Glaciers

These flashcards cover key concepts related to glaciers and glacial features.

Glacial Drift

Eroded debris from glacier processes.

Moraine

Deposit of poorly sorted sediment (till) at the edges or sometimes in the middle of a glacier.

End Moraine

Glacial till deposited at the front of a glacier.

Lateral Moraine

Till at the side of a glacier.

Medial Moraine

Merger of lateral moraines.

Glacial Till

Poorly sorted material that ranges from boulders to clay, eroded, transported and deposited by a glacier.

Erratics

Large boulders left behind by glaciers.

Drumlin

Streamlined hill formed from glacial till by a flowing glacier.

Kettle

A depression left by the meltout of a stranded ice block.

Esker

Sinuous ridge of river sediment formed from deposition within an ice tunnel beneath an ice mass.

Glacial Outwash Plains

Flat areas formed by sediments deposited by meltwater from glaciers.

U-Shaped Valley

Valley formed by the erosional forces of a glacier.

V-Shaped Valley

Valley formed by the erosional forces of a river.

Cirque

Eroded amphitheater-shaped valley at the head of a valley glacier.

Horn

Bedrock remnant between multiple cirques.

Arete

Linear bedrock remnant between two valley glaciers.

Hanging Valley

Smaller tributary valley that hangs above a larger glacial valley.

Tarn

A lake formed in a cirque after glacial melt.

Paternoster Lakes

A series of small lakes found in glacial valleys.

Glacial Striations

Scratches or gouges cut into bedrock by glacial abrasion.