calving

(geology) The breaking off of a mass of ice from its parent glacier, iceberg, or ice shelf. Also known as ice calving.
(vertebrate zoology) Giving birth to a calf.

The breaking away of a mass of ice from an iceberg, an ice front, or a glacier. It represents the major form of ablation from a glacial system. The calves from the Blomstrand Glacier, Spitzbergen, are often 40 m or more in height.