Ice

Cards (24)

  • plucking
    the tearing away of blocks of rock from the bedrock
  • abrasion
    rock particles embedded in bottom of glacier sandpaper the bedrock.
  • freeze-thaw weathering
    water seeps into cracks and joints then freeze and expand repeatedly to breakdown the rock
  • transportation
    a glacier can carry material on its surface, within it and beneath it.
  • Till
    Angular and unsorted material deposited by ice
  • Moraine
    A mass of till often in the form of a long ridge.
  • overload
    when the glacier's load has exceeded its carrying capacity because it is melting, usually when it reaches lower ground.
  • terminal moraine
    found at the furthest point to which a glacier has travelled.
  • lateral moraine

    till formed by frost-shattering that accumulates along the side of a glacier
  • medial moraine

    where two glaciers have joined
  • recessional moraine
    a ridge formed of till, that is behind and parallel to terminal moraine. It marks a temporary halt in the retreat of a glacier.
  • carrying capacity
    the maximum load that a glacier can transport.
  • snowline
    The altitude above which snow lies all year
  • glacial outputs

    meltwater and evaporation
  • glacial inputs
    precipitation and avalanches
  • glacier
    a moving mass of ice confined in a valley
  • Outwash
    sorted and rounded material (sand and gravel) deposited by meltwater streams in front of and underneath a glacier.
  • bulldozing
    Ice pushes material of all shapes and sizes at its snout as it moves slowly forward
  • drumlin
    a hill made of glacial till usually elongated in shape with the longer axis parallel to the former direction of the ice.
  • corrie
    An armchair shaped hollow high in a mountainside, it can contain a small, circular lake.
  • arete
    a knife-edge ridge formed between two corries
  • pyramidal peak
    a steep mountain peak formed where 3 or more corries have cut back to back.
  • glacial trough
    a deep and wide 'U' shaped valley due to the erosive action of a glacier
  • truncated spur
    a cliff-like edge to a valley side as a former interlocking spur has been eroded away by a glacier