Exam 13: Glaciers and Ice Ages

Why is firn important to mountaineers?

The most recent series of glaciations occurred during the ____________________ Epoch.

Although many of Earth's alpine glaciers have been rapidly shrinking in recent years, the Antarctic Ice Sheet has remained stable, losing no ice mass.

Describe the geographic extent of the most recent continental glacier in North America.

What equipment is needed to climb into a crevasse?

Much of the northern Great Plains is covered with ground moraines, loess, or outwash.

List the three main causes for the Pleistocene glacial cycles.

What are crevasses and how do they form?

A glacier that forms in mountainous terrain and covers an area of less than 50,000 square kilometers is a(n) ____ glacier.

During a glaciation ____.

____________________ is any rock or sediment that is transported and deposited by a glacier or by glacial meltwater.

Describe the two mechanisms by which glaciers move.

A(n) ____________________ is a long, snake-like ridge formed as the channel deposit of a stream that flowed within or beneath a melting glacier.

Glacier-carved valleys are typically ____.

During the past 1 billion years, how many major glaciations occurred during that time and about how long did they last?

Rates of glacial movement depend entirely on air temperature.

Describe the two environments in which glaciers form.

Compare and contrast the glacial movements of the coastal ranges of southeast Alaska with the interior of Alaska.

____________________ is a glacial deposit that was deposited so long ago that it became lithified into a rock.

Describe the changes seen with the large glaciers in Glacier National Park, Montana.