10 Terms
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Glaciers
A glacier is a large persistent body of ice that forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and sublimation) over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform and flow due to stresses induced by their weight, creating crevasses, seracs, and other distinguishing features. They also abrade rock and debris from their substrate to create landforms such as cirques and moraines. Glaciers form only on land and are distinct from the much thinner sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water.
Industry: Water bodies
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Glaciers
dendrochronology
Water bodies; Glaciers
The study of tree rings and subfossil wood to provide information about the glacial and climatic history of an area.
glacial groove
Water bodies; Glaciers
A linear depression, inches to miles in length, produced by the removal of rock or sediment by the erosive action of a glacier.
ice rafting
Water bodies; Glaciers
The transportation of glacier sediment away from the ice margin by icebergs. Sediment transported by floating ice and deposited in the ocean is called glacial-marine sediment. Deposited in lakes, it ...
erratic
Water bodies; Glaciers
A rock of unspecified shape and size, transported a significant distance from its origin by a glacier or iceberg and deposited by melting of the ice. Erratics range from pebble-size to larger than a ...
glacier flow
Water bodies; Glaciers
The movement of ice in a glacier, typically in a downward and outward direction, caused by the force of gravity. 'Normal' flow rates are in feet per day. 'Rapid' flow rates (i.e. surge) are in 10s or ...
ground moraine
Water bodies; Glaciers
A blanket of glacier till deposited on all of the surfaces over which a glacier moves, typically by moving ice.
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10 Terms
