glaciers, igneous, folds and faults Flashcards
What is epigenetic versus syngenetic permafrost?
Epigenetic forms from climate cooling(accumulation). Syngenetic is from a change in vegetation or increase of deposition of top soil. Peat provides insulation for more permafrost.
What is equilibrium line?
mass of ice in accumulation zone = mass of ice - forward movement out of zone + new accumulation.
What are taliks?
localized unfrozen layers, in continuous permafrost areas.
Where are taliks located?
Are on top, beneith, or in permafrost layers.
How do deformatable sediments affect ice movement?
sediments in the ice can take up strain. These sediments are water saturated and unconsolidated.
What controls height of moraine?
Size of glaciers
Is ice a plastic or brittle material?
both
What is dead ice?
When a glacier or ice sheet ceases to move and melts.
What is the difference between pluvial lakes and proglacial lakes?
Pluvial lowers the temp, reduces evap, and causes lake levels to increase. Proglacial is when glacial meltwater is damned by some sort of barrier. Commonly terminal or lateral moraines.
What is a dropstone?
Xenoliths inside strata of ice
What is a tillite
lothefoed till
What are drumlins?
Ellipitcally elongated hills, with axis paralell to glacial movement,and perpendicular to ice margin. Blunted upglacier and tapered down glacier.
What are theories on the oragin of drumlins?
- subglacial streaming of obsticles that create resistance to glacial flow.
- incremental accretion of till
- lee side deposition (flutes)
- subglacial fluvial erosion and deposition
- differential erosion and deposistion within- subglacial deformable bed.
How do glaciers erode?
Abrasion
What factors control the degree and rate of abrasion?
How much debris, Addition of fresh debris, Type of debris, meltwater to remove floor and keep sharp edge, velocity of glacier over bed, thichness of ice, amount of basal water.
What are the types of crevesses?
Radial, longitudnal, transverse, and cheveron.
What erosional features are left by glaciers?
striations, grooves, polish, chattermarks, cresent fractures, fracture cracks, faceted grooves, cirques, aretes, horns, troughs, fijords, fingerlakes, rock drumlins.
What is the longitudinal profile like in many glacial valley?
very irregular with frequent changes in slope.
WHat features are associated with the topography?
Paternoster lakes/ cyclopean stairs
What are varves?
fine grained silt/clay couplets.
How do varves form?
Form in deep part of lakes, silt layers are graded but silt/clay couplet is not. Couplets represent one year of deposition.
How do flutes form
Long narrow parallel ridges. Long axis parallel to ice movement, often associated to drumlins. Thought to form when boulders become lodged in ice. As the ice flows around them it produces cavities. Then water saturated sediment is squeezed up into the cavity.
What are the depositional environments in a glacial setting?
Glacial-deposited directly from active or stagnant glacial ice. Till depo. Subglacial and soperglacial.
Resedimantation(mass wasting)- flow till
Glacial fluvial- deposited by meltwater streams
Glacial lacuatriane- Deposited in glacial lakes
Glacoal marine- deposited in marine estuaries and in ocean.
What are disintigration ridges and trenches?
Disintergration ridges-Hills with depression in the middle, can be circular or liner.
Distenergration trench- sediment fill ice valley, ice melts more sediment overlays ice, rest of ice melts forming a trench of arch where ice was last.
How do they relate to pingos?
Area that is earth covered in ice
How does the fact that ice is anisotropic help in glacier movement?
It deforms on the ‘A’ axis more than ‘C’ axis. Compressive straights of ice are high on ‘C’ and weak on ‘A’
What is a firn?
Intermediate state between snow and ice
What is glacial surging?
forward surging , several meter per day/ for weeks or months. Often follows stagnation of the front. Cuases thinning in upper segments. Surface is blocky with extensional crevasses. Terminal moraine contested.
What controls the speed of glaciers?
May relate to weather, fault slopes in glacier, sudden release of obstruction. Seasonal affects free water.
What are moulins?
Roughly circular vertical like shaft within glacier through which water enters from surface.
What is an arete?
steep ridges seperating cirques and or valley glaciers.
What is a horn?
A erosional landform the is at the intersection of 3 or more cirques.