Plucking occurs when rocks and stones become frozen to the base or sides of the glacier and are plucked from the ground or rock face as the glacier moves. This leaves behind a jagged landscape. Abrasion occurs when rocks and stones become embedded in the base and sides of the glacier.
What are the two processes of glacial erosion?
Processes of Glacial Erosion
Quarrying involves two separate processes: the fracturing or crushing of bedrock beneath the glacier, and the entrainment of this fractured or crushed rock.
What is the connection between plucking and abrasion in erosion by glaciers?
Plucking is when melt water from a glacier freezes around lumps of cracked and broken rock. When the ice moves downhill, rock is plucked from the back wall. Abrasion is when rock frozen to the base and the back of the glacier scrapes the bed rock .
Is plucking part of glacial erosion?
Glacial Erosion
Abrasion involves scratching the bedrock with debris in the basal ice. Plucking is removal of entire chunks of rock . Glaciers can shape landscapes through erosion, or the removal of rock and sediment.
How do the movement of glaciers result in plucking and abrasion?
Glaciers erode the underlying rock by abrasion and plucking. Glacial meltwater seeps into cracks of the underlying rock, the water freezes and pushes pieces of rock outward. The rock is then plucked out and carried away by the flowing ice of the moving glacier.
What are some examples of glacial erosion?
One of the most notable examples is a large trough right down the middle of the country that was created by a glacier moving slowly over it . Glacial lakes are examples of ice erosion. They occur when a glacier carves its way into a place and then melts over time, filling up the space that it carved out with water.
What is the process of abrasion?
Definition: Abrasion is a process of erosion which can happen in four different ways. ... Pebbles or stones in the river also cause erosion when they hit the channel walls. The third type of abrasion is through the action of waves. As waves break on the shore, the water, stones and the energy of the waves cause erosion.
Which comes first plucking or abrasion?
Plucking occurs when rocks and stones become frozen to the base or sides of the glacier and are plucked from the ground or rock face as the glacier moves. This leaves behind a jagged landscape. Abrasion occurs when rocks and stones become embedded in the base and sides of the glacier.
How does plucking Assist abrasion?
Abrasion. Plucking removes rocks and by itself creates changes in the landscape , but plucking also contributes to the second process of glacial erosion, known as abrasion. Abrasion is defined as the erosion that occurs when particles scrape against each other.
Why does abrasion happen?
Rocks break down into smaller pieces through weathering. Rocks and sediment grinding against each other wear away surfaces. This type of weathering is called abrasion, and it happens as wind and water rush over rocks . The rocks become smoother as rough and jagged edges break off.
What is plucking glacial erosion?
Definition: Plucking is a process of erosion that occurs during glaciation . As ice and glaciers move, they scrape along the surrounding rock and pull away pieces of rock which causes erosion . Plucking .
What type of erosion causes plucking?
Mechanical erosion
Glacial plucking is the main mechanism of other small scale mechanical glacial erosion such as striation, abrasion and glacial polishing. The heavier the sediment load, the more extreme the erosion of the downhill landscape.
Where does glacial erosion occur?
Glaciers are sheets of solidly packed ice and snow that cover large areas of land. They are formed in areas where the general temperature is usually below freezing . This can be near the North and South poles, and also on very high ground, such as large mountains.
What is the greatest agent of erosion?
Liquid water is the major agent of erosion on Earth. Rain, rivers, floods, lakes, and the ocean carry away bits of soil and sand and slowly wash away the sediment.
What are the 3 jobs glaciers do?
Glaciers shape the land through processes of erosion, weathering, transportation and deposition , creating distinct landforms.
What causes glaciers to 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. ... This means a glacier can flow up hills beneath the ice as long as the ice surface is still sloping downward.
