Glaciation Flashcards
What is a glacier?
Glaciers are large bodies of ice that move over Earth’s surface.
A glacier is formed as snow accumulates over time and turns to ice, a process that can take more than a hundred years.
How do glaciers move?
A glacier is formed as snow accumulates over time and turns to ice, a process that can take more than a hundred years.
Glaciers also grow and shrink with seasonal changes in temperature.
A glacier is a large mass of ice often shaped like a river that flows very slowly, under the force of gravity.
Once a glacier has formed, it moves very slowly, at a rate of years, or even decades; some glaciers are frozen solid and do not move at all.
When a glacier does move, it is often downhill due to gravity.
As the glacier slides over Earth’s surface, it erodes its surface by polishing bedrock, pushing soil, grinding up rock, and digging into the ground.
How do glaciers form?
Glaciers develop over many years in places where snow has fallen but not melted. Snow is compacted and turns to ice.
The weight of the ice means that it starts to slip down mountain sides over time.
A glacier is a system.
There is a zone of accumulation where snow is added. This is normally at the start of a glacier in a highland area.
As more and more snow falls, it is compacted so the bottom layers become ice.
Ice moves downhill due to the force of gravity. Near the end, or snout, of the glacier ice may melt. This is the zone of ablation and is more likely to occur in warm summer
