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Glaciers: Essential Vocabulary

Word List with 55 words
*By Dictionary.com

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Words in This List

ablation
Reduction in volume of glacial ice or snow by combined processes of melting, evaporation, calving.
accumulation
Growth by continuous additions.
accumulation area
Upper area of a glacier where the accumulation of snow exceeds the melting point.
advance
Seaward movement of the shoreline.
varve
An annual deposit usually consisting of two layers, one of fine materials and the other of coarse.
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barren zone
Region of a coral reef seaward of the lower palmata zone and just landward of the buttress zone.
bergey seltzer
Fizzing sound an iceberg makes when it is melting.
bergschrund
Series of crevasses at the upper end of a mountain glacier.
braided stream
Stream of multiple small channels that divide and recombine numerous times forming a braided pattern.
calving
To break up or splinter so as to produce a detached piece.
chatter marks
Irregular gouges made on rock surfaces by the slipping of fragments in lower portion of a glacier.
cirque
Bowl-shaped, steep-walled mountain basin carved by glaciation containing a small, round lake.
crevasse
Fissure or deep cleft in glacial ice, the earth's surface.
debris cone
Pile of ice or snow on a glacier blanketed with a thin layer of debris.
dendrochronology
Study of the annual rings in determining the dates and chronological order of past events.
disarticulation
To make or become disjointed.
drumlin
Long, narrow or oval, smoothly rounded hill of unstratified glacial drift.
erratic
Boulder or the like carried by glacial ice and deposited some distance from its place of origin .
esker
Serpentine ridge of gravelly and sandy drift formed by streams under or in glacial ice.
firn
Granular snow accumulated on high mountains and subsequently compacted into glacial ice.
firn line
Zone between the lower region of solid ice and upper region of neve, above which ablation occurs.
fjord
Long, narrow arm of the sea bordered by steep cliffs usually formed by glacial erosion.
foliation
Folds and strains found in glacier ice.
fountain
Source or head of a stream.
geyser
Hot spring that intermittently sends up fountain like jets of water and steam into the air.
glacial groove
Gouges found in bedrock as a result of glacial abrasion.
glacial lake
Lake originating within a melted glacier.
glacial stream
River of ice flowing in an ice cap or sheet, usually flows toward an ocean.
glacier
Extended mass of ice formed from snow falling and accumulating over the years and moving very slowly.
glacier cave
Cavity formed inside the ice of a glacier.
glacier flow
Motion of ice caused by gravitational force.
glacier ice
Ice formation as a result of the accumulation and recrystallization of snow.
glacier table
Stone slab supported over the surface of a mountain glacier by a column or columns of ice.
glacier terminus
Point at which a glacier ends or breaks off.
hanging valley
Tributary valley usually a result of differences in glacial erosion.
holocene
Formed in the most recent epoch of the Quaternary period or at the end of the last ice age.
ice rafting
Transference of various material by ice.
ice shelf
Ice sheet projecting into coastal waters so that the end floats.
iceberg
Large floating mass of ice, detached from a glacier and carried out to sea.
icefall
Falling of ice from a glacier or iceberg.
isostasy
Condition in the earth's crust in which the forces of elevation balance those tending to depress.
kame
Ridge or mound of stratified drift left by a retreating ice sheet.
kettle hole
Round hollow formed by the melting of a mass of buried ice.
moraine
Ridge or irregular mass of unstratified glacial drift, chiefly boulders, gravel, sand and clay.
moulin
Nearly vertical cavity worn in a glacier by surface water falling through a crack in the ice.
nunatak
Hill or mountain that has been completely encircled by a glacier.
outwash plain
Broad, sloping landform built of coalesced deposits of outwash.
pleistocene
Pertaining to the epoch forming the earlier half of the Quaternary Period.
roche moutonnee
Rounded, glacially eroded rock outcrop, usually one of a group.
rock meal
Finely ground rock material produced by the grinding action of a glacier on its bed.
rockslide
Landslide of rocks.
snow bridge
Mass of snow bridging a crevasse, sometimes affording a risky way across it.
stagnation
Cease to run or flow, as water.
surge
Strong, wavelike, forward movement, rush, or sweep.
till
Glacial drift consisting of an unassorted mixture of clay, sand, gravel, and boulders.

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