| Term | Definition |
|---|
| Erosion | The process by which natural forces move weathered rock and soil from one place to another |
| sediment | material moved by erosion |
| deposition | occurs where the agents of erosion lay down sediment |
| gravity | the force that moves rock and other materials downhill |
| landslide | rock and soil slide quickly down a steep slope |
| mudslide | rapid downhill movement of a mixture of water, rock and soil |
| slump | a mass of rock & soil suddenly slips down a slope |
| creep | very slow downhill movement of rock and soil |
| runoff | all the remaining water that moves over Earth's surface |
| rills | tiny grooves formed in the soil as runoff travels |
| gully | a large groove, or channel, in the soil that carries runoff after a rainstorm |
| stream | a channel along which water is continually flowing down a slope |
| river | a large stream---streams that flow together to form one larger stream |
| tributary | a stream that flows into a larger stream |
| drainage basin | the land area from which a river and its tributaries collect their water |
| divide | the high ground between two drainage basins |
| flood plain | a flat, wide area of land along a river |
| meander | a looplike bend in the course of a river |
| oxbow lake | a meander that has been cut off from the 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 acean or lake |
| stalactite | a calcite deposit that hangs like and icicle from the roof of a cave |
| stalagmite | a cone shaped calcite deposit that builds up from the floor of a cave |
| energy | the ability to do work or cause change |
| potential energy | energy that is stored and waiting to be used later |
| kinetic energy | energy an object has due to its motion |
| abrasion | the wearing away of rock by a grinding action |
| 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 the water moves every which way |
| glacier | any large mass of ice that moves slowly over land |
| valley glacier | a long, narrow glacier that forms when snow and ice build up high in a mountain valley |
| continental glacier | a glacier that covers much of a continent or large island |
| ice age | time when continental glaciers covered large parts of Earth's surface |
| plucking | the process where a glacier picks up rocks as it flows over the land |
| abrasion | the process where the rocks that remain on the bottom of the glacier, scratch and gouge the bedrock as the glacier drags them across the land |
| till | mixture of sediments that a glacier deposits directly on the surface |
| moraine | a ridge that is formed from till that is deposited at the edges of a glacier |
| cirque | a bowl-shaped hollow eroded by a glacier |
| arete | a sharp ridge separating two cirques |
| kettle lake | forms when a depression left in till by melting ice fills with water |
| horn | a sharpened peak that remains when a glacier carves away the sides of a mountain |
| sand dune | a deposit of wind-blown sand |
| deflation | the process by which wind removes surface materials |
Combine with other sets
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