Skip to main content

Glacier

#Glaciers #Bodies of ice #Montane ecology #Glacial landforms

1 As temperature decreases with altitude, high mountains — even those near the ________ — have permanent snow cover on their upper portions, above the snow line.

2 Extensive glaciers are found in Antarctica, Chilean Patagonia, Canada, ________, Greenland and Iceland.

3 The seismic waves are recorded at seismographs around ________, and even as far away as Australia, a distance of more than 6,400 kilometers.

4 Conversely, areas of the Arctic, such as Banks Island, and the Dry Valleys in ________ are considered polar deserts, as they receive little snowfall despite the bitter cold.

5 Glaciers move, or flow, downhill due to the internal deformation of ice and ________.

6 Mountain glaciers are widespread, e.g., in the Andes, the Himalaya, the Rocky Mountains, the Caucasus, and the ________.

7 Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on ________, and is second only to oceans as the largest reservoir of total water.

8 Because of this, as the ice melts, it leaves stratified deposits in the form of ________, terraces and clusters.

9 Glaciers are also responsible for the creation of ________ (deep coves or inlets) and escarpments that are found at high latitudes.

10 ________ are rounded boulders that were left by a melting glacier and are often seen perched precariously on exposed rock faces after glacial retreat.

💡 Interesting Facts

  • the Ahklun Mountains (pictured), located in the Togiak National Wildlife Refuge, support the only existing glaciers in western Alaska?
  • the Hubbard Glacier is the longest tidewater glacier in Alaska?
  • the lower species diversity among certain mammals of New England compared to mammals of the American West is thought to be due to fewer glacial refugia in the Eastern United States?
  • the origins of Castle Lake (pictured) in California date to the Pleistocene Era (more than 10,000 years ago) when a glacier carved a basin in the location of the current lake?
  • retreating glaciers of the Himalayas produce vast and long-lived supraglacial lakes, many kilometres in diameter and scores of metres deep?
  • many subantarctic glaciers on Heard Island, including Allison, Compton, Deacock, Downes, Ealey, Fiftyone, Gotley, Lied, Schmidt, Stephenson, Vahsel and Winston, have a negative mass balance and are in retreat?
  • Viedma Glacier (pictured) is part of the huge Southern Patagonian Ice Field, the third largest expanse of continental ice after Greenland and Antarctica?
  • due to receding glaciers, in 1951, the Alaska Railroad was able to move its route and abandon a curved tunnel built in 1906?
  • geologist Amund Helland published pioneering works on glacial erosion and the role of glaciers in the formation of valleys, fjords and lakes in the mid 1870s?
  • Mount Veniaminof in the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge contains the most extensive crater glacier in North America, at roughly 5.2 miles (8.4 km) in diameter?
    • Previous Quiz Next Quiz

    Related Quizzes