Galciers Note

Glacial Erosion and Deposition 

1. Glaciers are bodies of ice formed from repeated periods of snowfall.  gravity causes glaciers to flow slowly downhill.  

2. Alpine are glaciers that form high in the mountains and travel  downhill like rivers of ice.  

3. continental are glaciers that cover entire landmasses, moving outwards  from the center.  

4. When a glacier reaches the ocean, large pieces break off in a process known as Calving. 

5. Glaciers grind down the rock on both the sides and bottom of the area where they are  traveling. The result is a large, wide, u-shaped valley.  

6. As glaciers grind over the surface bedrock, they leave behind deep scratches in the rock.  These groves are called _______________glacial striations_________, and they record the direction of ice  flow in the rock.  

7. When a glacier melts, it deposits piles of and sediments. These sediments are known as glacial till. 

8. When glaciers move, they push large piles of unsorted sediment out in front of them.  When the glaciers melt, they leave these huge piles of sediment  

(terminal moraines) behind. The marks the farthest that a glacier traveled  before melting.  

9. Long Island is a terminal moraine.  

10. Glaciers are the only agent of erosion capable of transporting large boulders over long  distances. When glaciers melt, they deposit these boulders which then become known as glacial erratics . 

11. A drumlin is an elongated hill of deposited glacial till. The shape of a  drumlin reveals the direction that the glacier was moving.  

12. This diagram shows the stages in the formation of a kettle, or  kettle lake. These formations are very common in areas that were once  affected by glaciation.  

13. When glaciers melt, the meltwater forms streams which, like all running water, deposit  sorted sediments. This creates a region known as an outwash plain. 

14. The Great Lakes and Finger Lakes formed from u-shaped valleys.