glaciers terms for final note Flashcards
a ridge or mound of unsorted glacial till that marks the furthest advance of a glacier. Formed at the snout of a glacier where ice melts as fast as it moves forward, dumping the sediment it’s carrying. When the glacier retreats, the pile is left behind.
terminal moraine
a bowl-shaped depression on a mountainside, typically at the head of a glacial valley. Created by glacial erosion in a zone where snow accumulates, compacts into ice, and begins to move. The hollow is deepened by erosional processes.
cirque basin
a blanket of till spread across the landscape beneath a glacier. Forms as a glacier retreats, melting and dropping unsorted sediments directly from the ice onto the ground. Produces a rolling, uneven surface with little topographic relief.
ground moraine
glacially deposited ridges, the material deposited by glacial ice, and the sediment being carried on, in, or under a glacier. Debris size ranges from silt-sized glacial flour to large boulders.
moraine
long, narrow ridge of sand/gravel deposited by wave action along the shoreline of a glacial lake. As the glacier retreats and lake levels drop, former shorelines are preserved as beach ridges, often forming parallel ridges that mark past water levels.
beach ridge
ridges of glaciofluvial material – consisting of gravels and cobbles typically. A stream in the ice that has debris will deposit the debris on the ground once the ice melts.
esker
A broad, flat area made of sand deposited by fast-flowing meltwater from a glacier. It forms in high-energy environments like outwash plains and has good drainage.
sand plain
A flat area made of fine clay and silt deposited in a low-energy environment, like a glacial lake. It usually has poor drainage, and forms smooth, wet or swampy ground.
clay plain
is a mound or hill made of stratified sand and gravel that forms when meltwater deposits sediment into a hole or depression in glacial ice. When the ice melts away, the sediment is left behind as a small hill.
kame
a long, flat ridge of stratified sand and gravel that forms between a glacier and a valley wall. It’s deposited by meltwater streams flowing along the side of the glacier, and it stays behind after the ice melts
kame terrace
a fan-shaped deposit of stratified sediment formed when meltwater flows into a standing body of water, like a lake, at the edge of a glacier. As the water slows down, sediment drops out and builds up a delta-like feature against the ice.
kame delta
small bedrock hill shaped by glacial erosion. The up-ice (stoss) side is smooth and gently sloped from abrasion, while the down-ice (lee) side is steep and jagged from plucking.
Roche Moutonnee
forms when a glacier flows over a resistant rock mass (crag), creating a steep rock face with a long, tapering ridge of softer deposited material (tail) behind it, aligned with ice flow.
Crag and tail
a long, narrow ridge of glacial till formed beneath a glacier, usually around an obstacle like a boulder. Flutes are aligned parallel to ice flow and often found in swarms on till plains.
flute
a smooth, elongated hill made of glacial till, shaped by ice moving over and molding the sediment. It has a steep stoss side and a tapered lee side, pointing in the direction of ice flow.
drumlin
