Glaciation
Today, ice covers about ........ per cent of the Earth's surface. This ice is in the form of
glaciers, ice caps, ice shelves and ice sheets. Most ice is found in .................................... .
About 20000 years ago, ice covered much of the continent of Europe, including most of the
United Kingdom.
Ice joined the UK to the rest of Northern Europe and it has covered different areas in the past
due to .................. periods and ........................ .

Draw a line on the map to show ice coverage over the
British Isles 14000 years ago.

Mark where you live on the map.
Ice spreads out during glacial periods and gets ....... during warm inter-glacials. Glaciers also
grow and shrink with .......................... changes in temperature.
Ice ages happen due to changes in Earth’s ............... . Sunlight is then ............... off ice
on the Earth, making it even colder and causing more ice to form.
An ice sheet is a thick layer of ice that covers more than ............... km². Earth's two ice
sheets cover most of Greenland and Antarctica and make up more than .......... % of the
world’s glacial ice.
An ice cap (also known as an ice ...........) is an area less than 50000 km² of ice. It is an
extensive area of interconnected valley glaciers. Ice caps are larger than glaciers but smaller
than ice sheets. An example is Iceland.
An ice shelf is a thick, ............... slab of ice that forms where a glacier or ice flows down a
coastline. Thicknesses of floating ice shelves range from 100-1000 meters!
A glacier is a large mass of ice often shaped like a .................that flows very slowly, under
the force of .............................. .
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Glaciation
Number the statements to explain the formation of a glacier:
The compression turns the firn into denser glacial ice.
Snow will now continue to build on this glacial ice.
As the snow continues, the weight begins to compress the snow, turning it into firn.
Firstly snowflakes accumulate in a hollow part of a mountain.
The now heavier glacier will move down the hillside due to gravity, eroding the surface
beneath it.
A glacier is a .............. . There is a zone of accumulation where snow is ............. . This is
normally at the start of a glacier in a highland area. Near the end, or .................... , of the
glacier ice may melt. This is the zone of ............................... and is more likely to occur in
warm summer months.
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Glaciation
How do glaciers shape the land?
............................. breaks apart rocks into smaller pieces.
............................. wears away the rocks and moves them to new places.
............................. drops rocks off to create new landforms.
Freeze thaw weathering:
Task: Draw a labelled diagram to describe and explain the three stages of freeze-thaw
weathering.
Glaciers erode by ................. . Melted water at the base and sides of the glacier freezes onto
the surrounding rock. As the glacier moves, the rock which is embedded in the ice is pulled
away.
Glaciers also erode by ............... . The bits of rock which are embedded in the ice from
plucking and ........................... weathering scrape and grind against the rock at the base
and sides of the glacier, wearing it away. This process is a bit like sand paper!
Word bank:
ten
glacial
99
freeze-thaw
Weathering
seasonal
50000
ablation
river
gravity
orbit
smaller
plucking
Deposition
glaciation
reflected
floating
Erosion
Antarctica
system
snout
field
added
abrasion
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Page 3 of 5
Glaciation
Teachers notes:
Today, ice covers about ten per cent of the Earth's surface. This ice is in the form of glaciers,
ice caps, ice shelves and ice sheets. Most ice is found in Antarctica.
About 20000 years ago, ice covered much of the continent of Europe, including most of the
United Kingdom.
Ice joined the UK to the rest of Northern Europe and it has covered different areas in the past
due to glacial periods and glaciation.

Draw a line on the map to show ice coverage over
the British Isles 14000 years ago.

Mark where you live on the map.
Ice spreads out during glacial periods and gets smaller
during warm inter-glacials. Glaciers also grow and
shrink with seasonal changes in temperature.
Ice ages happen due to changes in Earth’s orbit.
Sunlight is then reflected off ice on the Earth, making it even colder and causing more ice to
form.
An ice sheet is a thick layer of ice that covers more than 50000 km². Earth's two ice sheets
cover most of Greenland and Antarctica and make up more than 99% of the world’s glacial ice.
An ice cap (also known as an ice field) is an area less than 50000 km² of ice. It is an extensive
area of interconnected valley glaciers. Ice caps are larger than glaciers but smaller than ice
sheets. An example is Iceland.
An ice shelf is a thick, floating slab of ice that forms where a glacier or ice flows down a
coastline. Thicknesses of floating ice shelves range from 100 - 1000 meters!
A glacier is a large mass of ice often shaped like a river that flows very slowly, under the force
of gravity.
© www.teachitgeography.co.uk 2017
27890
Page 4 of 5
Glaciation
Number the statements to explain the formation of a glacier:
3
The compression turns the firn into denser glacial ice.
4
Snow will now continue to build on this glacial ice.
2
As the snow continues, the weight begins to compress the snow, turning it into firn.
1
Firstly snowflakes accumulate in a hollow part of a mountain.
5
The now heavier glacier will move down the hillside due to gravity, eroding the surface
beneath it.
A glacier is a system. There is a zone of accumulation where snow is added. This is normally at
the start of a glacier in a highland area. Near the end, or snout, of the glacier ice may melt.
This is the zone of ablation and is more likely to occur in warm summer months.
How do glaciers shape the land?
Weathering breaks apart rocks into smaller pieces.
Erosion moves rock to new places.
Deposition drops rocks off to create new landforms.
Glaciers erode by plucking. Melted water at the base and sides of the glacier freezes onto the
surrounding rock. As the glacier moves, the rock which is embedded in the ice is pulled away.
Glaciers also erode by abrasion. The bits of rock which are embedded in the ice from plucking
and freeze-thaw weathering scrape and grind against the rock at the base and sides of the
glacier, wearing it away. This process is a bit like sand paper!
© Kelvinsong (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons,
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Glacier_diagram.svg?uselang=en-gb
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