Glaciers Flashcards
Glaciers are rivers of:
Ice
Any body of ice that flows downhill pulled by Earth’s gravity just like rivers in slow motion
Glacier
Snow transforms to _____
Ice slowly
All ice starts out as ____
Snow
As it is buried, old snow compacts into ___
Firn
Firn crystallizes to:
Solid Ice
Glaciers end where ice:
Melts
Where the snow piles up
Head
At the head of the glacier, snow piles up =
Accumulation
Plucks up and carries sediment of all sizes (mud —-> giant boulders)
Body
At the TOE of a glacier ice melts and drops drops sediment =
Ablation
Ice ALWAYS flows _____
Downhill
A glacier grows longer as climate gets colder
Advance
A glacier melts and shrinks as climate gets warmer
Retreat
‘Baby’ glaciers just starting to flow, high up in the mountains
Cirque Glaciers
Cirque glaciers have round hollow valleys
Cirques
‘Rivers of ice’ flowing in between mountains
Valley glaciers
Erode valleys into U shapes
Valley glaciers
When two valley glaciers meet, they can form
Hanging Valleys
Thick ‘blanket’ of ice over a mountain range
Ice Caps
Ice cap peaks are eroded into sharp points or ____
Horns
Valley glaciers that reach a lake or ocean
Fjord Glaciers
Fjord Glaciers have ice the breaks off at the toe, forming
Icebergs
Glaciers spread out at the ‘foot of the mountain’ and form an icy fan shape
Piedmont Glaciers
Dump glacial sediment over a wide area
Piedmont Glaciers
Enormous glaciers formed during ice ages
Continental Ice Sheets
Flow starts in the thick center of the sheet
Continental Ice Sheets
Ice flows RADIALLY in all directions in a Continental Ice Sheet to thinner edges (____)
Ice shelves
Carved by glaciers
Alpine topography
Ridge formed by glacial sediment (marks where glacier toe used to be)
Glacial Deposition
Sediment dropped by melting glaciers (unsorted, angular, poorly bedded)
Till
