. For the BSD licensed IPSec/IPv6 project, see KAME project.

A kame among the glacial drift on the terminal morraine of the Okanagon Lobe of the Cordilerion Glacier on the Waterville Plateau of the Columbia Plateau in Washington, United States.

Multiple erratics on kame in the terminal morraine of the Okanagon Lobe. Cascade mountains in the background.

A kame is a geological feature, an irregularly shaped hill or mound composed chiefly of poorly sorted sand and gravel deposited by a sub-glacial stream as an alluvial fan or delta. It can have an irregular shape. Kames are often associated with kettles, and this is referred to as kame and kettle topography.

Kames are sometimes compared to drumlins, but their formation is distinctively different. A drumlin is not originally shaped by meltwater, but by the ice itself and has a quite regular shape. It occurs in fine grained material, such as clay or shale, not in sands and gravels. And drumlins usually have concentric layers of material, as the ice successively plasters new layers in its movement.

Kames are not normally located in proximity to one another, however in Edmonton, Canada numerous kames are found nearby, forming the Prosser Archaeological Site. The Fonthill Kame in southern Ontario is in a densely populated area. In the United States examples can be found in Wisconsin and at the Sims Corner Eskers and Kames National Natural Landscape in Washington.

Multiple erratics on the terminal morraine of the Okanagon Lobe.

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