Q: What is a glacier?
Q: What is a period of time whereby
the average global temperature has
decreased?
A: A large sheet of ice which lasts all
year round.
A: A glacial.
Q: What is an interglacial?
A: A period of time where the average
global temperature has increased.
Q: What is accumulation?
Q: What evidence is there that ice
ages have occurred?
A: Ice core samples/
Glacial
landscapes such as U-shaped valleys/
Glacial features e.g. erratic’s/fossils.
Q: Name the inputs to a glacier?
A: Is where the inputs are larger than the A: Precipitation in the form of snow.
outputs.
Q: What is ablation?
Q: What is calving?
A: Ablation is where the outputs to the
glacier are greater than the inputs.
A: Calving occurs at the snout of the
glacier, it is where large pieces of ice
break away from the glacier.
Q: Name the outputs to the glacial
system?
Q: What is the glacial budget?
A: Evaporation / Calving / Meltwater.
A: It is a measure of the outputs and
inputs of the glacial system.
Q: What is a negative glacier mass
balance?
Q: What is a positive glacier mass
balance?
A: A negative balance occurs when
ablation is greater than accumulation
and the glacier retreats.
A: A positive balance occurs when
accumulation is greater than ablation
and the glacier advances.
Q: What are the processes of erosion?
Q: What is abrasion?
A: Abrasion / Plucking / Basal Slip
/ Rotational Movement / Freeze
Thaw.
A: Abrasion occurs when sub-glacial
material scrapes the base of the valley,
creating scratches called striations.
Q: What is plucking?
Q: What is basal slip?
A: Plucking occurs when outcrops of rock
freeze to the glacier. When the glacier
moves the outcrops of rock are ‘plucked’
out of the ground leaving hollows.
A: The weight of the glacier places
pressure on the base of the glacier
melting it. This creates a thin layer of
water which aids abrasion.
Q: What is Rotational Movement?
Q: What is freeze thaw?
A: Glacier moves around a pivot point,
making the glacier erode. Deepens the
base of a corrie.
A: It is a form of physical weathering.
Water freezes in cracks in rock and
expands. During the day this melts and
then refreezes further expanding the
crack in the rock. This cycle continues
until the rock breaks of.
Q: What is the material called at the
base of the glacier?
Q: What is the material called which is
found within the glacier?
A: Sub-glacial material.
A:En-glacial material.
Q: What is a supraglacial material?
Q: Name three features of erosion?
A: Material which is found on the
surface of the glacier.
A: Corrie /Arete / pyramidal peak /
ribbon lake/ hanging valley/ truncated
spurs/ u-shaped valley/ Roche
Moutonnee.
Q: On what slope would you find a
glacier and WHY?
Q: What is a firn?
A: Compressed snow which has lasted
one summer melt and a winter.
A: N/NE slope because the sun is lower
in the sky so it is therefore colder.
Q: What is a crevasse?
Q: What the end of the glacier called?
A: A large crack in the ice formed
because the ice at the surface is moving
at a different rate to the ice at the
base.
A: The snout.
Q: What is a corrie?
Q: What is an arete?
A: An armchair shaped hollow.
A: A steep sided ridge, formed where
two corries back into eachother.
Q: What is a pyramidal peak?
Q: What is a u shaped valley?
A: A horned shaped summit, formed
where three or more corries back onto
a central peak.
A: A valley with steep sides/ straight/
flat base formed when a glacier erodes
a v-shaped (river) valley.
Q: What is a ribbon lake?
Q: What is a hanging valley?
A: A long, narrow lake found at the
base of a u-shaped valley. It is formed
when a glacier erodes an area of
alternating hard and soft rock. This
differential erosion causes a hollow
which is then filled with meltwater when
the glacier retreats.
A: A smaller, tributary valley which
hangs above the base of the main valley
floor.
Q: What is a truncated spur?
Q: What is a roche moutonee?
A: It is an interlocking spur which has
been cut off as the glacier erodes a
river valley.
A: A large outcrop of rock which has a
smooth polished Lee slope, and a jagged
stoss slope. The Lee slope is polished by
abrasion, and the stoss slope is jagged
due to freeze thaw.
Q: Name three features of deposition?
Q: What is the name of a retreating
glacier?
A:Terminal, Lateral, Medial, Recessional
Moraine / Drumlin.
A: Mer De Glace
Q: Where is the Mer De Glace?
A: On the northern slopes of Mont
Blanc, with the furthest extent being
the alpine village of Chamonix.
Q: Name three attractions of
Chamonix?
A: Six ski resorts / Mer De Glace / the
cable cars and viewing platform / alpine
museum/ shops.
Q: When did the Mer De Glace begin
to retreat?
A: After the little ice age, 1850.
Q: Name a positive and negative effect
of tourism in alpine area on the
environment?
A: Positive: Chamonix is placed on the
World Heritage list.
Negative: Litter/ deforestation to
create ski resorts
Q: What is a positive and negative
social effect of tourism in Chamonix?
Q: What is tomorrows valley, and give
an example of a scheme they support?
A: Positive: Low unemployment/ a
A: A voluntary organisation based in
decrease in urban rural migration/
Chamonix.
investment in services.
Negative: loss of traditional cultures/
second homes culture outprices locals
and they cannot afford to buy a house/
services are geared towards tourism not
locals / prices are high.