chapter 15

Question 1

What is an outwash plain?

How is it different from a valley train?

Answer 1

Glacial melt water, choked with sediment, flows beyond the glacier onto a flat surface, drops its load, builds a broad, ramp like surface, and creates braided streams
Outwash Plains are associated with ice sheets
Valley Trains are associated with mountain valleys

Question 2

Contrast end moraine and ground moraine

Answer 2

End moraine - accumulation of debris that forms at the terminus
Ground moraine - rock-strewn plain created as the glacier retreats

Question 3

What factors influence the capability of a glacier to erode?

Answer 3

Rate of movement of the ice
Thickness of the ice
Types of rock fragments trapped in the ice
The erodibility of the surface below the glacier

Question 4

List and briefly distinguish among four types of glaciers

Answer 4

1. Valley glaciers: glaciers move few cm per day
2. Ice sheets: large when compare to valley glaciers
3. Ice shelf: small ice sheets
4. Piedmont glacier: foudn at broad low lands at the bottom of steep mountains

Question 5

Where are glaciers found today? What percentage of Earth do they cover?

Answer 5

Antartica and Greenland. 10% of surface of the land on Earth.