Back to Syllabus
last updated: 4/01/98
- Found at high
- landbound ice in motion
- Cirque glacier -
- Valley glacier - fills
- Fjord glacier - occupies
- Piedmont glacier - broad bowl-shaped glacier
- Ice cap - covers a
- Rock glacier - composed of
Ice sheets (Continental) - continental-sized
)
General glacier classification based on relative T - controls
- characterized by a
Glaciers form from: Conversion of snow to glacial ice -
- characterized by a
snow -
- glaciers are
- with burial,
Change in glacier size - Glacial Budget:
- matter of mass balance - if accumulation exceeds ablation
- generally activity at the terminus
- calving forms
Glacial Movement
- Ice moves and carries objects by
- Maximum velocities at the
- Typical rates of movement is a
- Glacier surge - unusually
Glaciation - the modification of the land surface by
Glacial erosion and sculpture - due to high viscosity and P
of ice
Erosive
features (abrasion) |
Glacial Striations | Scratches from rocks frozen in base of glacier |
Glacial grooves and polishing | Linear depressions or polish due to rocks and fine sand in base of glacier |
Glaciated mountain landforms | Cirques | Bowl-like form caused by frost-wedging, plucking and abrasion |
Tarn | Small lake in a cirque | |
Arete | Knife-like ridge that forms as 2 cirques erode headward | |
Horn | Point that forms as >2 cirques erode headward | |
Glacial Valleys
(hanging valleys) |
U-shaped valley formed from glacial erosion | |
Fjords | Valley carved below sea level on the coast |
Landforms from ice caps | Glacial striations | Scratches in rock that can indicate direction to center of ice cap |
Drumlins | Streamlined hill, gentle upstream, but steep downstream, depositional and erosional character |
Transport by glaciers
Glacial Deposits
Ice-laid deposits
- Till - unsorted drift
- Tillite - lithified till
- Glacial erratic - rock different from
- Moraine - deposits with form
Stratified drift - deposits inGround moraine - widespread driftTerminal moraine - ridge-like accumulations at
Lateral moraine - ridge-like accumulations of along
(100's feet high)
Medial moraine - ridge-like accumulation at
Louis Agassiz (1837) - hypothesis of continental glaciation - dramatic evidence for
Ice Age Glaciers
- During the Cenozoic the global climate has
- In the last few million years there are numerous
- 30,000 years ago
- 29% of the land
- lowering of
- deform the crust due
- earlier glaciations
- deep sea records indicate
- Early and late
- Early and late\
Interaction of atmosphere, earth, oceans, biosphere and sun
Glacier ages relate to