Cold Environments Flashcards

1
Q

Katabatic Winds

A
  • extremely cold winds that chill the ice
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2
Q

Periglacial Climate

A
  • Covered in ice, but not all year round

- found in high altitude or high latitude

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3
Q

Mountain Climate

A
  • Areas that used to be covered in ice, but are now free from snow or ice
  • features still remain
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4
Q

Orographic Rainfall

A
  • Rain that is produced as air is forced to rise over high ground such as a mountain barrier
  • it subsequently cools, condensation occurs and precipitation is produced
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5
Q

Insolation

A

At high latitudes the heat and Ray’s from the sun have to spread out over a greater surface area, therefore it is less effective

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6
Q

Glacial Processes

A
  • weathering
  • transportation
  • deposition
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7
Q

How do glaciers form?

A
  • snowfall exceeds snowmelt for a long period of time
  • the snow accumulates incrementally
  • pressure increases
  • changed into névé and glacier
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8
Q

What is a corrie?

A

The hollow where a glacier begins

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9
Q

How does a corrie form?

A
  • ABRASION: the former surface debris which is incorporated in the glacier wears away the basin
  • PLUCKING: the glacier melts, then freezes around jutting out rock, and black this rock out of the back wall (adds to abrasion)
  • FREEZETHAW WEATHERING
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10
Q

What is a fjord?

A

-An inlet with sharp sides, created by glacial erosion, that is connected to the sea but is extended below sea level

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11
Q

How is a fjord formed?

A
  • a glacier cuts a u-shaped valley in the surrounding bedrock
  • the glacier retreats, leaving the valley behind, and the sea fills the valley floor
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12
Q

What is Isostatic Uplift

A
  • sea level change as a result of a change in the height of the land
  • glaciers put pressure on the land, causing the land to decrease: and the sea level to rise
  • when the glaciers melt, this pressure is released and the land slowly rises: and the sea level decreases
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13
Q

Arêtes

A
  • a sharp ridge cause by intense freezethaw

- formed when two neighbouring corrodes run back to back

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14
Q

Pyramidal Peaks

A

A sharp point caused by 3 or more Arêtes converging

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15
Q

U-shaped Valleys

A
  • characterised by steep sides and a relatively flat bottom

- result from the channel long of ice through valleys, combining freeze-thaw, plucking and abrasion

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16
Q

Truncated Spurs

A
  • a projection of land from a ridge or mountain
  • Spurs are rounded areas of land which have been cut off
  • formed when glaciers move through the main valley and cut off Spurs
17
Q

Ribbon Lakes

A
  • long linear lakes which fill a glaciated trough
  • glacier moves over an area containing alternate bands of hard and soft bedrock
  • also if a tributary glacier joins a main glacier: increase in power creates a trough, which is filled with water from a river to create a ribbon lake
18
Q

Hanging Valley

A
  • small u-shaped valley formed by a small glacier that joins and hangs above a large a large u-shaped valley formed by a larger glacier
  • waterfalls can often be seen
19
Q

Till

A

-finely grained rock flour (sand and clay)

20
Q

Erratics

A

-large boulders foreign to the local geology which have been dumped by the ice usually on flat areas

21
Q

Moraines

A

-lines of rock fragments which have been weathered from the valley sides above the ice and have fallen downslope onto the ice

22
Q

Drumlins

A
  • elongated hills of glacial deposits

- would have been part of the debris that was carried along and then accumulated under the ancient glacier

23
Q

Eskers

A
  • elongated ridges of coarse stratified sands and gravels

- the ridges usually meander

24
Q

Kames

A
  • irregular mounds of bedded sands and gravels arranged in a chaotic manner
  • formed where a meltwater stream flowed out beneath an area of stagnant or decaying ice, into a lake dammed between the ice front and drift materials
25
Q

Frost Heave

A

The process where water freezes in the soul and pushes the surface upwards and churns it

26
Q

Ice-Lensing

A

The process where ice crystals in the soil

27
Q

Soilfuction

A
  • flowing soil: an accelerated form of soil creep
  • in winter water freezes in the soil causing expansion of the soil and segregation of individual soil particles
  • in spring ice melts and water flows downhill, it can’t infiltrate I tot he soil because of the impermeable permafrost
  • as it moves over the permafrost, it carries segregated soil particles and deposits them further downslope as a soilfuction lobe
28
Q

Chemical Weathering

A
  • carbonation: low temperatures = CO2 is more soluble, thus water become acidic
  • hydration: certain minerals absorb water, expand and change
29
Q

Glacial Climate

A
  • Covered in ice all year round (permanent)

- katabatic winds