Land Forms

Alluvial Fan

A fan shaped landform that results from a stream running down a mountain and depositing sediment where the land levels and the stream slows

Delta

A land form caused by deposited sediment where a river enters a larger body of water

Meander

a curve in a river caused by erosion at the outside of a curve and deposition on the inside of the next curve

Esker

A river shaped mound where a river once existed under a melting glacier

Flood plain

A fertile area where a river regularly overflows and deposits nutrient rich sediment

Till

Unsorted rocks & sediment left behind by a glacier

Waterfall

When water flows over hard and solf rock the soft rock is eroded away leaving a drop-off

Stalactite

An icicle shaped limestone formation on the roof of a cave

Stalagmite

A vertical limestone formation on the floor of a cave

Sinkhole

when groundwater dissolves away limestone underground and the ground above it caves in.

Cave

When groundwater dissolves away limestone underground leaving a cavern

Cirque

A bowl shaped depression in the side of a mountain caused by a glacier eroding down the side of the mountain

Arete

A knife edge on a mountain caused by two glacier eroding away from one another

Horn

A pyramid shaped mountain peak caused by 3 or more glacier eroding away from one another

U-Shaped valley

When a glacier setting in a V-shaped valley it erodes the valley, causing a wider valley with steep sides

Glacial lake

A depression left behind by a glacier that fills in with water

Moraine

A mound of sediment pushed up by a glacier and left behind when the glacier retreats.

Erratic

A boulder moved from its place or origin by a glacier

V-shaped Valley

A valley created by a river eroding away the land

Oxbow Lake

When an old meander is cut off from the rest of the river an oxbow lake is formed