Glacial ice flows away from the zone of accumulation when the thick ice deforms plastically under its own weight. In a valley glacier the ice flows downslope from the zone of accumulation, while for a continental glacier the ice flows laterally outward and away from the zone of accumulation.
What is one main difference between continental glaciers and valley glaciers quizlet?
Continental glaciers never melt . A valley glacier spreads out over a large island or continent. Once the depth of snow and ice reaches more than 30 to 40 meters, the force of friction begins to pull a glacier downhill.
What is the main difference between valley and continental glaciers?
There are two main kinds of glaciers. Valley glaciers move slowly downhill in mountains due to its weight. Continental glaciers move through the land and break off into oceans . Glaciers erode the land they pass over, carrying eroded material along and depositing it to form new landforms.
What is the difference between mountain glaciers and valley glaciers?
Mountain glaciers are generally confined to a more or less marked path directing their movement. The shape of the channel and the degree to which the glacier fills it determine the type of glacier. Valley glaciers are a classic type; they flow at least in part down a valley and are longer than they are wide .
What are the differences between valley glaciers and ice sheets?
The ice-sheets envelope thousands of kilometers of the land surface of Earth. While valley glaciers refer to the streams of flowing ice in the mountain valleys . ... The glaciers are constrained by the surrounding topography, while the ice-sheets covers bigger regions of the Earth.
What are the two continental glaciers that remain today?
Earth's two current continental glaciers, the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets , comprise about 99% of Earth's glacial ice, and approximately 68% of Earth's fresh water. The Antarctic Ice Sheet is vastly larger than the Greenland Ice Sheet (Figure 17.4) and contains about 17 times as much ice.
Why do glaciers look blue?
Glacier ice is 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.
What are the similarities between valley glaciers and continental glaciers?
valley glaciers is a glacier usually originating in a cirque at a valley head and flowing downward between the walls of a valley. A continental glacier is covers many miles covering the continent. a rock that is moved on the Earth's surface by water, wind, ice or gravity.
Where are continental glaciers found today?
Today, continental glaciers cover most of Antarctica and the island of Greenland . Massive ice sheets covered much of North America and Europe during the Pleistocene time period. This was the last glacial period, also known as the Ice Age.
Do continental glaciers melt?
Scientists have seriously underestimated just how much water will melt off continent-sized glaciers, aka ice sheets, that are shrinking because of Earth's increasingly hot atmosphere.
What are the 4 types of glaciers?
- Ice Sheets. Ice sheets are continental-scale bodies of ice. ...
- Ice Fields and Ice Caps. Ice fields and ice caps are smaller than ice sheets (less than 50,000 sq. ...
- Cirque and Alpine Glaciers. ...
- Valley and Piedmont Glaciers. ...
- Tidewater and Freshwater Glaciers. ...
- Rock Glaciers.
What is the largest type of glacier?
The largest glaciers are continental ice sheets or icecaps , enormous masses (greater than 50,000 square kilometers [12 million acres]) of ice found only in Antarctica and Greenland. These sheets contain vast quantities of fresh water.
Which country has most glaciers?
| GTN-G region Region Name Glacier area, km 2 | 1 Alaska 98531.7 | 2 Western Canada and USA 14380.4 | 3 Arctic Canada, North 111589 | 4 Arctic Canada, South 40888.2 |
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What is an example of a continental glacier?
Continental glaciers are continuous masses of ice that are much larger than alpine glaciers. ... Big continental glaciers are called ice sheets. Greenland and Antarctica are almost entirely covered with ice sheets that are up to 3500 m (11 500 ft) thick.
What are the two main processes by which glaciers move?
Glaciers move by a combination of (1) deformation of the ice itself and (2) motion at the glacier base . At the bottom of the glacier, ice can slide over bedrock or shear subglacial sediments.
What are the 2 main types of glaciers and give examples of their locations?
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.
