Cold Environments Flashcards
What is a cold environment?
A cold environments is an area of land, permanently covered by ice where the temperature is constantly below freezing.
Define ‘glaciers’
Glaciers are are slowly moving mass or river of ice, formed by a buildup of snow on the mountains near the poles.
Where are most cold environments found? 
Near the north and south poles. However, a lot of them are near or at mountain ranges. 
Name 4 cold environments 
Volcan Cotopaxi 
Mount Kilimanjaro 
Vatnajokull glacier
Hubbard Glacier 
Where can glaciers be found?
At altitude or at sea level
A glacier can be divided to 2 zones. Name these two zones 
The accumulation zone and the ablation zone 
What specifically goes on in the accumulation zone (where there are outputs from the glacial budgets)?
- Avalanche
- Rock from the mountains
- Snowfall
What specifically goes on in the ablation zone (where there are inputs into the glacial budgets)?
- heat from the Sun
- icebergs
-Rocks wash out from the glaciers - evaporation
- Meltwater
What process occurs in both zones?
Gravity
What is plucking?
Plucking is when meltwater from a glacier freezes to the base rock and lumps and cracks of broken rocks. When the ice advances downhill, rock is plucked from the back wall.
What is abrasion?
Abrasion happens when rocks scrape the bedrock.
What is hydraulic action?
Hydraulic action is where the waves crash really hard against rocks and gets into their cracks causing them to break off.
What is freeze-thaw?
Freeze-thaw is when melt water or rain gets in the cracks in the bedrock (usually the back wall). At night the water freezes, expands and causes the crack to get larger. Eventually, the rock will break away. 
How high is the back wall of a corrie?
80 storeys
When the ice moves under its own weight in the process of a corrie formation, what is this process called?
Rotational movement 
