what are the two types of glaciers and how are they different?
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There are two primary types of glaciers: Continental: Ice sheets are dome-shaped glaciers that flow away from a central region and are largely unaffected by underlying topography (e.g., Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets); Alpine or valley: glaciers in mountains that flow down valleys.
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Glaciers cause erosion by plucking and abrasion. Valley glaciers form several unique features through erosion, including cirques, arêtes, and horns. Glaciers deposit their sediment when they melt. Landforms deposited by glaciers include drumlins, kettle lakes, and eskers.
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Plastic flow involves movement within the ice, whereas basal slip involves the entire ice mass slipping along the ground. Plastic flow occurs at the base of the glacier only, whereas basal slip occurs in the deeper parts of the ice mass.
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Alpine glaciers form on the crests and slopes of mountains. A glacier that fills a valley is called a valley glacier, or alternatively an alpine glacier or mountain glacier. A large body of glacial ice astride a mountain, mountain range, or volcano is termed an ice cap or ice field.
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A horn results when glaciers erode three or more arêtes, usually forming a sharp-edged peak. Cirques are concave, circular basins carved by the base of a glacier as it erodes the landscape. The Matterhorn in Switzerland is a horn carved away by glacial erosion.
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Antarctica and the South Pole are land areas covered by ice, whereas the ice around the North Pole in the Arctic is pack ice and ice floes that float on the ocean, surrounded by land masses.
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Why is glacier ice blue? Because the red (long wavelengths) part of white light is absorbed by ice and the blue (short wavelengths) light is transmitted and scattered. The longer the path light travels in ice, the more blue it appears.
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Ice Caps, Ice Sheets, and Ice Shelves: What's the Difference? Glaciers in the Straits of Magellan in Southern Chile. An ice sheet is a chunk of glacier ice that covers the land surrounding it and is greater than 50,000 kilometers (20,000 miles) wide. An ice sheet is also known as a continental glacier.
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A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate between glacial periods. The Last Glacial Period ended about 15,000 years ago.
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Types of glacial landform There are diagnostic landforms associated with wet-based sheet flow, ice streams, and surging ice. Surging glaciers are a particular phenomenon where the ice flows periodically fast and then more slowly, and are uncommon in Antarctica.
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['U-Shaped Valleys, Fjords, and Hanging Valleys. Glaciers carve a set of distinctive, steep-walled, flat-bottomed valleys. ... ', 'Cirques. ... ', 'Nunataks, Arêtes, and Horns. ... ', 'Lateral and Medial Moraines. ... ', 'Terminal and Recessional Moraines. ... ', 'Glacial Till and Glacial Flour. ... ', 'Glacial Erratics. ... ', 'Glacial Striations.']
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Continental glaciers, also called ice sheets, cover large amounts of land in the Earth's polar regions. The largest ice sheets are located in Antarctica. In the Arctic region, an ice sheet covers Greenland and there is an ice sheet in Iceland. ... Alpine glaciers are found in high mountain valleys worldwide.
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Glaciers are found in Arctic areas, Antarctica, and on high mountains in temperate and even tropical climates. Glaciers that extend in continuous sheets and cover a large landmass, such as Antarctica or Greenland, are called ice sheets. If they are similar but smaller, they are termed ice caps.
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At first glance, it's not easy to tell the difference between a fjord and a lake. But if you take a closer look, you can see that a fjord is a deep, narrow and elongated body of sea, or water inlet with steep land on three sides. ... A lake is a depression in the earth's surface that contains water.
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Explanation: In short, large masses of ice (glaciers) at high altitude tend to migrate down mountains. ... Then because of the glaciers weight the material below it begins to be removed. As the material is removed a big pit begins to form and voilà, a cirque!
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The biggest difference is that the Arctic is sea surrounded by land while the Antarctic is land surrounded by sea. This fundamental difference is the reason for many of the other differences between the two regions.
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The most dramatic formations occur on a glacier when it moves downwards on a steep gradient. Fox Glacier has a gradual incline whereas Franz Josef is steeper. The surface of Franz Josef Glacier is full of crevasses and ice caves, where you have a much better chance of seeing the famous blue ice.