Glaciers

Front 1

Alpine (valley) glacier

Back 1

As the glacier grows, the ice slowly flows out of the cirque and into a valley. Several cirque glaciers can join together to form a single valley glacier.

Front 2

Bergschrund

Back 2

from the German for mountain cleft) is a crevasse that forms where moving glacier ice separates from the stagnant ice or firn above. It is often a serious obstacle for mountaineers, who sometimes abbreviate "bergschrund" to "schrund".

Front 3

Continental glacier

Back 3

are continuous masses of ice that are much larger than alpine glaciers. Small continental glaciers are called ice fields. Big continental glaciersare called ice sheets. Greenland and Antarctica are almost entirely covered with ice sheets that are up to 3500 m (11 500 ft) thick.

Front 4

Crevasse

Back 4

a deep open crack, especially one in a glacier

Front 5

Glacier

Back 5

a slowly moving mass or river of ice formed by the accumulation and compaction of snow on mountains or near the poles.

Front 6

Zone of ablation

Back 6

area refers to the low-altitude area of a glacier or ice sheet below firn with a net loss in ice mass due to melting, sublimation, evaporation, ice calving, aeolian processes like blowing snow, avalanche, and any other ablation.

Front 7

Zone of accumulation

Back 7

the accumulation zone is the area above the firn line, where snowfall accumulates and exceeds the losses from ablation, (melting, evaporation, and sublimation). The annual Glacier equilibrium line separates the accumulation andablation zone annually.

Front 8

Erratic

Back 8

not even or regular in pattern or movement; unpredictable.

Front 9

Horn

Back 9

(Geological Science) geology a sharp peak formed where the ridges separating three or more cirques intersect; horn

Front 10

Moraine

Back 10

a mass of rocks and sediment carried down and deposited by a glacier, typically as ridges at its edges or extremity.

Front 11

Arete

Back 11

a sharp mountain ridge.

Front 12

Kettle

Back 12

a small area in which demonstrators or protesters are confined by police seeking to maintain order during a demonstration.

Front 13

Interglacial period

Back 13

is a geological interval of warmer global average temperature lasting thousands of years that separates consecutive glacial periods within an ice age.

Front 14

Ice age

Back 14

a glacial episode during a past geological period.

Front 15

Precession

Back 15

the slow movement of the axis of a spinning body around another axis due to a torque (such as gravitational influence) acting to change the direction of the first axis. It is seen in the circle slowly traced out by the pole of a spinning gyroscope.

Front 16

Glacial period

Back 16

a period in the earth's history when polar and mountain ice sheets were unusually extensive across the earth's surface.

Front 17

Eccentricity

Back 17

the quality of being eccentric.

Front 18

Firn

Back 18

granular snow, especially on the upper part of a glacier, where it has not yet been compressed into ice.

Front 19

Till

Back 19

less formal way of saying until.

Front 20

Snowfield

Back 20

a large floating mass of ice detached from a glacier or ice sheet and carried out to sea.

Front 21

Ice sheet

Back 21

a permanent layer of ice covering an extensive tract of land, especially a polar region.

Front 22

Ice shelf

Back 22

a floating sheet of ice permanently attached to a landmass.

Front 23

Ice pack

Back 23

a bag filled with ice and applied to the body to reduce swelling or lower temperature.2.

Front 24

Cirque

Back 24

a half-open steep-sided hollow at the head of a valley or on a mountainside, formed by glacial erosion.

Front 25

Milankovitch theory

Back 25

is an explanation of long term climate change. Milankovitch built his theory from previous work done by J.A. Adhemar and James Croll. In 1842 Adhemar explained glacial climate using only precession (Davis, 2002).

Front 26

Glacial lake

Back 26

is a lake with origins in a melted glacier. They are formed when a glacier erodes the land, and then melts, filling the hole or space that it has created. Near the end of the last glacial period, roughly 10,000 years ago, glaciers began to retreat.

Front 27

Esker

Back 27

a long ridge of gravel and other sediment, typically having a winding course, deposited by meltwater from a retreating glacier or ice sheet.

Front 28

Snowline

Back 28

the altitude above which some snow remains on the ground in a particular place throughout the year.the altitude above which there is snow on the ground in a particular place at a given time.