Table of Contents Title: 8.3 Glaciers Page: 80 Date: 3/4/2013

Objective Students will be able to explain how glaciers form. Students will be able to compare and contrast the conditions that produce valley glaciers and continental glaciers.

Word of the Day Glacier: A large moving mass of ice.

8.3 Glaciers Glaciers: Form at poles and at high elevations (mountain tops) where snow falls faster than it melts: zones of accumulation. – Weight of overlying snow turns bottom snow to ice.

8.3 Glaciers 2 Kinds of Glaciers: 1.Valley 2.Continental

Valley Glacier

Continental Glacier

8.3 Glaciers Valley Glaciers: Form in mountainous areas. – When ice gets to be 20 m thick glacier will flow as a rigid solid due to its weight. – Crevasse: a deep crack in the surface of the glacier. – Speed of glacier depends on the slope of valley floor, temperature and thickness of ice and shape of valley walls – Glaciers will turn V-shaped stream valleys in to U-shaped glacial valleys.

Glacier Crevasse

8.3 Glaciers Continental Glaciers: Glaciers that cover broad contintent sized areas. – Cold Climates where snow accumulates over many years. – Thickest at the center. Weight forces rest of glacier to flatten in all directions. – Confined to Greenland and Antarctica.

8.3 Glaciers Glacial Movement: Valley glaciers and continental glaciers move outward when snow gathers at the zone of accumulation.

Glaciers Flow