Ice rafting

When the ice melts after a certain amount of drifting, these objects are deposited onto the bottom of the water body, e.g., onto a river bed or an ocean floor.

Ice rafting was a primary mechanism of sediment transport during glacial episodes of the Pleistocene when sea levels were very low and much of the land was covered by large masses (sheets) of ice.

The rafting of various size sediments into deeper ocean waters by icebergs became a rather important process.

Ice rafting is still a process occurring today, although its impact is significantly less and much harder to gauge.

The melting of large icebergs deposits sediment of various sizes, usually referred to as glacial marine sediment, onto the shelf and deeper marine areas.