Glaciers ❄️

Question 1

How do glaciers erode

Answer 1

Plucking and abrasion

Question 2

Describe plucking

Answer 2

As the ice moves there is a friction between it and the rock beneath it and this causes some of the ice to melt and water steeps into the cracks.

The meltwater freezes again and sticks to the glacier and as the glacier moves forward it pulls or plucks chunks of the rock away with it.

Question 3

Describe abrasion

Answer 3

As the ice carries plucked rocks away they scratch or scrape over the rock surface over which the glacier passes. This sandpaper effect wears down the rock.

Question 4

What are the four types of moraines

Answer 4

-lateral
-medial
-ground
-terminal/end

Question 5

Describe a lateral moraines

Answer 5

As the glacier travels through a valley, it drops off some of the material that it has eroded from the upper slopes at either side of the glacier.

Question 6

Describe a medial moraines

Answer 6

When two glaciers meet, the lateral moraines of each glacier also meet, creating a medial moraine.

Question 7

Describe a ground moraine

Answer 7

Material is also moved along and deposited underneath a glacier. This is called a ground moraine.

Question 8

Describe a terminal/end moraines

Answer 8

When a glacier stops moving, a ridge, made up of the material that it was pushing in front of it, is deposited.