17 Flashcards

1
Q

Glacier

A

An accumulation of snow and
ice, that lasts year round.
Thick enough to flow downhill
under its own weight.

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2
Q

Categories of Glaciers

A

Mountain glaciers
Continental glaciers (Greenland, Ant Artica)

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3
Q

Mountain Glaciers - Cirque

A

Fill mountaintop bowls.

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4
Q

Mountain Glaciers - Valley

A

Low like rivers down valleys.

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5
Q

Mountain Glaciers - Ice caps

A

Covers peaks and ridges.

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6
Q

Mountain Glaciers - Piedmont

A

Spread out at the end of a valley.

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7
Q

Continental Glaciers

A

Vast ice sheets covering large
land areas.
Ice flows outward from thickest
part of sheet.

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8
Q

Basal slip

A

Forming or belonging to
a bottom layer.
Significant quantities of
meltwater forms at glacier base.

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9
Q

Plastic Deformation

A

Crevasses form at surface—upper zone is stretching.
Not reversable.

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10
Q

Zone of accumulation

A

Area of net snow addition.

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11
Q

Zone of ablation

A

Area of net ice loss.

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12
Q

Toe

A

The leading edge of a glacier.

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13
Q

Glaciers are important forces of
landscape change…

A

…Erosion, transport, deposition

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14
Q

Tarn

A

A lake inside a cirque.

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15
Q

Arete

A

Knife-edge ridge.
Two cirques or two
valley glaciers that have eroded
toward one another.

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16
Q

Glaciers act as…

A

…large-scale conveyor belts.

17
Q

Sediment transport is always…

A

… in one direction (downhill).

18
Q

Debris at the toe of a glacier is called…

A

…end moraine.

19
Q

Moraines

A

Unsorted debris deposited by a
glacier.

20
Q

(Moraines) Lateral

A

Forms along the flank of a
valley glacier.

21
Q

(Moraines) Lateral

A

Forms along the flank of a valley glacier.

22
Q

(Moraines) Medial

A

Mid-ice moraine from
merging of lateral moraines.

23
Q

Glacial Till

A

Sediment dropped by glacial ice.

24
Q

Erractics

A

Boulders dropped by glacial ice
Different from the underlying bedrock
Carried long distances in ice.

25
Q

Loess

A

Wind-transported silt.
Glaciers produce abundant amounts of fine sediment.

Strong winds over ice blow the rock flour away.

26
Q

Terminal moraines

A

Form at the farthest
edge of flow.

26
Q

End Moraines

A

Form at the stable toe of
a glacier.

27
Q

Ground Moraine

A

Till left behind by rapid ice
retreat.
Creates a hummocky (irregular)
surface.
Kettle lakes form from stranded
ice blocks.

27
Q

Drumlins

A

Long, aligned hills of molded till.
◦ Asymmetric form—steep up-ice; tapered down-ice.
◦ Commonly occur as swarms aligned parallel to ice-flow direction.
◦ Basic theory – till is dropped below glacier and as it moves over, shapes it into the shape of a teardrop.

28
Q

Eskers

A

Long, sinuous ridges of sand and gravel.
Th
ey form as meltwater channels within or below ice.
Channel sediment is released
when the ice melts.

29
Q

Consequences of Continental Glaciation

A

Ice loading and glacial rebound

◦ Ice sheets depress the lithosphere into the mantle.

◦ Slow crustal subsidence follows flow of asthenosphere.

◦ After ice melts, the depressed
lithosphere rebounds.

◦ The last ice-age glacial rebound continues slowly today.

30
Q

Glacial Consequences

A

Sea level—ice ages cause sea level to rise and fall

◦ Water stored on land during an ice age: sea level falls.

◦ Deglaciation returns water to oceans: sea level rises

◦ Sea level was ~100 m lower during the last ice age.

◦ If ice sheets melted, coastal regions would be flooded.

31
Q

Pleistocene Ice Ages

A

All climate and vegetation belts were shifted southward.