cold environments key words

the natural removal of material such as ice and snow via evaporation, sublimation and melting. The ablation zone is where the rate of removal of snow and ice is faster than the precipitation rate. E.g. this occurs in periglacial areas in the summer

rocks carried by the glacier that protude slightly out of the bottom of the glacier erode rock underneath because of the weight of the glacier

the amount of precipitation exceeds the rate of melting, so there is a gain of snow. E.g. in winter periglacial areas.

the thawed surface of permafrost

high mountaineous areas

narrow ridge formed when 2 corries are back to back

the ice found at the bottom of a glacier, made of freezing water at the bed of the glacier

A large crack or crevasse formed when the moving glacier ice moves away from the stagnant ice. Usually there is one in a corrie where the glacier ice seperates from the back wall

An armchair shaped hollow with steep sides and a back wall formed on a mountain side and often containing a tarn or rock basin.

a period when there is no ice age so the glacier melts. This also happens in the summer.

A drumlin is an egg shaped mound of boulder clay, deposited by the glacier when it is overloaded or melting. An obstacle causes the glacier to deposit the boulder clay. a group of Drumlins is caused a basket of eggs.

A valley produced by a river that no longer has water in it.

A rock that isnt native to the area and has been picked up and carried by the ice to a different area and was left when the glacier melted.

Glacial troughs below or partly below the sea level.

The melting or wasting of ice results in the formation of meltwater streams which carry much debris and deposit it during active ablation or deglaciation or during a prolonged period of ice stagnation much like a river in stratified drift formations; 2 types of fluvioglacial drift - prolonged drift and ice contact stratified drift.

water trapped in rock joints or crevasses freezes and expands by 9% making any existing weaknesses larger and eventually splitting the area of rock

where water freezes in the soil and pushes the material upwards and churns it.

Glacial areas are very dry with little precipitation apart, there is snow and ice there all year round.