Little Ice Age glacier valley glacier continental glacier ice cap glaciation firn glacial ice plastic flow basal slip
glacial budget zone of accumulation zone of wastage glacial surge abrasion glacial polish glacial striation U shaped glacial trough fiord hanging valley
cirque arête horn glacial drift glacial erratic till stratified drift end moraine ground moraine recessional moraine
terminal moraine lateral moraine medial moraine drumlin outwash plain valley train kame esker Milankovitch theory
Little Ice Age An interval from about 1500 to the mid to late 1800s during which glaciers expanded to their greatest historic extent. A mass of ice on land that moves by plastic flow and basal slip. A glacier confined to a mountain valley or an interconnected system of mountain valleys A glacier that covers a vast area (at least 50,000 km ) and is not confined by topography; also called an ice sheet. A dome shaped mass of glacial ice that covers less than 50,000 km. Refers to all aspects of glaciers, including their origin, expansion, and retreat, and their impact on Earth s surface. Granular snow formed by partial melting and refreezing of snow; transitional material between snow and glacial ice. Water in the solid state within a glacier; forms as snow partially melts and refreezes and compacts so that it is transformed first to firn and then to glacial ice. The flow that takes place in response to pressure and causes deformation with no fracturing. Movement involving a glacier sliding over its underlying surface.
The balance between expansion and contraction of a glacier in response to accumulation versus wastage. The part of a glacier where additions exceed losses and the glacier s surface is perennially covered with snow. Also refers to horizon B in soil where soluble material leached from horizon A accumulates as irregular masses. The part of a glacier where losses from melting, sublimation, and calving of icebergs exceed the rate of accumulation. A time of greatly accelerated flow in a glacier. Commonly results in displacement of the glacier s terminus by several kilometers. The process whereby rock is worn smooth by the impact of sediment transported by running water, glaciers, waves, or wind. A smooth, glistening rock surface formed by the movement of sedimentladen ice over bedrock. A straight scratch rarely more than a few millimeters deep on a rock caused by the movement of sediment laden glacial ice. A valley with steep or vertical walls and a broad, rather flat floor formed by the movement of a glacier through a stream valley. An arm of the sea extending into a glacial trough eroded below sea level. A tributary glacial valley whose floor is at a higher level than that of the main glacial valley.
A steep walled, bowl shaped depression on a mountainside at the upper end of a glacial valley. A narrow, serrated ridge between two glacial valleys or adjacent cirques. A steep walled, pyramid shaped peak formed by the headward erosion of at least three cirques. A collective term for all sediment deposited directly by glacial ice (till) and by meltwater streams (outwash). A rock fragment carried some distance from its source by a glacier and usually deposited on bedrock of a different composition. All sediment deposited directly by glacial ice. Glacial deposits that show both stratification and sorting. A pile or ridge of rubble deposited at the terminus of a glacier. The layer of sediment released from melting ice as a glacier s terminus retreats. An end moraine that forms when a glacier s terminus retreats, then stabilizes, and a ridge or mound of till is deposited.
An end moraine consisting of a ridge or mound of rubble marking the farthest extent of a glacier. Ridge of sediment deposited along the margin of a valley glacier. A moraine carried on the central surface of a glacier; formed where two lateral moraines merge. An elongate hill of till formed by the movement of a continental glacier or by floods. The sediment deposited by meltwater discharging from a continental glacier s terminus. A long, narrow deposit of stratified drift confined within a glacial valley. Conical hill of stratified drift originally deposited in a depression on a glacier s surface. A long, sinuous ridge of stratified drift deposited by running water in a tunnel beneath stagnant ice. An explanation for the cyclic variations in climate and the onset of ice ages as a result of irregularities in Earth s rotation and orbit.