Glacial landscapes

Question 1

What is the relief of land

Answer 1

Refers to the highest and lowest elevation points in an area. Typically mountains and ridges.

Question 2

What is topography?

Answer 2

The natural features of land especially the shape of its surface.

Question 3

What is altitude?

Answer 3

Height above sea level measured in metres or feet

Question 4

What is land use?

Answer 4

The purpose or function of land for example pasture, grassland, retail

Question 5

What are lowland areas?

Answer 5

Lowland are close to or below 200m above sea level. One example is the Fens in East Anglia

Question 6

What are upland areas?

Answer 6

Uplands are normally made up of mountains or high hills. Normally they are ares over 600m above sea level. Examples include the Cumbria mountains in the Lake District.

Question 7

What is the highest point in the Uk?

Answer 7

Ben Nevis at 4406 feet (1343m) located in Scotland.

Question 8

What are the 2 longest rivers in the Uk?

Answer 8

River Severn (south west Uk) and river thames (flows through London)

Question 9

When was the last ice age

Answer 9

22,000 years ago

Question 10

How thick was the ice the last ice age.

Answer 10

3km thick

Question 11

What is a glacial period

Answer 11

When the temperature has dropped significantly low and ice advances

Question 12

What is an interglacial period?

Answer 12

When the temperatures are warmer for an extended period of time

Question 13

What processes were used by the ice sheet to shape the Uk?

Answer 13

Erosion, transportation, deposition etc

Question 14

What is the ISO static rebound?

Answer 14

When ice melts, the land rebounds up

Question 15

What are glacial erratics?

Answer 15

Boulders/large sediment that had been carried by the ice left in (random) high altitude areas.

Question 16

Describe the formation of a glacier:

Answer 16

1. Snow remains in the same year round, slowly transform into ice
2. Each year new layers of snow bury and compress previous layers
3. The compression forces the snow to re-crystalize, forming grains similar in size and shape to grains of sugar
4. Gradually the grains grow larger and the air pockets between the grains get smaller, causing the snow to slowly compacts and increase in density.
5. After about 2 winters the snow turns in firn/neve - a middle state between snow and glacial ice
6. For most glaciers this process takes more than 10l years.

Question 17

Describe freeze- thaw weathering:

Answer 17

Water enters crack in rock, when it freezes it pushes rock apart, the ice melts and big gap is left.

Question 18

What is plucking?

Answer 18

Where a glacier moves over an area of rock and due to friction the glacier melts and water seeps into cracks below. The water freezes and the rock effectively becomes part of the glacier and is ripped out when the glacier continues to move forward.

Question 19

What is abrasion?

Answer 19

Abrasion is where rocks at the bottoms of the glacier act like sand paper - grinding over the bedrock. This can polish rocks or create sharp grooves called striations.