Glaciers, Deserts, and Wind (book only)
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66 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Glacier | A thick ice mass that forms over hundreds or thousands of years |
| Alluvial Fan | Cone of debris at the mouth of a canyon |
| Playa lake | Lakes lasting only a few days before drying |
| Playa | Dry, flat bed left after Playa lake dries up |
| Blowouts | Shallow depressions, noticeable results of depression |
| Desert Pavement | Stony veneer, created as deflation lowers the surface, removing sand and silt |
| Abrasion | Wind erodes by |
| Loess | Topography mantled with windblown silt |
| Slip Face | Leeward side of dune |
| Cross Beds | Layers of sand formed on the slip face |
| Barchan Dunes | Solitary sand dunes shaped like crescents, tips pointing downward |
| transverse Dunes | Dunes formed in long ridges separated by troughs, at right angles |
| Sand Sea | Extensive surface of wavy sand |
| Barchanoid Dunes | Form scalloped rows of sand oriented at right angles |
| Longitudinal Dunes | Long ridges of sand that form parallel to the prevailing wind where sand supplies are moderate |
| Parabolic Dunes | form where vegitation partially covers sand |
| Star Dunes | Isolated hills of sand that exhibit a complex form |
| Valley(Alpine) Glaciers | Glaciers found in valleys moving a few centimeters per day |
| Ice Sheets | Flow out in all directions from one or more centers, relatively huge |
| Ice Caps | Glaciers covering some uplands and plateaus |
| Piedmont Glaciers | Glaciers occupying broad lowlands at the bases of steep mountains |
| Flow | The Movement of glacial ice |
| Plastic Flow | Movement within the ice |
| Zone of Fracture | The uppermost zone of a glacier and is very brittle |
| Crevasses | Cracks in the zone of fracture do to tension |
| Zone of Accumulation | Where snow accumulation and ice formation occur |
| Zone of wastage | Where the snow from the previous winter melts |
| Calving | Ice breaking off the front of glaciers |
| Ice Bergs | Where glaciers meet the sea calving occurs |
| Budget | Balance or lack of balance of accumulation and loss |
| Ablation | Loss of snow from a glacier |
| Plucking | Occurs when melt water penetrates cracks and joints along the rock floor of the glacier and freezes |
| Abrasion | Ice and rock sliding over bed rock, act as sand paper to smooth and polish |
| Rock Flour | Pulverized rock produced by the glacial gristmill |
| Glacial Striations | Long scratches and grooves may be gouged into the bedrock |
| Glacial trough | A once V-shaped valley widened, deepened, straightened into a U-shaped valley |
| Trunk Glaciers | Main Glaciers |
| Hanging Valleys | After ice has receded, valleys of tributary glaciers are left standing above the main glacial trough |
| Cirque | Head of glacial valley associated with alpine glacier |
| Arêtes | Sinuous, sharp, edged ridges |
| Horns | Sharp pyramid like peaks |
| Fiords | Deep spectacular inlets of the sea existing in high latitude areas |
| Glacial Drift | Sediment of glacial origin |
| Till | Deposited as glacial ice and drops its rock debris |
| Stratified Drift | Sorted according to size and weight of fragments |
| Glacial Erratics | Boulders found in till or lying freely |
| Moraines | Layers or ridges of till |
| Lateral Moraines | Wasted away materials left as ridges on the sides of valleys |
| Medial Moraines | When two glaciers coalesce to form a single ice stream |
| End Moraine | Ridge or till that forms at the terminus of a glacier |
| Ground Moraine | Gently rolling layer of till deposited as the ice front recedes |
| Terminal End Moraine | The first end moraine to form marks the farthest advance of the glacier |
| Recessional End Moraines | Moraines that form as ice occasionally stabalizes |
| Outwash Plain | Ramplike accumulation of stratified drift built adjacent to the down stream edge of most moraines |
| Valley Train | Ramplike accumulation of stratified drift limited to a mountain valley |
| Kettles | Morainses, outwash plains, and valley trains marked with basins or depressions |
| Drumlins | Streamlined Assymettrical hills composed of till |
| Eskers | Ridges composed largely of sand and gravel and are deposits made by streams |
| Drumlin Fields | Cluster of drumlins |
| Kames | Steep-sided hills composed of sand and gravel |
| Pluvial Lake | Lakes forming in cool wet climates, when precipitation was moderate |
| Pluvia | Means rain |
| Plate Tectonics | Most attractive proposal for why glaciations have occurred only a few times |
| Ephermal | Desert streams, carrying water only in response to period of rain |
| Wash/Arroyo | Different names for Ephermal streams in the US |
| Wadi/Donga/Nullah | Different names for ephermals around the world |
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