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Geology > Chapter 18 Vocab > Flashcards

Chapter 18 Vocab Flashcards

1
Q

ablation

A

The removal of ice at the toe of a glacier by melting, sublimation (the evaporation of ice into water vapor), and/or calving.

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2
Q

arete

A

A residual knife-edge ridge of rock that separates two adjacent cirques.

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3
Q

Basal Sliding

A

The phenomenon in which meltwater accumulates at the base of a glacier, so that the mass of the glacier slides on a layer of water or on a slurry of water and sediment.

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4
Q

Cirque

A

A bowl-shaped depression carved by a glacier on the side of a mountain.

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5
Q

Continental Glacier (ice sheet)

A

A vast sheet of ice that spreads over thousands of square km of continental crust.

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6
Q

Crevasse

A

A large crack that develops by brittle deformation in the top 60 m of a glacier.

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7
Q

Drumlin

A

A streamlined, elongate hill formed when a glacier overrides glacial till.

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8
Q

End Moraine

A

A low, sinuous ridge of till that develops when the terminus (toe) of a glacier stalls in one position for a while.

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9
Q

Erratic

A

A boulder or cobble that was picked up by a glacier and deposited hundreds of kilometers away from the outcrop from which it detached.

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10
Q

Esker

A

A ridge of sorted sand and gravel that snakes across a ground moraine; the sediment of an esker was deposited in subglacial meltwater tunnels.

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11
Q

Fjord

A

A deep, glacially carved, U-shaped valley flooded by rising sea level.

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12
Q

Glacial Advance

A

The forward movement of a glacier’s toe when the supply of snow exceeds the rate of ablation.

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13
Q

Glacial Drift

A

Sediment deposited in glacial environments.

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14
Q

Glacial Outwash

A

Coarse sediment deposited on a glacial outwash plain by meltwater streams.

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15
Q

Glacially Polished Surface

A

A polished rock surface created by the glacial abrasion of the underlying substrate

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16
Q

Glacial Rebound

A

The process by which the surface of a continent rises back up after an overlying continental ice sheet melts away and the weight of the ice is removed.

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17
Q

Glacial Retreat

A

The movement of a glacier’s toe back toward the glacier’s origin; glacial retreat occurs if the rate of ablation exceeds the rate of supply.

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18
Q

Glacial Subsidence

A

The sinking of the surface of a continent caused by the weight of an overlying glacial ice sheet.

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19
Q

Glacial Till

A

Sediment transported by flowing ice and deposited beneath a glacier or at its toe.

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20
Q

Glacier

A

A river or sheet of ice that slowly flows across the land surface and lasts all year long.

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21
Q

Hanging Valley

A

A glacially carved tributary valley whose floor lies at a higher elevation than the floor of the trunk valley.

22
Q

Horn

A

A pointed mountain peak surrounded by at least three cirques.

23
Q

Ice Age

A

An interval of time in which the climate was colder than it is today, glaciers occasionally advanced to cover large areas of the continents, and mountain glaciers grew; an ice age can include many glacials and interglacials.

24
Q

Iceberg

A

A large block of ice that calves off the front of a glacier and drops into the sea.

25
Q

Ice - Margin Lake

A

A meltwater lake formed along the edge of a glacier.

26
Q

Ice Shelf

A

A broad, flat region of ice along the edge of a continent formed where a continental glacier flowed into the sea.

27
Q

Interglacial

A

A period of time between two glaciations.

28
Q

Kettle Hole

A

A circular depression in the ground made when a block of ice calves off the toe of a glacier, becomes buried by till, and later melts.

29
Q

Lateral Moraine

A

A strip of debris along the side margins of a glacier.

30
Q

Loess

A

Layers of fine-grained sediments deposited from the wind; large deposits of loess formed from fine-grained glacial sediment blown off outwash plains.

31
Q

Medial Moraine

A

A strip of sediment in the interior of a glacier, parallel to the flow direction of the glacier, formed by the lateral moraines of two merging glaciers.

32
Q

Milankovic Cycles

A

Climate cycles that occur over tens to hundreds of thousands of years because of changes in Earth’s orbit and tilt.

33
Q

Moraine

A

A sediment pile composed of till deposited by a glacier.

34
Q

Mountain (alpine glacier)

A

A glacier that exists in or adjacent to a mountainous region.

35
Q

Patterned Ground

A

A polar landscape in which the ground splits into pentagonal or hexagonal shapes.

36
Q

Permafrost

A

Permanently frozen ground.

37
Q

Plastic Deformation

A

The deformational process in which mineral grains behave like plastic and, when compressed or sheared, become flattened or elongate without cracking or breaking.

38
Q

Pluvial Lake

A

A lake formed to the south of a continental glacier as a result of enhanced rainfall during an ice age.

39
Q

Polar Glacier

A

A glacier so cold that its base remains frozen to the substrate.

40
Q

Recessional Moraine

A

The end moraine that forms when a glacier stalls for a while as it recedes.

41
Q

Roche Moutonnee

A

A glacially eroded hill that becomes elongate in the direction of flow and asymmetric; glacial rasping smoothes the upstream part of the hill into a gentle slope, while glacial plucking erodes the downstream edge into a steep slope.

42
Q

Sea Ice

A

Ice formed by the freezing of the surface of the sea.

43
Q

Tarn

A

A lake that forms at the base of a cirque on a glacially eroded mountain.

44
Q

Temperate Glacier

A

A glacier with a thin layer of water at its base, over which the glacier slides.

45
Q

Terminal Moraine

A

The end moraine at the farthest limit of glaciation.

46
Q

Tidewater Glacier

A

A glacier that has entered the sea along a coast.

47
Q

Toe

A

The leading edge or margin of a glacier.

48
Q

U - Shaped Valley

A

A steep-walled valley shaped by glacial erosion into the form of a U.

49
Q

Zone of Ablation

A

The area of a glacier in which ablation (melting, sublimation, calving) subtracts from the glacier.

50
Q

Zone of Accumulation

A

(1) The layer of regolith in which new minerals precipitate out of water passing through, thus leaving behind a load of fine clay; (2) the area of a glacier in which snowfall adds to the glacier.

Geology (16 decks)

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