Akame, orknob, is aglacial landform, an irregularly shapedhill ormound composed ofsand,gravel andtill that accumulates in a depression on a retreatingglacier, and is then deposited on the land surface with further melting of the glacier. Kames are often associated withkettles, and this is referred to askame and kettle orknob and kettle[1]topography. The wordkame is a variant ofcomb (kame, orkaim is theOld Scottish word meaning 'comb'), which has the meaning "crest" among others.[2] The geological term was introduced byThomas Jamieson in 1874.[3]
According to White, "kames were formed by meltwater which deposited more or less washed material at irregular places in and along melting ice. At places the material is very well washed and stratified; at others it is more poorly washed, with inclusions of till masses that fell from ice but were covered before they were completely washed. Kame gravels thus tend to be variable and range from fine to coarse grained and even to cobbly and boulder."[4]
With the melting of the glacier, streams carrysediment to glaciallakes, building kamedeltas on top of theice. However, with the continuousmelting of the glacier, the kame delta eventually collapses onto the land surface, furthering the "kame and kettle" topography.
Kame terraces are frequently found along the side of a glacialvalley and are stratified deposits ofmeltwaterstreams flowing between the ice and the adjacent valley side.[4] These kame terraces tend to look like long, flat benches, with many pits on the surface made by kettles. They tend to slope downvalley withgradients similar to the glacier surface along which they formed, and can sometimes be found paired on opposite sides of a valley.
Kames are sometimes compared todrumlins, 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 asclay orshale, not in sands and gravels. And drumlins usually have concentric layers of material, as the ice successively plasters new layers in its movement.
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Kames are not normally located in proximity to one another, however inEdmonton, Alberta, numerous kames are found nearby, forming theProsser Archaeological Site. TheFonthill Kame in southernOntario is in a densely populated area. Examples can also be found inWisconsin and at theSims Corner Eskers and Kames National Natural Landscape inWashington. They are also located inMendon Ponds Park, southeast of Rochester, New York. This park is on the National Registry of Natural Landmarks due to geological history and presence of significant kames, eskers and kettles.
In Ontario, there are twoprovincial parks, both designated asIUCNnature reserves, which were created to protect important and undisturbed kame features. They areMinnitaki Kames Provincial Park andBonheur River Kame Provincial Park.
