Mass Movement and Glaciers

Erosion

process by which
natural forces move
weathered rock and soil,
or sediment, from one
place to another

Factors that effect rate
of erosion
•weather
•climate
•topography
•type of rock

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LLC

Deposition

the laying down or settling of
eroded material

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LLC

Mass Wasting

downhill movement of a
large mass of rocks or soil
because of the pull of
gravity (examples include
landslides, mudslides,
slump and creep)

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LLC

Glacier

• Continental glacier (or ice

sheets) – covers large areas
of land and move outward
from central location; exist
today on Antarctica and
Greenland

• Valley glacier (alpine) –

long, narrow glacier that
forms when snow and ice
build up high in a mountain
valley

large mass of ice that formed on land
and moves slowly across Earth’s
surface; form in areas where the
amount of snowfall is greater than the
amount of snowmelt

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LLC

How Glaciers
Shape the
Land

Two processes by which
glaciers erode the land and
plucking and abrasion.

Plucking occurs when a
glacier flows over the land, it
picks up rocks and large
boulders dragging them
across the land, causing
abrasions, or gouges and
scratches in the bedrock

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LLC

Glacial

Depositions

•Till – mixture of
sediment that is
deposited directly on
the surface
•Moraine – ridge
formed from till
deposited at the edge
of glaciers
•Kettle – small
depression that forms
when a chunk of ice
is left in till then
eventually melts

When a glacier
melts, it creates
various landforms

which include

©Nitty Gritty Science,
LLC

©Nitty Gritty Science,
LLC