Glacial Processes

August 29, 2003

1. Types of Glaciers

a. Alpine (Valley)

b. Continental (Ice Sheet)

2. Glacier Formation and Movement

a. Zone of Accumulation

b. Equilibrium Line

c. Zone of Wastage

d. Mass Balance – Positive = Advance, Negative = Retreat

3. Alpine Glaciers

a. Master or Main or Trunk

b. Tributary

c. Erosional Landforms

i. Glacial “U” shaped valleys

ii. Hanging valleys

iii. Cirques – bowl shaped area where a glacier originates

iv. Horns

v. Col ridges – small ridge that joins two or more horns.

vi. Arêtes – narrow ridges separating cirques.

vii. Glacial Lakes

A. Tarns – small lakes formed in basins scoured by the glacier.

B. Pater Noster Successions – the step wise pattern that tarns form.

viii. Fjords

4. Continental Glaciers – Sheets of ice that cover large areas

a. Depositional Landforms

i. Moraines – piles of eroded material.

A. Terminal or End

B. Medial

C. Lateral

D. Ground

ii. Outwash plains – fine material transported away from the glacier by meltwater streams.

iii. Kettles

iv. Drumlins

v. Eskers

vi. Kame terrace

vii. Proglacial Lakes

5. Glacial Rebound