GEOG 1113L Lab 10: Glacial Landscapes
Lab 10: Glacial Landscapes
GEOG 1113L – Introduction to Landforms Lab
I. Intro to Glaciers
1. How are glaciers able to move?
Glaciers move because the ice at the bottom of the glacier melts
due to intense pressure from the weight of the ice above, which
then makes it move in a rotational slip.
2. What causes glaciers to scour the surface of the land as they
move?
When stone fragments, called scree, fall on the glacier, rocks join
other debris that is picked up by ice at the bottom of the glacier.
When the glacier moves, abrasion kicks in when the stones scrape
along the rock floor and can see how these stones scoured the
surface of the land.
3. How does a glacier change the shape of a valley?
A form of erosion, known as plucking, creates the steep back walls
and armchair shaped hollow of the quarry, so once the glacier
moves beyond the quarry, it carves its way through the valley
making V-shaped valleys turn into u-shaped valleys or glacial
troughs because of abrasion and plucking.
4. Smaller, weaker glaciers with less eroding power create valleys
that sit above larger valleys, which are called what?
They are called hanging valleys.
5. When quarries fill with meltwater, this is called what? This is
called tons.
, 6. What are erratic stones?
Erratic stones are rocks and boulders carried down the mountains
by glaciers.
II. Glacier Gallery
Visit the Glacier Gallery link below and answer the following questions.
Some questions require you to use Google.
Link: https://edu.oggm.org/en/latest/gallery-app_en.html
1. Find an example of an ice cap in the Glacier Gallery.
a. Write down the name of your example ice cap and key
features defining this category of glacier.
Mittivakkat Glacier, which is an ice cap, are huge masses that
cover land on a large scale.
b. Now, search the web to find example ice caps in North
America, in Iceland, on the Tibetan Plateau, and in Svalbard
(Spitsbergen).
Cordilleran Ice Cap in North America, Vatnajökull in Iceland,
Purog Kangri in the Tibetan Plateau, and Austfonna in
Svalbard.
2. Find an example of a glacier in the European Alps.
a. How does your European Alps glacier differ from the ice caps
you found above (Hint: Read the tabs explaining each type of
glacier on the righthand side of the map.)? These glaciers are
a perennial mass of land, in which ice forms through the
compression of snow, while ice caps are huge ice masses,
covering land on a large scale.
b. Using some critical thinking, try to explain in a few words
why there are no ice caps in the European Alps or in New
Zealand.
I believe it is because the low humidity and lack of snow in
these areas.
Lab 10: Glacial Landscapes
GEOG 1113L – Introduction to Landforms Lab
I. Intro to Glaciers
1. How are glaciers able to move?
Glaciers move because the ice at the bottom of the glacier melts
due to intense pressure from the weight of the ice above, which
then makes it move in a rotational slip.
2. What causes glaciers to scour the surface of the land as they
move?
When stone fragments, called scree, fall on the glacier, rocks join
other debris that is picked up by ice at the bottom of the glacier.
When the glacier moves, abrasion kicks in when the stones scrape
along the rock floor and can see how these stones scoured the
surface of the land.
3. How does a glacier change the shape of a valley?
A form of erosion, known as plucking, creates the steep back walls
and armchair shaped hollow of the quarry, so once the glacier
moves beyond the quarry, it carves its way through the valley
making V-shaped valleys turn into u-shaped valleys or glacial
troughs because of abrasion and plucking.
4. Smaller, weaker glaciers with less eroding power create valleys
that sit above larger valleys, which are called what?
They are called hanging valleys.
5. When quarries fill with meltwater, this is called what? This is
called tons.
, 6. What are erratic stones?
Erratic stones are rocks and boulders carried down the mountains
by glaciers.
II. Glacier Gallery
Visit the Glacier Gallery link below and answer the following questions.
Some questions require you to use Google.
Link: https://edu.oggm.org/en/latest/gallery-app_en.html
1. Find an example of an ice cap in the Glacier Gallery.
a. Write down the name of your example ice cap and key
features defining this category of glacier.
Mittivakkat Glacier, which is an ice cap, are huge masses that
cover land on a large scale.
b. Now, search the web to find example ice caps in North
America, in Iceland, on the Tibetan Plateau, and in Svalbard
(Spitsbergen).
Cordilleran Ice Cap in North America, Vatnajökull in Iceland,
Purog Kangri in the Tibetan Plateau, and Austfonna in
Svalbard.
2. Find an example of a glacier in the European Alps.
a. How does your European Alps glacier differ from the ice caps
you found above (Hint: Read the tabs explaining each type of
glacier on the righthand side of the map.)? These glaciers are
a perennial mass of land, in which ice forms through the
compression of snow, while ice caps are huge ice masses,
covering land on a large scale.
b. Using some critical thinking, try to explain in a few words
why there are no ice caps in the European Alps or in New
Zealand.
I believe it is because the low humidity and lack of snow in
these areas.
