Water bodies

Water bodies

Referring to any significant accumulation of water usually on planet earth but also on other planetary bodies.

10Categories 35821Terms

Add a new term

Contributors in Water bodies

Become a Contributors

Water bodies > Glaciers

trimline

Water bodies; Glaciers

A clear boundary line on the wall of a glacier valley that delineates the maximum recent thickness of a glacier. It may be a change in the color of the bedrock, indicating the ...

ice shelf

Water bodies; Glaciers

The floating terminus of a glacier, typically formed when a terrestrial glacier flow into a deep water basin, such as in Antarctica and the Canadian Arctic.

icefall

Water bodies; Glaciers

Part of a glacier where the ice flows over a bed with a very steep gradient, typically at a higher rate than both above and below. As a result the surface is fractured and heavily ...

moraine

Water bodies; Glaciers

A general term for unstratified and unsorted deposits of sediment that form through the direct action of, or contact with, glacier ice. Many different varieties are recognized on ...

crevasse

Water bodies; Glaciers

A crack or series of cracks that open in the surface of a moving glacier in response to differential stresses caused by glacier flow. They range in shape from linear to arcuate, ...

pit pond

Water bodies; Glaciers

A depression in an outwash plain by the melting of a block of ice floated to its depositional site by meltwater and subsequently buried by sediment. As it melts, a depression in ...

continental glacier

Water bodies; Glaciers

A thick, subcontinental to continental-scale accumulation of glacier ice and perennial snow that spreads from a center of accumulation, typically in all directions.