| Term | Definition |
|---|
| glacier | Thick ice mass formed by the accumulation, compaction and recrystallization of snow |
| alpine or valley | Type of glacier formed in mountain areas |
| Piedmont | Type of glacier that spreads out over flatter land at base of mountains |
| ice sheet | Large bodies of ice that form on continents and grow outward in all directions |
| plastic flow | Action of ice that is at the bottom of glacier under pressure |
| crevasse | Cracks formed in the top 150 feet of glacier. |
| abrasion and plucking | How glaciers erode surfaces |
| plucking | Form of erosion where ice at the bottom of a glacier picks up sediment, using the same process as ice wedging. |
| abrasion | Form of erosion where sediment carried along the bottom of a glacier acts like sandpaper that smooths surfaces |
| trough | U-shaped valley |
| trough | Erosional feature left after a glacier recedes |
| cirque | Bowl-like depression formed by frost wedging and plucking steep cliffs at edges. |
| arêtes | sharp edged ridges formed between two troughs |
| horns | sharp pyramid shaped peaks formed between more than two troughs |
| hanging valley | Tributary troughs which are higher in elevation than the main trough |
| fiord | submerged glacial trough that formed when sea level was lower. Also called arm of the sea |
| Glacial drift | All sediments deposited by a glacier, containing sediment of all sizes |
| till | mixed sediments deposited by a glacier |
| moraine | layers or ridges of till or drift formed along the edges of glaciers, where two glaciers meet or end |
| glacial-interglacial periods | ice ages |
| Milankovitch cycles | changes in the earth's orbit that create glacial-interglacial periods |
| 30 | Percentage of the earths surface under desert |
| desert | arid regions covering approximately 30% of the earth's surface |
| ephemeral streams | Streams that only run when there is precipitation and then dry up quickly |
| running water | Main weathering and erosion agent in the desert |
| playa lakes | temporary lakes in deserts where ephemeral streams collect and end, containing sizable deposits of evaporates |
| inselbergs | mountain peaks buried in sediment |
| deflation | Process that removes fine materials from the soil surface, leaving coarser materials behind, causing the whole surface to drop lower and become coarser over time. |
| pavement | Coarse veneer of pebbles and gravel that develops in the surface with deflation |
| loess | Wind-blown deposits of fine silt and mud laid down in broad layers |
| sand dunes | Wind-blown deposits of sand sized particles laid down in ridges or mounds, typically asymmetrical. |
| cross-bedding | alternating directions of layers in lithified sand dunes |
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