Glacial water color?

Question

Rivers and lakes that recieve water from glacial meltwater often appear milky blue in color. Explain why this occurs.

ok this is the question and i'm not sure if i'm right but i think it has something to do with the rocks that glaciers carry and then it the glacier melts washing off the color of the rock or something like that plz help thank you! ^_^

Answer 1

You're close. "Rock flour", very finely ground rock suspended in the water, colors it distinctly blue. My wife and I enjoy Jasper and Banff Parks in Alberta, Canada, where glacial lakes have fantastic color. Look up Moraine Lake and Lake Louise in Google Image Search. No, they don't need to "touch up" the photos: the colors are that intense.

Clays (aluminum oxides/silicates) probably provide the finest "flour".

Answer 2

Water itslef has no color.  The "blue" water you see is the absorbtion of the atmospheric colors.  The sediments and other particles in water and amounts of each change the colors relfected.

Answer 3

Well, they're milky blue because the water is very pure, and has a high oxygen content. It's not silted up from contamination by solids from other run-off. Rocks have nothing much to do with it, you'd only get dissolved rock from a "hot" runoff, like a volcanic vent on the ocean floor with high mineral content. Rocks don't dissolve in cold water, or very little.