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How do kettles form in glacial deposits?

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esker: Nunavut — glacial landform Eskers, or narrow ridges of gravel and sand left by a retreating glacier, wind through western Nunavut, Canada, near the Thelon River.

Kettles are steep-sided depressions found in glacial and glaciofluvial deposits that form through the melting of detached, stagnant masses of glacial ice.12

These ice blocks become separated from an active glacier by ablation and are subsequently buried or partially buried by glacial outwash or till. The ice can remain insulated under this mantle of debris for hundreds of years.12

The formation process occurs in two primary ways:
* Partial burial: As a partially buried ice mass melts, the unsupported sediment surrounding it slumps into the space left by the retreating ice.1
* Complete burial: When a completely buried ice mass melts, the overlying sediment collapses into the resulting void.1

Once the ice has fully melted, a depression remains, often bordered by slumped masses of the surrounding deposits. These features can range from 5 meters to 13 kilometers in diameter. When these depressions fill with water, they are known as kettle lakes.21