zone of accumulation. What is the zone above the snowline of a glacier called? Antartica .
What are the zones of a glacier?
During movement there are three parts of the glacier: The zone of basal sliding; the zone of plastic flow; and the rigid zone . The rigid zone is brittle and sometimes is broken into crevasses. Ice sheets move with these three zones but often spread laterally rather than flow downslope.
What is the zone above the snowline?
Ablation zone or ablation area refers to the low-altitude area of a glacier or ice sheet below firn with a net loss in ice mass due to melting, sublimation, evaporation, ice calving, aeolian processes like blowing snow, avalanche, and any other ablation.
What separates the zone of accumulation from the zone of ablation on a glacier?
The Equilibrium Line Altitude (ELA) marks the area of the glacier separating the accumulation zone from the ablation zone, and were annual accumulation and ablation are equal 2 .
What is the zone of equilibrium?
The line or zone on a glacier's surface where a year's ablation balances a year's accumulation (cf. Firn line). It is determined at the end of the ablation season, and commonly occurs at the boundary between superimposed ice (q.v.) and glacier ice.
What is the world's largest glacier?
Lambert Glacier is the largest and fastest-moving glacier in the world. Lambert Glacier, Antarctica, is the biggest glacier in the world. This map of Lambert Glacier shows the direction and speed of the glacier.
What is the smallest Alpine glacier type?
- Cirque. smallest type of glacier; forms in small bowl-like depressions in the mountains; also called alpine glaciers.
- Valley. ...
- Piedmont. ...
- Ice Fields. ...
- Ice Sheets. ...
- Outlet. ...
- Tidewater. ...
- Ice Streams.
Where is the largest existing glacier located?
The world's largest glacier is the Lambert glacier in Antarctica , according to the United States Geological Survey. The glacier is more than 60 miles (96 km) wide at its widest point, about 270 miles (435) long, and has been measured to be 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) deep at its center.
What is the zone of accumulation called?
Zone of Accumulation: The region where snowfall adds ice to the glacier . ... Terminus: The downhill, bottom end of a glacier. Snowline: The area between the summer melting and accumulation area where the snow lasts from season to season. Brittle Zone: Crevasses are common in this zone.
Where is the ablation zone?
Ablation zone or ablation area refers to the low-altitude area of a glacier or ice sheet below firn with a net loss in ice mass due to melting, sublimation, evaporation, ice calving, aeolian processes like blowing snow, avalanche, and any other ablation.
Which determines the mass balance of a glacier?
The snowpack's mass balance is the product of density and depth . Regardless of depth measurement technique the observed depth is multiplied by the snowpack density to determine the accumulation in water equivalent. ... The length of stake exposed by melting ice is measured at the end of the melt (ablation) season.
Where does a glacier move the fastest?
The ice in the middle of a glacier flows faster than the ice along the sides of the glacier.
What characterizes the zone of accumulation on a glacier?
On a glacier, the accumulation zone is the area above the firn line, where snowfall accumulates and exceeds the losses from ablation, (melting, evaporation, and sublimation) . The annual equilibrium line separates the accumulation and ablation zone annually.
What processes happen in the zone of ablation quizlet?
What processes happen in the zone of ablation? Ice gradually is lost, due to a combination of melting, sublimation, and calving .
What are the two zones along the equilibrium line called?
Thus a glacier has two zones: the area of accumulation where snow is retained, and the ablation area where more ice melts than accumulates.
Where can one find a glacier's equilibrium line?
The equilibrium line is at the boundary of the accumulation area and the ablation area , however, the elevation varies from year to year. The ice flows downhill from the accumulation zone towards the ablation zonewhere higher temperatures intensify the melting.
