Geography
Glaciers
Glaciers are made out of
Snow
Ice
Rock
Sediment
Only 10% of the world is covered with glaciers
75% of our world’s freshwater came from glaciers
Scientists who study glaciers are called glaciologists
What are glaciers?
Large masses of slowly moving ice (rivers of ice) made up of snow that gets
compressed into ice along with rock, and sediment over many years
As they move downhill, they erode landscapes creating different landforms
Where are they formed?
On Land with freshwater precipitation - snow
Frozen water that floats on the ocean surface is sea ice.
Sea ice is not the same as glacier made out of freshwater precipitation
Where are they found?
● Average annual temperatures are near freezing point
● Large amounts of snow fall during winter months
● Temperatures throughout the year are not high enough to melt the previous
winter’s build up snow
Most of the glaciers are found in greenland (in the arctic) and in antarctica
1:greenland
2:antarctica
3:Himalayas
4:Argentina
5:Andes
6:Iceland
7: Alps
8:Alaska
9:Russia
10:New Zealand
11: Mount Kilamanjaro , Tazania
Types of glacier
● Alpine Glaciers: Which form on mountainsides and move down slopes through
valleys
● Continental Ice Sheets: Which spread out and cover larger areas
How are glaciers formed?
Snow builds up (accumulates) over many years (at least 100 years), then becomes
compressed into ice, then starts to flow down-slope due to gravity
If ice accumulation (gaining) is greater than ablation(melting) then the glacier
advances and increases
If ablation(melting) is greater than accumulation(gaining) then the glacier reduces in
size and retreats.
Snout = the end of the glacier where water is released or glacier retreats
Crevasse= great cracks in glaciers created by movement
Plucking
to remove forcibly or abruptly
Plucking takes place where loosened blocks of bedrock become frozen to the base of
glacial ice.
Weathering= breaking down
Weathering, erosion, transportation, and deposition occur in different ways with
glaciers than with rivers and the sea.
Freeze-thaw weathering takes place more often in cold temperatures
It can occur under and at the sides of the valley glacier
Abrase (Abrasion)
= To wear away by friction
Often the rock has already been loosened by freeze-thaw weathering as the ice
moves forward, the rock frozen to the ice moves with it, and is plucked from the
bedrock
As the ice moves forward, these rocks scrape against the bedrock and wear it away,
which is abrasion. It leaves smooth polished rock surfaces, which may have scratches
in them called striations
As glacier moves down it is transporting vast amounts of rock that have mixed with
ice. This debris is called moraine.
Moraine varies in size from huge angular boulders to fine clay
Corrie
A corrie is where a glacier begins to develop at a sheltered hollow on the sides of a
mountain.
A hollow on the mountainside -> corrie -> Tarn(lake)
V-shaped Valleys
A series of ridges overlapping each other (Interlocking spurs) in V-shaped valleys
U-shaped Valleys
A glacier cuts through the interlocking spurs, leaving behind truncated spurs (cliffs),
hanging valleys, and waterfalls in a U-shaped valley
Misfit river :(
A stream that flows in the new U-shaped valley after the ice melts.
Ribbon Lakes
A large, narrow (long), thin lake occupying a U-shaped valley after the ice melts
Fjords are flooded, glaciated valleys. They are found in places where current or past
glaciation occurred below sea level
A steep-back hollow on the mountainside where the glacier begins to form=Arête
Knife-like edges between two corries: pyramidal peak
After the glacier erodes a V-shaped valley, the interlocking spurs become truncated
spurs.
