Mrs H Ch 9 Erosion & Deposition
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41 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 erosion | the process by which water, ice, wind, or gravity moves weathered rock or soil |
| sediment | small, solid pieces of material that come from rocks or organisms; earth materials deposited by erosion |
| deposition | process in which sediment is laid down in new locations |
| gravity | a force that moves rocks and other materials downhill; the force that pulls objects toward each other |
| mass movement | any one of several processes by which gravity moves sediment downhill |
| runoff | water that flows over the ground surface rather than soaking into the ground |
| rill | a tiny groove in soil made by flowing water |
| gully | a large channel in soil formed by erosion |
| stream | a channel through which water is continually flowing downhill |
| tributary | a stream or smaller river that feeds into a main river |
| flood plain | wide valley through which a river flows |
| meander | a looplike bend in the course of a river |
| oxbow lake | a meander cut off from a river |
| alluvial fan | a wide, sloping deposit of sediment formed where a stream leaves a mountain range |
| delta | a landform made of sediment that is deposited where a river flows into an ocean or lake |
| groundwater | water that fills the cracks and spaces in underground soil and rock layers |
| stalactite | a calcite deposit that hangs from the roof of a cave |
| stalagmite | a cone-shaped calcite deposit that builds up from the floor of a cave |
| karst topography | a region in which a layer of limestone close tot he surface creates deep valleys, caverns and sinkholes |
| energy | the ability to do work or cause change |
| potential energy | energy that is stored and available to be used later |
| kinetic energy | the energy an object has due to its motion |
| abrasion | the grinding away of rock by other rock particles carried in water, ice, or wind |
| load | the amount of sediment that a river or stream carries |
| friction | the force that opposes the motion of one surface as it moves across another surface |
| turbulence | a type of movement of water in which, rather than moving downstream, the water moves every which way |
| glacier | a large mass of moving ice and snow on land |
| continental glacier | a glacier that covers much of a continent or large island |
| ice age | time in the past when continental glaciers covered large parts of Earth's surface |
| valley glacier | a long, narrow glacier that forms when snow and ice build up in a mountain valley |
| plucking | the process by which a glacier picks up rocks as it flows over the land |
| till | the sediments deposited directly by a glacier |
| moraine | a ridge formed by the till deposited at the edge of a glacier |
| kettle | a small depression that forms when a chunk of ice is left in glacial till |
| headland | a part of the shore that sticks out into the ocean |
| beach | wave-washed sediment along a coast |
| longshore drift | the movement of water and sediment down a beach caused by waves coming in to shore at an angle |
| spit | a beach formed by longshore drift that projects like a finger out into the water |
| sand dune | a deposit of wind-blown sand |
| deflation | wind erosion that removes surface materials |
| loess | a wind-formed deposit made of fine particles of clay and silt |
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