Glacier
Glaciers form where snow accumulates and compacts into ice over long periods. This topic is part of Earth Science within Science & Nature. This page currently draws on 32 supporting questions, with answers and bonus facts available below.
Glacier trivia questions
A glacier is a large mass of what that moves slowly over land?
Answer: Ice
Bonus fact: Glaciers form where snow accumulates and compacts into ice over long periods.
What is the name for sediment deposited directly by a glacier?
Answer: Till
Bonus fact: Glacial till is an unsorted mixture of sediment deposited by ice.
What process occurs when a glacier breaks off chunks of ice into the ocean or a lake?
Answer: Calving
Bonus fact: Calving produces icebergs when glacier ice breaks away at the terminus.
What term describes an isolated boulder transported and deposited by a glacier, often differing from local bedrock?
Answer: Glacial erratic
Bonus fact: Glacial erratics can be carried great distances by moving ice before being deposited.
What process creates many icebergs when chunks break from the edge of a glacier or ice shelf?
Answer: Calving
Bonus fact: Calving is the breaking off of ice from a glacier terminus or ice shelf.
A glacier valley commonly has what cross-sectional shape?
Answer: U-shaped
Bonus fact: Glaciers widen and deepen valleys as they move.
What process lets rocks frozen into a glacier scrape bedrock?
Answer: Abrasion
Bonus fact: Embedded debris grinds against valley floors and walls.
A terminal moraine forms at what part of a glacier?
Answer: Farthest advance of its end
Bonus fact: It marks the glacier's maximum extent.
What broad U-shaped landform can glaciers carve?
Answer: Valley
Bonus fact: River valleys are more commonly V-shaped.
What process occurs when glacier ice freezes onto rock and pulls pieces away?
Answer: Plucking
Bonus fact: Abrasion is the scraping action of debris embedded in ice.
Which glacier has the lowest terminus of any glacier in the contiguous United States?
Answer: Carbon Glacier
Bonus fact: NPS says Carbon Glacier also has the largest volume of any glacier on Mount Rainier.
Which glacier is the world's longest interior valley glacier?
Answer: Nabesna Glacier
Bonus fact: NPS gives Nabesna Glacier a length of more than 53 miles.