Glaciers

Glaciers

Bodies of ice formed from repeated periods of snowfall. Gravity causes glaciers to flow slowly downhill

Alpine Glaciers

Formed in the high mountains, travels downhill like rivers of ice, and carves out U shaped valleys as it travels

Continental Glaciers

Massive glaciers that cover entire landmasses, moves outwards from the centre

Calving

When either type of glacier reaches the ocean and a large piece breaks off

Glacial Striations

Glaciers grind over the surface of bedrock when sliding, leaving deep scratches and gouges

Glacial till

When glaciers melt, they deposit piles of unsorted and unlayered sediments

Terminal Moraine

Marks the farthest that a glacier travels before melting, with huge piles of moraines

Glacial Kettle

Depressions created in land by pieces of ice broken off by retreating glaciers. Sediment surrounds them, and they can create kettle lakes or regular depressions in the ground.

Drumlin

An elongated hill of deposited glacial till, the shape of the drumlin reveals the direction glaciers move

Outwash Plain

Glaciers melt and form streams, which deposit sorted sediments