This document contains all the information and more than you need to get As in your exams. Inside has relevant and up to date facts and figures from the textbook and secondary research. You only need to remember a few facts for the top marks. Use these notes alongside your lessons or use them as a ...
1a) systems
Glaciated landscapes - parts of earth shaped by glaciers in the past and present.
Geological time scale - system of chronological measurement used to describe
timing and relationships between events in earth's history
Past distributions - ice ages
• long term reduction in earths temperature, continental and polar ice
sheets expand
• Last ice age - Pleistocene glaciation - 2mil till 10,000 years ago
• During ice ages there are
o Glacial periods - cold and dry climate where ice grows
o Interglacial periods - warmer periods where ice and valley glaciers
retreat (present - Holocene)
Present glacier activity
• High latitude areas - Greenland
• High altitude areas - the Alps
• Local scale factors - relief / slope aspect
Glaciers
• mass of ice in motion
• Powerful erosion agent - when it moves it picks up sediment and along
with heavy weight erodes the land
Systems - transfer and store energy through inputs, outputs, throughput and
stores
Open system - energy and matter can enter from neighbouring systems as
inputs or be transferred to neighbouring systems as outputs
Dynamic equilibrium - system responds to disturbance and changes till
equilibrium is restored
Positive feedback - changes enhance
Glacier mass balance
• Difference between accumulation and ablation
• Positive mass balance - accumulation > ablation
• Negative mass balance - ablation > accumulation
• Equilibrium - ablation = accumulation
Accumulation zone
• Positive mass balance
• Origin of glacier high in the mountains where snowfall is high leads to
formation of ice
• Factors affecting growth:
o Climate - shorter summers mean less ablation and snow remains
permanent
o Further snow - gradual accumulation of snowing turning to firn,
then ice.
, o Aspect
Ablation zone
• Negative mass balance
• Snout of glacier - lower elevations have higher average temps so ice
melts
• Factors affecting decay:
o Higher summer temps - lead to negative mass balance causing
retreat
o Calving
Inputs
• Precipitation
• Thermal energy
• Potential energy
• Kinetic energy
• Melt water
• Avalanches
• Material (from deposition etc.)
,CLIMATE:
• Wind:
o Can shape landscape through aeolian processes (wind driven
processes like erosion, deposition and transport) in particularly fine
material deposited by meltwater
• Precipitation:
o Major input (snow, rain, sleet) in glacial system
o Can be affected by latitude, altitude and seasonal variation
o High in high altitude but low in high latitude
o Higher altitudes have greater seasonal variation than higher
latitudes
o The greater seasonal variation the greater variation in mass
balance
• Temperatures:
o Temps >0ºC = higher ablation and outputs
o Greater variation in high altitudes as there is seasonal variation
o High latitudes have less temp variation but never >0ºC so despite
low precipitation ice sheets are thick
Altitude
o Even at low latitudes highest points have ice
o Temp decreases at rate of 0.6ºC/100m increase in height
Latitude
o High latitude = dry/little seasonal variation
o Contrasts to high altitudes in low latitudes as there is more seasonal
variation so dynamic valley glaciers will shape the landscape more
GEOLOGY:
• Lithology - physical/chemical composition of rocks
o Basalt - strong structure with interlocking crystals make it more
resistant to erosion
o Limestone - chemically weaker and soluble in weak acids makes it
more vulnerable to chemical weathering
• Structure - properties of individual rocks
o Jointed/permeable rock - allows water through joints and can easily
exploit joints through solution and freeze thaw processes
o Porous rocks - presence of small air spaces allows water to enter
and freeze thaw and solution can take place
o Angle of dip - where rocks incline profiles follow the angle - valleys
sides are steeper where there is horizontally bedded rock
Relief
o The steeper the relief the more potential energy due to the greater force
of gravity so the glacier will have more energy to move downslope
Aspect - direction a slope faces
o Facing away from the sun means temps will remain 0ºC for longer so less
melting will take place and they will have a positive mass balance
making them advance downslope
o The higher the mass balance the larger the erosive power the glacier has
so greater shaping of landscape
, Melt water
o Can be input/output
o Increases velocity of glacier so reaches lower altitudes quicker
1c.a) glacial ice formation
Voordelen van het kopen van samenvattingen bij Stuvia op een rij:
√ Verzekerd van kwaliteit door reviews
Stuvia-klanten hebben meer dan 700.000 samenvattingen beoordeeld. Zo weet je zeker dat je de beste documenten koopt!
Snel en makkelijk kopen
Je betaalt supersnel en eenmalig met iDeal, Bancontact of creditcard voor de samenvatting. Zonder lidmaatschap.
Focus op de essentie
Samenvattingen worden geschreven voor en door anderen. Daarom zijn de samenvattingen altijd betrouwbaar en actueel. Zo kom je snel tot de kern!
Veelgestelde vragen
Wat krijg ik als ik dit document koop?
Je krijgt een PDF, die direct beschikbaar is na je aankoop. Het gekochte document is altijd, overal en oneindig toegankelijk via je profiel.
Tevredenheidsgarantie: hoe werkt dat?
Onze tevredenheidsgarantie zorgt ervoor dat je altijd een studiedocument vindt dat goed bij je past. Je vult een formulier in en onze klantenservice regelt de rest.
Van wie koop ik deze samenvatting?
Stuvia is een marktplaats, je koop dit document dus niet van ons, maar van verkoper austeja. Stuvia faciliteert de betaling aan de verkoper.
Zit ik meteen vast aan een abonnement?
Nee, je koopt alleen deze samenvatting voor €10,47. Je zit daarna nergens aan vast.
