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

Question 20

Bulldozing

Answer 20

The glacier pushes sediment in front of it at its snout

Question 21

Glacial till

Answer 21

material which has been dropped by a glacier

Question 21

Stratified

Answer 21

vertical layering/ lines created by annual layers of sediment

Question 22

Outwash material

Answer 22

dropped by meltwater some distance from the snout

Question 23

Arête

Answer 23

Where two corries erode back to back

Question 24

Pyramidal peak

Answer 24

Where 3 or more corries erode back to back

Question 25

Truncated spurs

Answer 25

Interlocking spurs are chopped off by a glacier leaving steep valley sides

Question 26

Hanging valley

Answer 26

Where the tributaries used to flow into the main river valley but the main valley got deeper leaving behind the tributary valley

Question 27

Moraine

Answer 27

Accumulations of rock deposited by a glacier

Question 28

Drumlins

Answer 28

Small hills made of till that were shaped under a glacier

Question 30

Erratics

Answer 30

Large blocks of rock which are different to the place where they were dropped by a glacier

Question 31

4 types of moraine

Answer 31

Terminal, Ground, lateral, medial

Question 32

National Park

Answer 32

An area of countryside protected for the benefit and enjoyment of people

Question 33

Honeypot site

Answer 33

A place which attracts a disproportionate number of tourists for its size