Glaciers

Question 1

Ablation

Answer 1

The removal of surface snow or ice by sublimation, melting or evaporation

Question 2

Abrasion

Answer 2

Rocks and other materials carried by the sea are picked up by strong waves and thrown against the coastline causing more material to be broken off and carried away by the sea

Question 3

Accumulation

Answer 3

The addition of mass to the glacier, usually as snow

Question 4

Bulldozing

Answer 4

When rocks and debris found at the front of the glacier are pushed downhill with the ice

Question 5

Deposition

Answer 5

The laying down of sediment carried by wind, flowing water, the sea or ice

Question 6

Englacial debris

Answer 6

Within the ice of a glacier, believed to have been formerly within the ice of a glacier

Question 7

Erosion

Answer 7

The geological process in which earthen materials are worn away and transported by natural forces such as wind or water

Question 8

Firn

Answer 8

Snow that is at least one year old and has therefore survived one melt season, without being transformed to glacier ice

Question 9

Freeze-thaw action/ freeze-thaw weathering/ frost shattering

Answer 9

Occurs when rocks are porous or permeable. Water enters cracks in the rock and when temperatures drop, the ice freezes and expands causing the cracks to widen. The ice melts and water makes its way deeper into the cracks.

Question 10

Glacial outwash

Answer 10

A plain formed of glaciofluvial deposits due to meltwater outwash at the terminus of a glacier

Question 11

Nevée

Answer 11

A young, granular type of snow which has been partially melted, refrozen and compacted yet precedes the form of ice

Question 11

Snout

Answer 11

The lowest end of a glacier

Question 12

Plucking

Answer 12

As the glacier moves over rock, meltwater freezes into joints or cracks in the rock. When the glacier moves it ‘plucks’ out pieces of rock.

Question 12

Rotational Slip

Answer 12

The semi-circular motion of a mass of rock and/or soil as it moves downslope along a concave face

Question 13

Stratified

Answer 13

Dividing sampling into groups

Question 14

Subglacial debris

Answer 14

Material found at the base of the glacier

Question 14

Striations

Answer 14

Linear furrows, or linear marks, generated from fault movement

Question 15

Till

Answer 15

Sediment that has been transported and deposited by or from glacier ice, with little or no sorting by water

Question 16

Transportation

Answer 16

The movement of material by suspension, solution, traction or saltation

Question 17

Weathering

Answer 17

The wearing down or breaking of rocks while they are in place

Question 17

Zone of ablation

Answer 17

The low-altitude area of a glacier/ ice sheet below firn with a net loss in ice due to melting, sublimation, evaporation, ice calving- aeolian processes like blowing snow, avalanche or other ablation

Question 18

Zone of accumulation

Answer 18

Refers to the area above the firn line, where snowfall accumulates and exceeds the losses from ablation

Question 19

Formation of a glacier

Answer 19

Snowfalls- compressed so air is squeezed out- this forms firn of nevées- more compression squeezes more air out, forming glacial ice over approximately 20 yrs- the ice moves downhill due to gravity to form a glacier