dropstone

These clasts are called dropstones and were introduced vertically through the water column into the lake area, where only fine-grained sediments normally accumulate, by ice rafting and melting. This phenomenon of disrupted varvites constitutes the strongest evidence of past glacial activity in a region.

Varved sediments may contain dropstones, which are fragments of rock that have dropped from an overlying floating ice sheet and that have sunk into and depressed the layers beneath them. When all these features are found together, they provide good evidence of ancient glaciations.