Glaciers

 Glaciers: Masses of ice built up over thousands of years.  Alpine Glaciers: Glaciers that occur in high altitudes, such as mountains.  Continental Glaciers: Glaciers that occur on land near the Earth’s poles.

 Brain Pop: Glaciers  m/glaciers/ m/glaciers/ m/glaciers/

Continental Glaciers  A continental glacier covers the entire continent of Antarctica.  Another continental glacier covers the majority of the island of Greenland

 Cold air flows off of continental glaciers cooling the surrounding areas.  Since the air is so cold there is very little precipitation; creating cold harsh desert conditions.

Polar Ice Caps  Large sheet of ice that lies over the Arctic Ocean.  It is not considered a glacier because it lies over water not land.

Glaciers and Fresh Water  Glaciers store large amounts of fresh water; approximately 70% of the Earth’s available fresh water.

Icebergs  Icebergs may break off of the glacier in the water –Causing damage to shipping lanes. –Also may be beneficial, as it is fresh water and may be towed to where drinking water is needed.

Glaciers of Old  2 million years ago sheets of ice spread over most of North America and Eurasia.  The remains of the last Ice Age include the Greenland and Antarctic glaciers.

Melting Glaciers  nvironment/global-warming- environment/glacier-melt/ nvironment/global-warming- environment/glacier-melt/ nvironment/global-warming- environment/glacier-melt/  KXA KXA KXA

Gros Morne  Gros Morne was declared a World Heritage Site because the underlying geology records over a billion years of the Earth’s history, providing evidence to validate the Theory of Plate Tectonics.

Landscape Regions  The park includes 3 landscape regions: –Alpine Tableland –Coastal Lowlands –Long Range Mountains

Assignment 1.Create a timeline describing the evolution of Gros Morne National Park. 2.Using the map on page 144 of the text explain how factors such as topography, elevation, geology, exposure, drainage and climate affect each vegetation type. 3.Why do alpine glaciers exist in most of the world’s continents, while continental glaciation is restricted to Antarctica and Greenland? 4.How do glaciers modify the Earth’s surface through erosion? Through deposition?

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Questions 1.Describe three effects glaciers have on the environment. 2.What do the melting of glaciers indicate? 3.Write a paragraph (1/2 page) on why you think the melting of glaciers is concerning.