paternoster lake

(hydrology) One of a linear chain or series of small circular lakes, usually at different levels, which occupy rock basins in a glacial valley and are separated by morainal dams or riegels, but connected by streams, rapids, or waterfalls to resemble a rosary or string of beads. Also known as beaded lake; rock-basin lake; step lake.

A series of elongated lakes in a glacial trough, dammed by riegels or by moraines. The lakes are ‘strung’ together by rivers, giving the effect of a rosary; hence the name. In Snowdonia, Llyn Gwynant and Llyn Dinas are paternoster lakes in the Nantgwynant valley, but more extensive examples occur in Scandinavia.

Paternoster lakes in Darwin Canyon, in California's John Muir Wilderness.

A Paternoster lake is one of a series of glacial lakes connected by a single stream or a braided stream system. Paternosters occur in alpine valleys, climbing one after the other to the valley's head, called a corrie, which often contains a cirque lake. Paternoster lakes are created by terminal moraines, or rock dams, that are formed by the advance and subsequent upstream retreat and melting of the ice.

Excellent examples of this occur in California's Sierra Nevada, where many stream courses above 3000 m in altitude contain paternoster lakes.

The name comes from the word Paternoster, another name for the Lord's Prayer derived from the Latin words for the prayer's opening words, "Our Father"; Paternoster lakes are so called because of their resemblance to rosary beads, with alternating prayer beads connected by a string or fine chain.

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