Printable Glaciers: Essential Vocabulary flash cards

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.

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.

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.

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.