Chapter 8

Glacier

• A glacier is a large moving mass of ice.

Valley Glacier:

• A glacier that forms in high mountainous areas.

Crevasses:

• Deep cracks in the surface of the ice.

Continental Glaciers:

• Glaciers that cover broad continent sized areas.

Cirques:

• Deep depressions in the land surface carved out by glaciers.

Moraines:

• Ridges consisting of till deposited by glaciers.

Outwash Plains:

• Leading edge of glaciers where meltwater streams flow and deposit outwash.

Drumlins:

• Glaciers that move over older moraines and form new landforms.

Eskers:

• Long winding ridges of layered sediments that are deposited by streams.

Glacial Lakes:

• A natural impoundment of melt water at the front of a glacier.

Kettle Holes:

• Depression in ice after ice blocks melt.

Arete:

• A sharp, narrow mountain ridge. It often results from the erosive activity of alpine glaciers flowing in adjacent valleys.

Mass Movement

• Downslope movement of Earth’s materials, due to gravity, that can occur suddenly or very slowly depending on the weight of the materials.

Creep

• Slow, steady downhill, movement of loose weathered Earth materials, especially soil, causing objects on a slope to tilt.

Mudflow

• Rapidly flowing often destructive mixture of mud and water that may be triggered by an earthquake intense rainstorm or violence eruption.

Landslide

• Rapid downslope movement of a mass of loose soil, or debris that has separated from bedrock; can be triggered by an earthquake.

Slump

• Mass movement that occurs when Earth materials in a landslide rotate and slide along curved surface, leaving a crescent shaped scar on a slope.

Avalanche

• Landslide that occurs in a mountainous area when snow falls in an icy crest, becomes heavy and slips off and slides swiftly down the mountain side.

Rock Falls

• Rocks Falls commonly occur at high elevations, in steep road cuts, and on rocky shorelines.

Deflation

• The lowering of the land surface that results from the wind removal of surface particles is called deflation.

Abrasion

• Another process of erosion, called abrasion, occurs when particles such as sand rub against the surface of rocks or other materials.

Ventifact

• Rocked shaped by windblown sediments– Formed by abrasion

Dune

• Pile of windblown sand that develops overtime whose shape depends on sand availability wind velocity and direction and amount of vegetation presents

Loess

• Thick wind blown fertile deposit of silt that contains high levels of nutrients and minerals

suspension

• State in which small particles such as silt or sand are held up and carried by wind over long distances

saltation

• Another method of wind transport causes a bouncing motion of particles

Leeward:

• The direction downwind from the point of reference.

Windward:

• The direction upwind from the point of reference.