GEOL 1010 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Sea Ice, Arctic Ocean, Water Cycle
16 Dec 2018
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Document Summary
A glacier is a thick mass of ice formed by the accumulation compaction and recrystallization of snow. Glaciers form as part of the rock cycle (erode and deposit) and also the hydrologic cycle. Valley/alpine glaciers are in valleys and high mountains like colorado. Most glaciers are ice sheets that cover vast areas, often millions of square miles and tend to move radially under their own weight. Greenland, antarctica and 96% of all glaciers are ice sheets. Piedmont glaciers are the base of mountains were alpine glaciers merge. Sea ice glaciers are frozen sea water (arctic sea). Calving is the breaking off of glacial plastic ice as it enters the ocean. Zone of fracture is the brittle ridges along the top. Zone of flow is a plastic flow that flows under pressure. It moves at a rate of 3 cm 2 m per day. Glaciers form when snowfall is greater than snowmelt.
