Continental divide and Glaciers

Lithosphere

the solid outer part of the earth

Convection

a heat current where heat rises and the cool fluid goes to the bottom

Continental shelves

Shallow areas around the edges of the continents.

Volcanic islands

Volcanoes that grow up all the way form the ocean’s floor.

Trenches

form when Two plates are moving towards each other.

Seamounts

Underwater volcanoes that do not come all the way to the ocean’s surface.

mid ocean ridges

form when molten rock pushes up from the interior of Earth. 

Rocky mountains formed when

Two continental plates meet and are pushed against each other.

Plate Tectonics

surface of the earth is divided into huge moving plates

Continental glacier

covers large areas of land such as Antarctica and greenland.

Alpine Glacier

long linear glaciers that occupy high altitude mountain valleys

Glacial Retreat

Melting causes retreating, glaciers leave behind soil, rock, boulders

Outwash plain

areas where fresh sediment is left behind when glaciers melt, if the ground is flat the water streams into a braided pattern

Kettle Lakes

large pits filled with water when a glacier fails to retreat and forms its own pond instead of a river

Moraines

rock and debris build up along side the end of a glacier

Eskers

Slightly curved ridges that form tunnels in an ice sheet.

Drumlin

stream lined hills that appear seperately or in swarms shaped like a halfe sideways tear drop (hill)

Kame

Steep mountains or cone shaped hills built by the deposition of glacial sediment

Erratic

glacial deposited rock not originally in the area it was dropped in. Erratics are carried by glaciers 100s of km away.