From the Copper glacier, Alaska's Copper River flows through a glacier-carved landscape of steep mountains and fields of sand dunes before emptying into the Gulf of Alaska. The wind picked up fine sediments, the matter that settles to the bottom of a liquid, from the riverbank and carried it over to the ocean. This particular river is also, in fact, lined with sand.Due to the fact that the river is prone to high winds, the combination of these minerals result in a massive dust storm such as the one that was observed by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra Satellite on October 30, 2009. In the image, the wind is blowing from the snow-covered mountains to the Gulf of Alaska. The wind picked up fine sediments from the river bank and carried it over the ocean. To make this easier to understand, the sand and silt, an earthy matter, fine sand, or the like carried by moving or running water and deposited as a sediment, comes from the combined erosive power of flowing ice water.The heavy glaciers grind rock into fine sediment and gravel as they flow slowly down mountain valleys. This sediment washes into rivers and streams, much of which goes to Copper River.
