Glossary

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Glossary 1

  • Ablation- A glacier's negative mass balance.
  • Ablation Till- Material deposited by melting ice from glaciers.
  • Abrasion (Corrosion)- Process of scraping or wearing something away.
  • Accumulation- A glacier's positive mass balance.
  • Active Layer- The seasonally thawed surface layer above permafrost.
  • Advance (Glacial)- The result of the glacier's posiive mass balance.
  • Alases- Shallow depressions which occur primarily in Yauktia.
  • Anthropocene- Relating to the current geological age.
  • Aeolian Processes- Processes which can shape glaciated landscapes.
  • Angular- Having angles or sharp corners.
  • Arete- A sharp mountain ridge.
  • Artesian Pressure- A confined aquifer containing groundwater positive pressure
  • Aspect- Direction which a slope/surface faces
  • Avalanche- A mass of snow/ice and rocks falling rapidly down a mountain side
  • Basal Sliding- The act of a glacier sliding over the bed due to meltwater.
  • "Basket of Eggs" Topography- Arrangement of natural and physical features
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Glossary 2

  • Bergschrund- A crevasse at the junction of a glacier.
  • Blockfield- A surface covered by large rocks
  • Braided Streams- A stream consisting of multiple small shallow channels
  • Carbonation- Rainwater combines with co2 to make weak carbonic acid
  • Crevasse- A deep open crack, especially one in a glacier.
  • Cold-based Glacier- Temperatures at surface too cold for water to exist any point of year
  • Compressing Flow- When the velocity of ice movement decreases
  • Corrie (Cirque/Cwm)- Half open steep sided hollow at head of valley
  • Cryoturbation- Mixing of materials from various horizons of the soil
  • Debris Flow- Moving mass that travels down a slope via gravity.
  • Deposition- Where material is picked up in one place and deposited in another
  • Diagenesis- Process where snow becomes ice due to compression
  • Drift- All material deposited during glaciation
  • Drumlins- Low oval mound/small hill made of compacted boulder clay
  • Ellipsoidal Basin- Basin having the form of an ellipsoid
  • Englacial (debris)- Loose natural matieral
  • Equilibrium Line- Where the inputs equal the outputs
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Glossary 3

  • Erosion- Process of being eroded by wind, water or other nature
  • Erratic- Rock/Boulder differing from the surrounding rock
  • Escarpment- Long, Steep Slope especially at edge of plateau
  • Esker- A long narrow ridge marking glacier tunnel location
  • Extending Flow- Movement of ice
  • Freeze Thaw- Where water enters racks and expands
  • Frost Heave- Upwards swelling of soil during freezing
  • Frost Shattering- Water trapped in rock pores freezes and expands
  • Gelifluction- Seasonal freeze thaw action upon water logging top soils
  • Geomorphic Processes- Nature and origin of landforms
  • Glacial- Permanently covered by ice
  • Glacial Landscape- Creates by areas of glaciers
  • Glacier- Large slow moving mass of ice
  • Glacier Mass Balance- Total accumulation minus total ablation
  • Glacio-Fluvial- Material deposited by meltwater (also outwash)
  • Granular Disintegration- Where grains of rock loosen and fall out
  • Hydration- Water molecules added to rock minerals to form new materials
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Glossary 4

  • Hydrolysis- Chemical reaction between water and rock minerals
  • Hydrostatic Pressure- Pressure exerted by a fluid at equilibrium
  • Ice Sheet- Largest accumulation of ice
  • Ice Shelf- Thick floating platform of ice
  • Ice Wedge Cast- An ice wedge filled with sediment and dirt
  • Ice Contact Drift- (See Kame)
  • Internal Deformation- Type of glacial movement. Ice inside deforms.
  • Inter-glacial- An interval of time
  • Inter-granular flow- Individual ice crystals reorientate and move in relation to one another
  • Isostatic Changes- Caused by build up of ice on land
  • Jokulhaulps- A type of glacial outburst flood
  • Kame- A mound-like hill of ice-contact stratified drift
  • Laminar Flow- Movement of individual layers with glacier
  • Lateral Moraine- Parallel ridges of debries deposited along sides of glacier
  • Lithology- Chemical and physical composition of rocks
  • Lodgement Till- Material deposited by advancing ice
  • Mass Movement- Occurs when forces acting on slope material exceeds forces keeping it on slope.
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Glossary 5

  • Microclimate- Climate of a very small or restricted area
  • Nivation- Erosion of ground beneath and sides of snow bank
  • Nivation Hollow- A small shallow depression aka Nivation Cirque
  • Ognip- Opposite of a pingo
  • Open System- Material system where mass/energy can go to/from environment
  • Output- Amount of something produced by person, machine or industry
  • Outwash- Material deposited by meltwater (Also glacio-fluvial)
  • Outwash Plain- A plain formed of glacial sediments deposited by meltwater outwash
  • Oxidation- Oxygen reacts with minerals in rocks
  • Patterned Ground- Ground showing pattern caused by repeated freeze-thawing
  • Periglacial (environments)- Area adjacent to a glacier
  • Permafrost- Permanently frozen ground
  • Pingo- Dome-shaped mound consisting of layers of soil
  • Plucking- A process of glacial erosion
  • Pressure Melting Point- Temp at which ice melts at given pressure
  • Pressure Release- Weight of overlaying ice lost due to melting
  • Pro-glacial (areas)- In front a proglacial lake
  • Proglacial Lakes- Lake formed by damming action of moraine or ice dam
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Glossary 6

  • Pyramidal Peak- An angular sharply pinted mountain peak
  • Recessional Moraines- A series of transverse ridges running across valley behind terminal moraine
  • Regolith- Layer of unconsolidated (weakened) solid material covering bedrock
  • Relief- Steepness of slopes
  • Retreat (glacial)- The result of the glacier's negative mass balance
  • Ribbon LakeA long, narrow finger shaped lake
  • Rigid Zone- Boundary between zone of accumulation and wastage
  • Roche Mountonnees- Small bare outcrop of rock shaped by glacial erosion
  • Rockfall- Rock falls to the floor forming a scree slope
  • Rock Flour- Consists of fine grained silt sized particles of rock
  • Rock Glacier- A distinctive geomorphological landform
  • Rock (corrie) Lip- Left from moraine when erosion rate decreases
  • Seracs- A pinncale/ridge on glacier surface
  • Scree (slope)- (A slope of) loose rock debris at bottom of steep incline
  • Sliding- Move smoothly along a surface
  • Slumping- A part of weathering
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Glossary 7

  • Snout- Near the end of a glacier
  • Solifluction- Gradual movement of wet soil (or other) down a slope
  • Solution- Mineral dissolves in water
  • Sorted/Unsorted (Deposits)- Drumlins, Moraines and Erratics
  • Stadial- Moraine isotope stage
  • Stone Polygon/Graland/Stripe- Where stone stripes are elongated
  • (Un)Stratified (deposits)- Geological processes where soil and rocks added to landform
  • Striations- Series of ridges, furrows or linear marks
  • Structure (geological)- Result of powerful tectonic forces occuring in earth
  • Sub-angular- Free from sharp angles but not smoothly rounded
  • Subglacial (debris)- Formed/occuring at bottom of glacier
  • Sublimation- When anything becomes gas without being a liquid first
  • Subsidence- Gradual caving in/sinking of an area of land
  • Supraglacial (debris)- Occuring at surface of glacier
  • Talik- Layer of year round unfrozen ground
  • Talus- Pile of rock that accumulates at base of cliff, chute or slope
  • Tarn- A mountain lake or pool formed in a cirque
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Glossary 8

  • Thawing- Become liquid or soft as a result of warming
  • Terminal Moraine- Type of moraine that forms at snout
  • Thermokarst- Land surface characterised by irregular surfaces
  • Till- Material deposited directly by the ice
  • Till Sheet- When a surface of ice becomes detached from glacier
  • Trough (Glacial)- Elongated region of relatively low atmospheric pressure
  • Valley Glacier- Streams of flowing ice confined within valleys
  • Warm-based Glacier- Water at surface in summer
  • Weathering- Erosion of the rock caused by various sources
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