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Glacier Bancorp, Inc. Business Information, Profile, and History

49 Commons Loop
Kalispell, Montana 59901
U.S.A.

History of Glacier Bancorp, Inc.

With assets of more than $950 million, Glacier Bancorp, Inc. is one of the largest financial institutions in Montana. A multibank holding company, Glacier Bancorp operates in western and central Montana through five principal subsidiaries--Glacier Bank, Glacier Bank of Whitefish and Glacier Bank of Eureka, First Security Bank of Missoula, Valley Bank of Helena, and Big Sky Western Bank. In 1999, Glacier Bancorp ventured outside its traditional Montana markets when it acquired Mountain West Bank of Idaho; it now runs five banking offices in Idaho. With 23 branches, Glacier Bancorp offer a full range of retail and commercial banking products and services.

A Small Town Thrift: 1955-80

Glacier Bancorp's roots date back to 1955, when several business leaders in Kalispell, Montana joined together to establish First Federal Savings and Loan of Kalispell. Among the founders were Alton Pierce (who operated a Kalispell drug store), Owen Sowerwein, Milt Mercord, and Ruben Nordem (the owner of a local shoe store). Bob Gattis was recruited to be the new savings and loan's first managing officer. In 1977, Charles Mercord replaced Gattis as managing officer and chief executive.

Like other savings and loan associations (also known as 'thrifts'), First Federal Savings and Loan was a federally chartered bank. Although federal regulations gave such institutions special privileges, including lower capital requirements than their commercial bank counterparts, these same regulations limited the types of services thrifts could offer. While empowered to make real estate loans, savings and loans could not make consumer or commercial loans. Furthermore, thrifts were required to rely solely on individual deposits for their funds. For these reasons, First Federal operated for most of its early history simply as a depository and real estate loan center for the Kalispell area.

Deregulation and Growth in the 1980s

First Federal's outlook changed drastically in 1980, when Congress began to overhaul the regulations governing the banking industry as a whole. By the end of the 1970s, the industry had become considerably more complex, with unregulated financial institutions entering into traditional banking activities. Moreover, depository institutions--such as savings and loans--had sought ways to outmaneuver the regulations that barred them from offering banking services, such as checking accounts. For instance, many thrifts began to tout Negotiable Order of Withdrawal (NOW) accounts. These interest-bearing savings accounts were a near substitute for checking accounts.

In 1980, Congress passed the Depository Institutions Deregulation and Monetary Control Act. This legislation approved NOW accounts and broadened the sphere of thrifts' permissible activities. With the passage of the Garn-St Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982, savings and loans gained 'new investment, deposit, and lending powers, including the ability to make commercial and consumer loans,' according to the Dallas Morning News. The restrictions on the interest rates thrifts could offer were loosened, as were those that forbade thrifts from borrowing from other financial institutions.

First Federal immediately used its new powers, and it began to offer checking accounts and consumer loans. While many of the nation's savings and loan associations, however, overindulged in the wake of deregulation--making rafts of bad loans and nearly causing the collapse of the American banking industry in the late 1980s--First Federal remained 'focused on stability and profits,' John MacMillan, the company's future chief executive later told U.S. Banker. 'We've always believed that a good, strong bottom line protects the company from bad loan decisions.'

As First Federal strove both to expand and to diversify its loan mix to include small consumer loans, the company needed to raise additional capital. In an effort to do so, First Federal opted to become a publicly held company in 1984, starting with an initial offering of 550,000 shares. According to the Missoulian, going public 'positioned the bank for purchases.' At the same time, First Federal insured that its employees retained a significant stake in the thrift by rewarding all staff with stock options after they had worked one year with the company. 'We have consistently tried to make all employees owners in the bank,' MacMillan later explained, adding 'It just wasn't our philosophy to reward only the top four or five people.'

Bolstered both by its conservative lending policies and loyal employees, First Federal grew during the mid-1980s--despite the fact that Montana's core industries of mining and lumber were mired in a deep slump. The company's assets rose from $140 million in 1986 to $148 million in 1988, while its net income increased from $1.7 million to $1.9 million during the same period. The efficacy of First Federal's approach was further underscored by the failure of other savings and loans. As the Billings Gazette reported, across the county thrifts lost a total of $5.8 billion in 1987 and an astounding $11.1 billion the following year. Meanwhile, First Federal held the distinction of being Montana's most profitable thrift in 1988, a fact that led Barron's to proclaim that the company was 'nestle[d] like a rose among the thorns of the thrift industry.'

In 1989, First Federal continued its pursuit of expansion, when it acquired Glacier National Bank of Columbia Falls, Montana for $150,000. In the process, First Federal became one of the first thrifts in the United States to acquire a bank. With more than $16 million in deposits and a low loan-to-deposit ratio of 37 percent, Glacier offered First Federal clear advantages. When the purchase was completed, First Federal's assets exceeded $165 million. To reflect its wider geographic reach, First Federal changed its name to First Federal Savings Bank of Montana. More important, First Federal altered its structure to became a Federal Reserve holding company, a move that it made to increase its flexibility.

Expansion in the 1990s

First Federal's fortunes received a dramatic boost in 1990, when Money Magazine named Kalispell as one of the best places to live in the United States. According to the Missoulian, this laudatory article helped 'kick off a housing and population boom' in western Montana. Those who flocked to the area's scenic vistas only a few miles from Glacier National Park were often affluent and in search of a second home. First Federal was uniquely poised to capitalize on the growth, as it controlled approximately 15 percent of all mortgages in the area. The company quickly devised tools to serve these wealthier newcomers, offering short-term loans in addition to conventional fixed-rate loans. 'We have many unique loans on larger properties,' MacMillan would later explain to Real Estate Finance Today.

While the Kalispell area around First Federal buzzed with new arrivals, the company made a number of internal changes as well. In October 1990, First Federal once again took a new name. The holding company was redesignated Glacier Bancorp, Inc., and the First Federal branches became Glacier Bank. Still intent on increasing its assets, the company announced in December 1991 that it would acquire Evergreen Bancorp, a privately held corporation that controlled First National Bank of Whitefish and First National Bank of Eureka (both in Montana). When the purchase was completed in 1992, Glacier Bancorp gained $46.2 million of assets, as well as new bank branches.

Soon after the Evergreen acquisition was finalized, chief executive Charles Mercord retired. His post was filled by company veteran John MacMillan. The change at the helm did little to affect Glacier's growth. Between 1992 and 1993, the company's net income surged from $4.10 million to $5.12 million, and by the close of 1993, Glacier had 13 bank branches--all located in northwest Montana. The national press took notice of Glacier's stellar performance. An analyst reporting to Barron's in 1992 praised Glacier as a 'first-class bank,' and Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine called it 'a growth company in a red-hot state's hottest sector.' In 1994, Glacier's net income rose again to $5.13 million.

After a record year in 1995, in which Glacier's net income surpassed $5.68 million, the company once again sought to expand its network of banks. In August 1996, Glacier announced that it planned to acquire Missoula Bancshares, Inc.--the Montana-based parent company of First Security Bank of Missoula. The deal, which was completed in December 1996, offered Glacier several clear advantages. First Security brought more than $110 million of assets to Glacier, boosting Glacier's combined assets to more than $520 million. Along with this heightened liquidity, the move bolstered the company's position in the marketplace, as the combined institution controlled 16 offices in ten western Montana communities. Even more impressive was First Security's sound financial record. As MacMillan said in a press release, 'First Security has consistently been one of the strongest performing banks in the whole country in recent years.' Furthermore, the acquisition provided Glacier access to the burgeoning Missoula market. About two hours south of Kalispell, Missoula was one of the fastest-growing regions in Montana. Unlike Kalispell, Missoula had a multifaceted economy, rooted in government services, medical care, forestry, technology, education, tourism, and trade, making it more adaptable to the vicissitudes of local economic conditions. Finally, the acquisition of First Security allowed Glacier to balance its loan portfolio. The bulk of Glacier's loans were in real estate, and thus 'First Security's commercial and consumer loans ... mesh[ed] nicely,' MacMillan explained in a press release. With stronger commercial and consumer loans, Glacier would be protected from any future fluctuations in the Montana real estate market.

Upon completing its purchase of Missoula Bancshares in December 1996, Glacier allowed First Security to retain its autonomy, local management, and local decision-making. This policy quickly became the centerpiece of Glacier's strategy in subsequent acquisitions. As Michael Blodnick--who would later become Glacier's chief executive--noted to the Northwestern Financial Review that the 'main reason we're buying the banks is because of the talents those banks have in their senior management teams.' He emphasized that Glacier's operating philosophy was 'to find excellent performers, fast-growing banks with reputations, and [let] those people keep doing their things.'

As it sought to integrate its new holdings, Glacier took the unconventional step of converting all of its banks from federal charters to state commercial charters in 1997. Although First Security was chartered as a commercial bank by the state of Montana, Glacier's other holdings still had been operating as federal thrifts. 'It becomes time consuming having to deal with all the different agencies,' a Glacier executive told American Banker. By simplifying this web of regulations and thereby having each bank subsidiary report to the same authority, Glacier hoped to create efficiencies and cut costs. As it streamlined its operations, Glacier also changed the names of First National Bank of Whitefish and First National Bank of Eureka to Glacier Bank of Eureka and Glacier Bank of Whitefish to 'more clearly identify the tie with Glacier Bank and expand customer recognition,' MacMillan explained in a press release.

Yet while working to integrate its diverse subsidiaries, Glacier also continued to expand in terms of both its geographical reach and the services it offered. In 1997, Glacier launched a partnership with Robert Thomas Securities to provide full-service brokerage and investment services at many of the company's branch banks. Later in the year, Glacier announced its acquisition of HUB Financial Corporation, a holding company that controlled Valley Bank in Helena, Montana. With two offices in Helena (and an additional branch under construction), Valley Bank provided Glacier with $70 million in assets and access to the market in Montana's capital city. Consistent with its general philosophy, Glacier pledged that Valley Bank would retain its autonomy, as well as its decision-making authority.

In 1998, Glacier purchased Big Sky Western Bank, a commercial bank with about $40 million in assets and banking offices in Big Sky and Bozeman, Montana. 'We believe this acquisition significantly enhances our banking franchise by giving us access to another rapidly growing market area in Montana,' Michael Blodnick announced in a press release. Blodnick had succeeded MacMillan as president and chief executive officer of the company in April 1998. MacMillan, who had served at Glacier for 31 years, remained chairman of the board.

Despite the raft of changes implemented in the late 1990s, Glacier continued to enjoy record growth. In 1997, Glacier's assets increased by six percent, to more than $580 million, and its loans jumped by nine percent. The year 1998 was even more successful. Glacier had expanded its empire to 23 offices in 16 Montana communities, and its assets topped $710 million. As its first full year under state commercial charters, Glacier ranked fourth in U.S. Banker's mid-sized bank ranking. Glacier had extended its loan portfolio beyond real estate as well. According to the Missoulian, by 1999, the company's loan portfolio consisted of a balanced 42 percent commercial loans, 36 percent real estate, and 22 percent consumer loans. Although the company had achieved an unprecedented compounded annual earnings growth of more than 17 percent between 1988 and 1998, Glacier kept its perspective. 'We're just aggressive community bankers who are taking advantage of the changes occurring in this industry,' MacMillan told U.S. Banker.

But even with its stunning successes, Glacier did not overlook the communities it served. In May 1995, three of the company's banks had been recognized by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle for contributing to the revitalization of the rural Flathead Valley. Specifically, the company was credited with pioneering innovative ways to create homeownership opportunities for low- and moderate-income families. In 1997, Glacier created the Glacier Affordable Housing Foundation, which in one year dispersed more than $2 million in grants and helped 70 families purchase homes.

1999 and Beyond

Glacier completed another acquisition in 1999, when it purchased two bank branches in Butte, Montana from Washington Mutual Inc. 'Butte adds a key location that helps expand our strong western Montana banking franchise,' Blodnick told the Associated Press. As with its other acquisitions, Glacier left control to local management.

Soon after completing its acquisition in Butte, Glacier announced in September 1999 that it would make its initial foray beyond Montana with the purchase of Mountain West Bank of Idaho. This commercial bank with $87 million in assets had offices in Coeur d'Alene, Hayden Lake, Post Falls, and Boise, Idaho. The advantages Glacier stood to accrue by purchasing Mountain West were significant. Most important was the fact that Glacier would no longer be dependent solely on Montana's growth. Mountain West provided Glacier with access to two of the fastest-growing markets in the United States--Idaho's Coeur d'Alene and Kootenai counties. According to Northwestern Financial Review, the population in these areas had exploded during the late 1990s. 'Our hope is to use this merger as a springboard into Idaho and eastern Washington,' Blodnick told the Spokesman Review. Moreover, Mountain West's strengths mirrored Glacier's own in the arenas of real estate and commercial loans. Therefore, rather than venture into new spheres (such as agriculture loans), Glacier could continue to focus on what it already did so well.

Glacier's flurry of activity paid off, as 1999 proved to be a banner year. The company's record earnings increased 11.6 percent to reach $12.18 million. At the same time, Glacier's assets grew 25 percent, while commercial loans and consumer loans rose 33 percent and 25 percent, respectively. With more than $950 million in assets, Glacier was one of the largest commercial banks in Montana, and with its plans to expand westward (especially into flourishing Idaho markets), Glacier's future prospects looked exceedingly bright.

Principal Subsidiaries: Glacier Bank; Glacier Bank of Whitefish and Glacier Bank of Eureka; First Security Bank of Missoula; Valley Bank of Helena; Big Sky Western; Mountain West Bank.

Principal Competitors: BancWest Corporation; Wells Fargo & Company; WesterFed Financial Corporation.

Related information about Glacier

A body of ice originating from recrystallized snow in cirques in mountain areas and flowing slowly downslope by creep under its own weight (alpine glaciers). Huge glaciers on continental plateaux are termed ice sheets. Glaciers flow until the rate of ice loss at the snout equals the rate of accumulation at the source.

A glacier is a large, long-lasting river of ice that is formed on land and moves in response to gravity. A glacier is formed by multi-year ice accretion in sloping terrain. Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, and second only to oceans as the largest reservoir of total water. Glaciers can be found on every continent, including on the greater Australian continent. Glaciers are more or less permanent bodies of ice and compacted snow that have become deep enough and heavy enough to flow under their own weight.

Geologic features associated with glaciers include end, lateral, ground and medial moraines that form from glacially transported rocks and debris; U-shaped valleys and corries (cirques) at their heads, and the glacier fringe, which is the area where the glacier has recently melted into water.

Types of glaciers

There are two main types of glaciers: alpine glaciers, which are found in mountain terrains, and continental glaciers, which are associated with ice ages and can cover large areas of continents. Polar glaciers are always below the freezing point with most mass loss due to sublimation. The superimposed ice zone is a zone of such high melt and refreeze that ice lenses have merged to a continuous mass.

The smallest alpine glaciers form in mountain valleys and are referred to as valley glaciers. Larger ice layers can cover an entire mountain, mountain chain or even a volcano; this type is known as an ice cap. Outlet glaciers are formed by the movement of ice from a polar ice cap, or an ice cap from mountainous regions, to the sea.

The largest glaciers are continental ice sheets, enormous masses of ice that are not affected by the landscape and extend over the entire surface, except on the margins, where they are thinnest. Antarctica and Greenland are the only places where continental ice sheets currently exist. This type of glacier appears in many places, especially in Iceland and some of the large islands in the Arctic Ocean, and throughout the northern Pacific Cordillera from southern British Columbia to western Alaska.

Tidewater glaciers are glaciers that flow into the sea. As the ice reaches the sea pieces break off, or calve, forming icebergs. The Hubbard Glacier is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska and has a calving face over ten kilometers long. Yakutat Bay and Glacier Bay are both popular with cruise ship passengers because of the huge glaciers descending to them.

Piedmont glaciers occupy broad lowlands at the base of steep mountains, and form when one or more alpine glaciers surge from the confining walls of mountain valleys. The size of piedmont glaciers varies greatly: among the largest is the Malaspina Glacier, which extends along the length of the southern coast of Alaska. And it is only a part of the much bigger Kluane Icecap, which spans the Mount St. Elias and Chugach groups of mountain ranges all the way from the Malaspina Glacier to the Copper River and well into the southwestern Yukon, as well as southeast from the Malaspina towards the Iskut River in British Columbia.

The highest alpine glacier in the world is the Siachen Glacier, which is also a zone of political conflict between India and Pakistan.

Formation of glaciers

The snow which forms glaciers is subject to repeated freezing and thawing, which changes it into a form of granular ice called n辿v辿. Under the pressure of the layers of ice and snow above it, this granular ice fuses into denser firn. The distinctive blue tint of glacial ice is due to Rayleigh scattering, the same effect that gives the sky its blue color.

The lower layers of glacial ice flow and deform plastically under the pressure, allowing the glacier as a whole to move slowly like a viscous fluid. The upper layers of glaciers are more brittle, and often form deep cracks known as crevasses or Bergshrunds as they flex. Glacial meltwaters flow throughout and underneath glaciers, carving channels in the ice similar to caves in rock and also helping to lubricate the glacier's movement. As a rule of thumb, the accumulation zone accounts for 60-70% of the glacier's surface area. The depth of ice in the accumulation zone exerts a downward force sufficient to cause deep erosion of the rock in this area. After the glacier is gone, this often leaves a bowl or amphitheater-shaped depression called a cirque.

On the opposite end of the glacier, at its foot or terminal, is the deposition or ablation zone, where more ice is lost through melting than gained from snowfall and sediment is deposited. The place where the glacier thins to nothing is called the ice front.

The altitude where the two zones meet is called the equilibrium line. Several non-linear relationships define the relation between accumulation and ablation.

In the aftermath of the Little Ice Age, around 1850, the glaciers of the Earth have retreated substantially. www.grida.no/climate/ipcc_tar/wg1/064.htm

Even in very cold climates, there may be unglaciated areas, which receive too little precipitation to form permanent ice. This was the case in most of Siberia, central and northern Alaska and all of Manchuria during glacial periods of the Quaternary, and occurs today in Antarctica's Dry Valleys and in that part of the Andes between 19属S and 27属S above the hyperarid Atacama Desert where, although the mountains reach 6700 metres above sea level, the cold Humboldt Current completely suppresses precipitation. The increased pressure on ice deeper than that depth causes the ice to become plastic and flow. Friction between ice and rock and geothermal heat from the Earth's interior also contribute to thawing.

Speed of glacial movement

The speed of glacial displacement is partly determined by friction. This was confirmed by experiments in the 19th century, in which stakes were planted in a line across an alpine glacier, and as time passed, those in the center moved further.

Mean speeds vary; In other cases they can move as fast as many meters per day, as is the case of Byrd Glacier, an overflowing glacier in Antarctica which moves 750-800 meters per year (some 2 meters or 6 ft per day), according to studies using satellites.

Many glaciers have periods of very rapid advancement called surges.www.geog.leeds.ac.uk/research/glaciology/maths.htm These glaciers exhibit normal movement until suddenly they accelerate, then return to their previous state. -->

Moraines

Glacial moraines are formed by the deposition of material from a glacier and are exposed after the glacier has retreated. These features usually appear as linear mounds of till, a poorly-sorted mixture of rock, gravel and boulders within a matrix of a fine powdery material. Glacial meltwaters contain rock flour, an extremely fine powder ground from the underlying rock by the glacier's movement. Transport of fine-grained material within a glacier can smooth or polish the surface of rocks, leading to glacial polish. Glacial erratics are rounded boulders that were left by a melting glacier and are often seen perched precariously on exposed rock faces after glacial retreat.

The most common name for glacial sediment is moraine. The term is of French origin, and it was coined by peasants to describe alluvial embankments and rims found near the margins of glaciers in the French Alps.

Drumlins

Drumlins are asymmetrical hills with aerodynamic profiles made mainly of till. An example of these fields is found east of Rochester, New York, and it is estimated that it contains about 10,000 drumlins.

Although the process that forms drumlins is not fully understood, it can be inferred from their shape that they are products of the plastic deformation zone of ancient glaciers. This pulverized rock is called rock flour. This flour is formed by rock grains of a size between 0.002 and 0.00625 mm. Sometimes the amount of rock flour produced is so high that currents of meltwaters acquire a grayish color.

Another of the visible characteristics of glacial erosion are glacial striations. By mapping the direction of the flutes the direction of the glacier's movement can be determined. Chatter marks are seen as lines of roughly crescent shape depressions in the rock underlying a glacier caused by the abrasion where a boulder in the ice catches and is then released repetitively as the glacier drags it over the underlying basal rock.

The velocity of a glacier's erosion is variable. The differential erosion undertaken by the ice is controlled by four important factors:

Velocity of glacial movement
Thickness of the ice
Shape, abundance and hardness of rock fragments contained in the ice at the bottom of the glacier
Relative ease of erosion of the surface under the glacier.

Material that becomes incorporated in a glacier are typically carried as far as the zone of ablation before being deposited. Patterns of glacial erratics provide clues of past glacial motions.

Glacial valleys

Before glaciation, mountain valleys have a characteristic "V" shape, produced by downward erosion by water. However, during glaciation, these valleys widen and deepen, which creates a "U"-shaped glacial valley. Because of this interaction, triangular cliffs called truncated spurs are formed.

Many glaciers deepen their valleys more than their smaller tributaries. Therefore, when the glaciers stop receding, the valleys of the tributary glaciers remain above the main glacier's depression, and these are called hanging valleys.

In parts of the soil that were affected by abrasion and plucking, the depressions left can be filled by paternoster lakes, from the Latin for "Our Father", referring to a station of the rosary.

At the head of a glacier is the corrie, which has a bowl shape with escarped walls on three sides, but open on the side that descends into the valley. After the glacier melts, these corries are usually occupied by small mountain lakes called tarns.

There may be two glaciers separated by a dividing ridge. This structure may result in a mountain pass.

Glaciers are also responsible for the creation of fjords (deep coves or inlets) and escarpments that are found at high latitudes. With depths that can exceed 1,000 metres caused by the postglacial elevation of sea level and therefore, as it changed the glaciers changed their level of erosion.

Ar棚tes and horns

An ar棚te is a narrow crest with a sharp edge. The meeting of three or more ar棚tes creates pointed pyramidal peaks and in extremely steep-sided forms these are called horns.

Both features may have the same process behind their formation: the enlargement of cirques from glacial plucking and the action of the ice.

Sheepback rock

Some rock formations in the path of a glacier are sculpted into small hills with a shape known as roche moutonn辿e or sheepback.

Alluvial stratification

The water that rises from the zone of ablation moves away from the glacier and carries with it fine eroded sediments. The water then gradually deposits the sediment as it runs, creating an alluvial plain. When the deposition is to an estuary, the sediments are known as "bay mud".

Alluvial plains and valley trains are usually accompanied by basins known as kettles. These depressions are formed when large ice blocks are stuck in the glacial alluvium and after melting, they leave holes in the sediment.

Generally, the diameter of these depressions does not exceed 2 km, except in Minnesota, where some depressions reach up to 50 km in diameter, with depths varying between 10 and 50 meters. Meanwhile, meltwater flows over, within, and beneath the ice leave stratified alluvial deposits. In other cases, they are just the result of fans or deltas towards the exterior of the ice produced by meltwater.

When the glacial ice occupies a valley it can form terraces or kame along the sides of the valley.

A third type of deposit formed in contact with the ice is characterized by long, narrow sinuous crests composed fundamentally of sand and gravel deposited by streams of meltwater flowing within, beneath or on the glacier ice. After the ice has melted these linear ridges or eskers remain as landscape features.

Loess deposits

Very fine glacial sediments or rock flour is often picked up by wind blowing over the bare surface and may be deposited great distances from the original fluvial deposition site. These eolian loess deposits may be very deep, even hundreds of meters, as in areas of China and the midwestern United States.

Isostatic rebound

This rise of a part of the crust is due to an isostatic adjustment. This is post-glacial rebound and is currently occurring in measurable amounts in Scandinavia and the Great Lakes region of the United States.

Ice ages

Main article: Ice age.

Ice age divisions

A quadruple division of the Quaternary glacial period has been established for North America and Europe. In order of appearance, they are the following: Nebraskan, Kansan, Illinoisan, and Wisconsinan. This classification was refined thanks to the detailed study of the sediments of the ocean floor. Because the sediments of the ocean floor, in contrast to that of the Earth's surface, are less affected by stratigraphic discontinuities, they are useful to determine the climatic cycles of the planet.

In this matter, geologists have come to identify over twenty divisions, each of them lasting approximately 100,000 years.

Causes of ice ages

Little is known about the causes of glaciations.

Generalized glaciations have been rare in the history of Earth. However, the Ice Age of the Pleistocene was not the only glaciative event, since tillite deposits have been identified. Tillite is a sedimentary rock formed when glacial till is lithified.

These deposits found in strata of differing age present similar characteristics as fragments of fluted rock, and some are superposed over bedrock surfaces of channeled and polished rock or associated with sandstone and conglomerates that have features of alluvial plain deposits.

Two Precambrian glacial episodes have been identified, the first approximately 2 billion years ago, and the second (Snowball Earth) about 600 million years. Also, a well documented record of glaciation exists in rocks of the late Paleozoic (of 250 million years of age).

Although there are several scientific hypotheses about the determining factors of glaciations, the two most important ideas are plate tectonics and variations in Earth's orbit (Milankovitch cycles).

Plate tectonics

Because glaciers can form only on dry land, plate tectonics suggest that the evidence of previous glaciations is currently present in tropical latitudes due to the drift of tectonic plates from tropical latitudes to circumpolar regions. Evidence of glacial structures in South America, Africa, Australia, and India support this idea, because it is known that they experienced a glacial period near the end of the Paleozoic Era, some 250 million years ago.

The idea that the evidence of middle-latitude glaciations is closely related to the displacement of tectonic plates was confirmed by the absence of glacial traces in the same period for the higher latitudes of North America and Eurasia, which indicates that their locations were very different from today.

Climatic changes are also related to the positions of the continents, which has made them vary in conjunction with the displacement of plates. Since continents drift very slowly (about 2 cm per year), similar changes occur in periods of millions of years.

A study of marine sediment that contained climatically sensitive microorganisms until about half a million years ago were compared with studies of the geometry of Earth's orbit, and the result was clear: climatic changes are closely related to periods of obliquity, precession, and eccentricity of the Earth's orbit.

In general it can be affirmed that plate tectonics applies to long time periods, while Milankovitch's proposal, backed up by the work of others, adjusts to the periodic alterations of glacial periods of the Pleistocene.

References

Michael Hambrey and J端rg Alean, Glaciers, 2nd ed.

Chronology

Key Dates:
1955: First Federal Savings and Loan of Kalispell is founded.
1982: Federal legislation expands the kinds of services thrifts can offer consumers.
1984: First Federal Savings and Loan of Kalispell becomes a publicly held company.
1989: First Federal acquires Glacier National Bank.
1990: Glacier Bancorp Inc. is established as a holding company for First Federal.
1992: Evergreen Bancorp. is acquired.
1996: Glacier Bancorp purchases Missoula Bancshares, Inc.
1997: Company converts all of its banks to state-chartered commercial banks.
1998: Glacier Bancorp acquires HUB Financial Corporation.
1999: Company purchases Big Sky Western Bank and Mountain West Bank of Idaho.

Additional topics

Company HistoryFinance: Banks & Credit

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