Glacial Hydrology

Question 1

Glacier

Answer 1

A large, long-lasting mass of ice formed on land, that moves under its own weight

Question 2

Glaciers can only form when

Answer 2

more snow accumulates during the winter than melts away during the spring and summer

Question 3

Advancing glacier

Answer 3

Gains more snows than it loses

Question 4

Terminus

Answer 4

End of glacier

Question 5

Receding glacier

Answer 5

Negative budget, will decrease over time

Question 6

Zone of accumulation

Answer 6

Where snow is added

Question 7

Zone of ablation

Answer 7

Where melting occurs

Question 8

Equilibrium line

Answer 8

Separates accumulation and ablation zones

Question 9

Valley glaciers

Answer 9

Are confined to mountain valleys or to an interconnected system of mountain valleys

Question 10

Basal slip

Answer 10

Movement along the base and sides

Question 11

Plastic flow

Answer 11

Occurs only on the surface of a glacier

Question 12

Continental glaciers

Answer 12

Cover vast areas and are unconfined by topography

Question 13

What causes glaciations

Answer 13

Plate tectonics, variations of Earth’s orbit

Question 14

hanging valleys

Answer 14

Smaller tributary glacial valleys left stranded high above more quickly eroded central truck valleys

Question 15

Cirques

Answer 15

Steep-sided, half-bowl-shaped recessed carved into mountains at the heads of a glacial valleys

Question 16

Aretes

Answer 16

Sharp ridges separating glacial valleys

Question 17

Horns

Answer 17

Sharp peaks remaining after ciruqes have cut back into a mountain on several sides

Question 18

U-shaped glacial troughs

Answer 18

Rivers in mountains valleys which are originally “V” shaped, eroded to “U” shapes

Question 19

Fjords

Answer 19

Formed during previous glacial episodes when sea level was much lower; these occur at high latitudes where glaciers can be maintained even at low elevations

Question 20

Plucking

Answer 20

Ice freezes to rock and eventually puts it lose by glacial ice movement

Question 21

Abrasion

Answer 21

Develops glacial polish or glacial strations and produces rock flour (dust)

Question 22

Till

Answer 22

Unsorted, unlayered glacial sediment

Question 23

Laterial moraine

Answer 23

Elongate, low mounts of till that form along the sides of a valley glacier

Question 24

Medial moraine

Answer 24

Form when tributary glacier comes together and adjacent lateral moraine get trapped between the two flowing ice streams

Question 25

End moraine

Answer 25

Ridges of till piled up along the front end of a glacier

Question 26

Recessional moraine

Answer 26

Successive end moraines left behind by a retreating glacier

Question 27

Glacial outwash

Answer 27

Sediment deposited by water flow over, beneath and away from the ice at the end of a glacier

Question 28

Glacial drift

Answer 28

All sediment deposited as a result of glacial activity

Question 29

Stratified drift

Answer 29

Sorted by size and density and is layered. Generally deposited by streams which derive their sediment load from the melting glacier

Question 30

Outwash plains

Answer 30

Formed by vast amounts of sediment carried in braided streams from melting continental glaciers

Question 31

Kettle lakes

Answer 31

Form where blocks of ice are left in the sediment by the retreating ice

Question 32

Kames

Answer 32

conical hills, formed where sediment is deposited in depressions on the surface of the glacier, which is then lowered to the ground surface as the glacier melts

Question 33

Eskers

Answer 33

Comprise sediments deposited in streams running along the base of stagnant glaciers

Question 34

Varves

Answer 34

Annual variations in sediments deposited in glacial lakes produces paired layers known as varves, which can be counted like tree rings, good data looking for climate change

Question 35

What do the direction of eskers denote?

Answer 35

The general flow direction of water within glaciers