17 Flashcards

(33 cards)

1
Q

Glacier

A

An accumulation of snow and
ice, that lasts year round.
Thick enough to flow downhill
under its own weight.

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2
Q

Categories of Glaciers

A

Mountain glaciers
Continental glaciers (Greenland, Ant Artica)

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3
Q

Mountain Glaciers - Cirque

A

Fill mountaintop bowls.

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4
Q

Mountain Glaciers - Valley

A

Low like rivers down valleys.

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5
Q

Mountain Glaciers - Ice caps

A

Covers peaks and ridges.

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6
Q

Mountain Glaciers - Piedmont

A

Spread out at the end of a valley.

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7
Q

Continental Glaciers

A

Vast ice sheets covering large
land areas.
Ice flows outward from thickest
part of sheet.

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8
Q

Basal slip

A

Forming or belonging to
a bottom layer.
Significant quantities of
meltwater forms at glacier base.

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9
Q

Plastic Deformation

A

Crevasses form at surface—upper zone is stretching.
Not reversable.

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10
Q

Zone of accumulation

A

Area of net snow addition.

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11
Q

Zone of ablation

A

Area of net ice loss.

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12
Q

Toe

A

The leading edge of a glacier.

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13
Q

Glaciers are important forces of
landscape change…

A

…Erosion, transport, deposition

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14
Q

Tarn

A

A lake inside a cirque.

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15
Q

Arete

A

Knife-edge ridge.
Two cirques or two
valley glaciers that have eroded
toward one another.

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16
Q

Glaciers act as…

A

…large-scale conveyor belts.

17
Q

Sediment transport is always…

A

… in one direction (downhill).

18
Q

Debris at the toe of a glacier is called…

A

…end moraine.

19
Q

Moraines

A

Unsorted debris deposited by a
glacier.

20
Q

(Moraines) Lateral

A

Forms along the flank of a
valley glacier.

21
Q

(Moraines) Lateral

A

Forms along the flank of a valley glacier.

22
Q

(Moraines) Medial

A

Mid-ice moraine from
merging of lateral moraines.

23
Q

Glacial Till

A

Sediment dropped by glacial ice.

24
Q

Erractics

A

Boulders dropped by glacial ice
Different from the underlying bedrock
Carried long distances in ice.

25
Loess
Wind-transported silt. Glaciers produce abundant amounts of fine sediment. Strong winds over ice blow the rock flour away.
26
Terminal moraines
Form at the farthest edge of flow.
26
End Moraines
Form at the stable toe of a glacier.
27
Ground Moraine
Till left behind by rapid ice retreat. Creates a hummocky (irregular) surface. Kettle lakes form from stranded ice blocks.
27
Drumlins
Long, aligned hills of molded till. ◦ Asymmetric form—steep up-ice; tapered down-ice. ◦ Commonly occur as swarms aligned parallel to ice-flow direction. ◦ Basic theory – till is dropped below glacier and as it moves over, shapes it into the shape of a teardrop.
28
Eskers
Long, sinuous ridges of sand and gravel. Th ey form as meltwater channels within or below ice. Channel sediment is released when the ice melts.
29
Consequences of Continental Glaciation
Ice loading and glacial rebound ◦ Ice sheets depress the lithosphere into the mantle. ◦ Slow crustal subsidence follows flow of asthenosphere. ◦ After ice melts, the depressed lithosphere rebounds. ◦ The last ice-age glacial rebound continues slowly today.
30
Glacial Consequences
Sea level—ice ages cause sea level to rise and fall ◦ Water stored on land during an ice age: sea level falls. ◦ Deglaciation returns water to oceans: sea level rises ◦ Sea level was ~100 m lower during the last ice age. ◦ If ice sheets melted, coastal regions would be flooded.
31
Pleistocene Ice Ages
All climate and vegetation belts were shifted southward.