NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 School Team # DYNAMIC PLANET: GLACIERS 1. What type of glacier is shown in the photo? 2. a. What is the name of the feature labeled A? b. How did feature A form? c. What is feature A composed of? C 3. a. What is the name of the features on the ice labeled B? b. What direction is the glacier flowing compared to the people (toward or away)? 4. What is the name of the feature labeled C? B A Figure 1 Base your answers to questions 5-8 on the photo of the Taku Glacier, taken in the summer of 1993. Figure 2: Aerial photo of Taku Glacier, Juneau, Alaska 5. What is the name for this part of the glacier labeled A? 6. At the time of the photo, this area of the glacier showed large cracks and all the snow from the previous winter was gone due to melting. What is this area known as? Taku Glacier A 7. Feature B is composed of gravel and sand deposited by meltwater. What is this feature called? 8. What is the name of feature C? B C 1
NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 Figures 3-5 are photos taken from the air while flying over the Juneau Icefield, Alaska in 1993. Photos by G. Vorwald Figure 3 Figure 4 Figure 5 9. Identify the feature containing the glacier in Figure 3. 10. a. Identify the pyramid shaped landform in Figure 4. b. Explain how this feature was formed? 11. Identify the long narrow landform in Figure 5. 12. With what type of glacier are these landforms associated? 2
NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 Figure 6: Bedrock feature near the Mendenhall Glacier. Note glacier to the right. Figure 7. Large rock in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. Photos by G. Vorwald 13. a. Name the feature in Figure 6. b. Explain how a glacier formed this feature. 14. a. The large rock in Figure 7 is metamorphic; most other rocks in the valley are volcanic in origin. What is the name given to a rock like this? b. How did this rock end up in the middle of this valley?
NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 Figure 8: Hill in upstate New York. Photo by Wards, Inc Figure 9: Two lakes in upper Midwest. 15. a. What is the name for this type of hill? (Figure 8) b. How does it indicate the direction of glacial movement? 16. a. What is the name for this type of circular shaped glacial lake? (Figure 9) b. Explain how this lake formed. Figure 10: Glacial deposit. Note person for scale. Photo by G. Vorwald Figure 11: Glacial Sediments. Note dropper bottle for scale. 17. a. What is the name of the glacial deposit in Figure 10? b. Describe the process that resulted in deposition. 18. What is the name given to the type of glacial deposit in Figure 11? 19. Indicate two characteristics that are different about the deposits in Figure 10 and Figure 11. 20. How were the sediments in Figure 11 deposited? 3
NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 Figure 12 21. What is another name for this type of glacier? 22. What feature divides Antarctica s two major ice sheets? 23. What is the difference between an ice sheet and an iice shelf? 24. Explain two differences between an ice sheet and a valley glacier? 25. How is glacial flow of an ice sheet different from that of a valley glacier? 26. Describe a method you could use to identify the exact location of the South Pole on this map. 27. The contour interval of this map is 500 meters. Between what two contours does the South Pole lie? 4
NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 Figure 13: Diagram illustrating features formed as a result of glaciation. 28. With what type of glacier are these features usually associated? 29. Which features resulted from deposition by glacial meltwater streams? 30. Which features are composed of unsorted till? 31. Which feature marks the farthest extent of glaciation? 32. Explain the processes that formed the terminal and recessional moraines. This image is featured in the Glacier Chapter in TASA s Earth s Dynamic Surface CD available for purchase at http://www.otherworlds-edu.com/prod02.htm 5
NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 Figure 14: Glacial Movement Base your answers to questions 31-35 on the three maps below. The maps show the ice movement and changes at the ice front (terminus) of an alpine glacier from the years 1874 to 1882. Points A, B, C, D, and E represent the positions of large markers placed on the glacial ice and left there for the 8 year period. The position of the glacial ice front for 1874, 1878, and 1882 is indicated on each map. Figure 14: Retreating glacier. NYS Education Department (Earth Science Regents) 33. Explain what caused the glacial ice (as indicated by stakes A-E) to move as it did from 1874 1882. 34. Based on the position of the glacial ice front, is the glacier advancing, retreating, or remaining in the same place? 35. What is the relationship between accumulation and melting (ablation) for this 8 year period? 36. In reference to question 35, what is a likely cause for the relationship during this period? 37. Calculate the rate that the ice front changed from 1874 and 1882. Use the position of the ice front indicated to the maximum extent of the glacier in 1874. Include correct units. Use the formula: Rate = Change in distance/time 6
NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 Figure 15: Topographic Map of Mt Jackson, Colorado. Contour Interval = 40 ft Horizontal Scale: 1 inch = 2000 ft 1: 24, 000 Glacial features identified by letters A, B, C, and D. 38. The arrow labeled with the Letter "A" is pointing toward Avalanche Peak. This is an example of what type of landform? 39. a. The letter "B" is on a landform that extends from This is an example of what type of landform type of landform is this an example of? b. How did the shape and spacing of the contour lines help you determine the type of landform? 40. a. What is the name for the landform to the south, south-southeast and south-southwest of the letter "C" shown with brown contour lines? b. What is the name of the type of lake at C? 41. The letter "D" is in a valley. Draw a sketch showing a profile across the valley. 7
NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 The Table below provides information on the size (area in km2) of the Sperry Glacier from 1901-1979 (Carrara & McGimsey, 1988). Year Area (km 2 ) 1901 3.71 1913 3.41 1927 1.99 1938 1.71 1946 1.50 1950 1.29 1960 1.24 1966 1.12 1979 1.06 42. What has happened to the area of the Sperry Glacier from 1901 1979? 43. What is the relationship between ablation and accumulation for the Sperry Glacier? 44. What does this indicate about climatic conditions during this period? 45. Although the data indicate glacial retreat throughout the 20 th century, rocks have been observed moving forward on the glacier. Explain how rocks can be moving forward while the glacier is shrinking? 46. The causes of the Ice Ages are still debated by scientists. Identify two theories glaciologists believe to be responsible for the Ice Ages. 8
NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 Wisconsinin Ice Age Age Figure 16: Temperature and carbon dioxide (C0 2 ) data were obtained from the Vostok Ice Core drilled in Antarctica. These graphs illustrate how temperatures and concentration of CO 2 fluctuated over the past 400,000 years. C0 2 concentration is measured in parts per million by volume (pomp) and temperature change is measured in degrees Celsius ( o C). (http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/programs/atmosphere-energy/climate-change/vostok-ice-core.jpg) 47. Explain how scientists can determine the amounts of CO 2 in the atmosphere during the past 400,000 years? 48. What is the name of the geologic epoch that encompasses much of the past 400,000 years? 49. Describe the relationship between carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentration and temperature trends during the past 400,000 years? 9
NYS Invitational Science Olympiad April 2005 50. Ice ages are identified by their cooler temperatures. a) When, according to the temperature graph, did the last ice age (Wisconsinin) end? b) What was the temperature difference in Antarctica at that time with respect to that of current temperatures? c) According to the data, approximately how long did the Wisconsinin Ice Age last? 51. According to the data, how many Ice Ages have there been in the past 400,000 years? 52. a. CO2 concentration in 2002 was 370 ppmv. If current trends continue, what will be the effect on the world s glaciers? b. Describe the effect this trend might have upon the coastal areas of the world? Credit. This exam was created by and submitted for publication on The Wright Center website by Gary Vorwald, New York State Science Olympiad Dynamic Planet Event Supervisor. 10
Dynamic Planet- Glaciers 2005 NYS Invitational Tournament Image Credits Note to those individuals/organizations whose images appear in this exam. We appreciate your making these images available on the worldwide web as countless students benefit from them. We were unable to locate the copyright owners for several of the images used. If you have any questions or objections to our including your images on this exam, please contact LWothworld@aol.com. These exams are distributed as free downloads for Science Olympiad participants, coaches, and parents and anyone else seeking enrichment materials for science instruction. The Science Olympiad is a non-profit organization promoting the improvement of science instruction. We promise to make any changes in our use of your images, including removing them from this exam, upon notification. Figure 1: Valley Glacier, Juneau Icefield Figure 2: Taku Glacier, July 2002 Dr. Mark J. Stevens Climate and Global Dynamics Division National Center for Atmospheric Research P.O. Box 3000 Boulder, CO 80307-3000 E-mail: stevens@ucar.edu voice: (303) 497-1755 http://www.cgd.ucar.edu/~stevens/alaska2002/ Figure 3: Cirque, Juneau Icefield, 1993 Gary Vorwald Figure 4: Horn, Juneau Icefield, 1993, Gary Vorwald Figure 5: Arete, Juneau Icefield, 1993, Gary Vorwald Figure 6: roche moutonnee, Mendenhall Glacier, Juneau, 1993, Gary Vorwald Figure 7: erratic, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 2003, Gary Vorwald Figure 8: Drumlin Edward J. Tarbuck Frederick K. Lutgens, Earth Science, Chp. 5 - GLACIERS, Deserts, and Wind, Prentice Hall, 2000 http://oz.plymouth.edu/~sci_ed/turski/courses/earth_science/chp5.html
Figure 9: Kettle Lakes Edward J. Tarbuck Frederick K. Lutgens, Earth Science, Chp. 5 - GLACIERS, Deserts, and Wind, Prentice Hall, 2000 http://oz.plymouth.edu/~sci_ed/turski/courses/earth_science/chp5.html Figure 10: Moraine, Lemon Glacier, Juneau Icefield Photo by Gary Vorwald, 1993. Figure 11: Cross-bedded drift Figure 12: Antarctica Ice Sheet Thickness http://www.geophys.washington.edu/people/students/ginny/antarctica/location.htm Figure 13: Depositional Landforms from Glaciers Tasa Graphic Arts, 2002 From Earth s Dynamic Surface CD available through Other Worlds Educational Enterprises at http://www.otherworlds-edu.com Figure 14: Retreating glacier (New York State Education Department, Earth Science Regents) Figure 15: Mt. Jackson, Colorado Topographic Map Alpine Glacier Landform Exercise, Created June 1997 by Linda Freeman. Last updated January 21, 2002 by Karen A. Lemke (klemke@uwsp.edu) http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/lemke/alpine_glacial_glossary/exercise/exercise.html Figure 16: Temperature and Carbon Dioxide graph, Vostok Ice Core (http://www.sierraclub.ca/national/programs/atmosphere-energy/climate-change/vostokice-core.jpg)
Dynamic Planet: Glaciers 2005 NYS Invitational Competition Participants: & Participant Response Sheet 1. 2. a. b. c. 3. a. b. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. a. b. 11. 12. 13. a. b. 14. a. b. 15. a. b. 16. a. b.
17. a. b. 18. 19. a. b. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36.
37. 38. 39. a. b. 40. a. b. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. a. b. 47. 48. 49. 50. a. b. c. 51. 52. a. b.
Dynamic Planet - Glaciers Materials required: Name: Grinnell Glacier Series of twelve boundary maps of Grinnel Glacier Acetate graph with individual squares of 1/10 th kilometer each Thin line, water soluble marker of any color Paper towels one moist; the other dry Part I: Use the images and the grid you have been given to answer the following questions. 1. Is the Grinnell Glacier located on land or at sea? a. How do you know b. 2. How many individual squares are needed to blanket an area of one square kilometer? 3. What value represents the area within each individual square? Km 2 Part II: Determining the surface area of each glacier in square kilometers. Place the acetate onto the image and trace the outer boundaries of both parts of the glacier. (To avoid damaging the grid printed on the acetate, place the acetate so the title appears as a mirror image, i.e. you working on the reverse side of the acetate.) Place the acetate with the outline you have drawn onto a sheet of plain white paper for better viewing. Count and record the number of whole squares, within the boundaries of the glacier. You need only touch the center of each square with the tip of the marker leaving a small dot on each as you count. Make wholes out of partial squares, i.e. 2 halves equal one, 3 thirds equal one, etc. Add these totals to determine the area of the glacier for each year given and record these on the chart on page 2. These estimates, though not perfect, are accurate enough to make inferences about the size and wasting of the glacier.
Grinnell Glacier Page 2 TABLE I: Wasting of the Grinnell Glacier Year Years between readings Area in Km 2 Actual loss or gain in area Average loss or gain in area per year 1860 ---- Km 2 --------------- ----------------- 1890 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 1911 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 1920 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 1927 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 1945 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 1950 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 1960 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 1966 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 1970 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 1985 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 1993 Years Km 2 Km 2 Km 2 Part III: Interpreting your results 4. Calculate the area of the Grinnell Glacier in 1993 as compared to its area in 1860? State your response as a percentage. 5. a. Between which years did the Grinnell Glacier actually increase in size? b. What caused that increase in size? 6. What types of records might one consult to determine the relationship between glacial melting and global warming?
Grinnell Glacier Page 3 7. May the measurements of the Grinnell Glacier s area during the span of these observations be used to prove that global warming is currently occurring? Explain. 8. May the measurements of the Grinnell Glacier s area during the span of these observations be used to prove that man s activities are at least partially responsible for the shrinkage of earth s glaciers? Explain. 9. Between which years was the average yearly growth in area the greatest? 10. Between which years was the average yearly loss in area the greatest? 11. a. Where is Grinnel Glacier wasting at the fastest pace? b. Form a hypothesis as to why the glacier is wasting at that location rather than wasting evenly on its entire surface. 2004, Other Worlds Educational Enterprises
Dynamic Planet: Glaciers 1. valley or alpine glacier 2. a. medial moraine Answer Key 2005 NYS Invitational Competition b. These were once lateral moraines which become medial moraines where two valley glaciers flow together. c. till; unsorted rocky materials eroded from the valley walls 3. a. ogives b. away (notice the curvature of the flowing ice lying perpendicular to the sides of the glacier) 4. hanging glacier (could be called an ice apron ) 5. terminus 6. ablation zone or zone of wastage 7. drift, outwash deposits 8. outwash plain or pro-glacial lake 9. cirque 10. a. horn 11. arête b. Horns are pyramidal peaks that form when several cirques chisel a mountain from three or more sides. 12. alpine or valley glacier 13. a. roche moutonnee b. The action of plucking on rock mounds when combined with glacial 14. a. erratic abrasion produces this feature. b. Glacial erratics are large rocks transported away from their source areas by 15. a. drumlin moving glacial ice sheets and deposited when the glacier melted. b. The narrow end of the drumlin points to the general direction of glacial advance; the steep end is the general direction that the glacier came from. 16. a. kettle lake b. When glaciers are retreating, numerous blocks of ice become detached from the main body of the glacier. If glacial drift is then surround the ice, a depression on the surface called a kettle hole can be created when the ice melts. Those reaching below the water table can form kettle lakes.
17. a. moraine or till b. till deposited along the edge of a glacier released when a glacier melts 18. cross-bedded drift; outwash deposit 19. a. Those in Figure 11 are well-sorted, fine, and deposited in well-defined layers or strata. b. Those in Figure 10 are poorly-sorted, large, with little obvious layering. 20. These sediments were deposited by meltwater streams in the outwash plain; 21. continental 22. Transantarctic Mountains 23. An ice sheet covers a very large area of land; an ice shelf is attached to an ice sheet but covers an area covered by water. 24. Valley glaciers are bound by valley walls and flow in the direction of the valley; an ice sheet is on a larger scale and flow in all directions; valley glaciers are thinner and smaller than ice sheets; 25. An ice sheet flows in all directions; a valley glacier flows in the direction of the valley. 26. Draw a straight line between 0 and 18 longitude and another between 90 W and 90 E latitude. The point where they cross is the South Pole. 27. 4000-4499 meters 28. continental glaciers 29. outwash plain, kame, esker 30. drumlins, recessional moraine, terminal moraine, and gournd moraine 31. terminal moraine 32. A terminal moraine is a deposit that marks the farthest advance of a glacier. Moraine deposits created during halts in the retreat of the glacier are called recessional moraines. Moraines form when the glacier pauses for a period of time (accumulation = ablation). As it melts it deposits till, but the glacier acts like a conveyor belt bringing more sediments to add to the moraine. 33. The glacier flows more rapidly at its center than at its sides due to less friction between the hard rock and ice at its sides 34. retreating 35. less accumulation and greater ablation 36. global warming++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 37. 55 ± 5 meters/year 38. horn 39. a. arête
b. the closely-spaced contours on two sides indicates steep walls; there are cirques on both sides of this high feature 40. a. cirque b. tarn 41. Description: a river at the center; gentle upslope from river on both sides; then much steeper walls. (U-shaped) 42. It decreased. In 1979 it was less than one-third the size it was in 1901. 43. Much greater ablation than accumulation. 44. The climate is becoming considerable warmer. 45. The glacial ice is still flowing forward although it is melting as it approaches the glacier s terminus. 46. a. eccentricity shape of orbit b. obliquity tilt of Earth s axis (and a third: precession wobble of axis) 47. Minute pockets of ancient atmosphere became trapped within the glacial ice. These small amounts of atmospheric gases were carefully analyzed. 48. Pleistocene 49. Decreases in CO 2 were accompanied by decreases in temperature; as CO 2 increases, temperature increases; 50. a. roughly 10,000 years ago (10,000 12,000 yrs) b. very similar c. approximately 120,000 years 51. four 52. a. Glaciers will become smaller and smaller. b. Present coastal areas will become inundated with water. This exam was written by and submitted for publication on The Wright Center website by Gary Vorwald, P.J. Gelinas JHS, Setauket, NY. In 1993, a team of 6 teachers from New York and Washington State were chosen to participate in a three-week summer program to study of the Juneau Icefield Research Project. They spent three weeks at a remote field camp on an arête located between the Lemon and Ptarmigan glaciers. The "Glaciers and Climate" chapter included on the TASA Graphic s Earth s Dynamic Surface CD presents a comprehensive study of the 2006 topic of the Dynamic Planet event for use with both Divisions C and D. Participants are guided through each concept with full color animations, illustrations, and photographs while listening to the author's narration. A review section at the end of the chapter reinforces the concepts covered. Interactive activities encourage participation and problem solving.