Glaciers

Glaciers By, Olivia Grzywinski Vivienne Dotoli Leo Hotsko and Michael Fisher

Introduction • Like great rivers of ice, glaciers have sculpted mountains and carved out valleys. • They continue to flow and shape the landscape in many places today.

Glacier Formation • It takes hundreds or even thousands of years to form. • They form by accumulating snow packing into ice. • Then, a large mass of slowly moving ice, called a glacier forms.

Weathering and Erosion Weathering Erosion The ice will erode the ground and rock below it faster and more aggressively than if it was just water. This is because glaciers also pick up and move the rocks that they run over and this gravel (chunks of rock) can carve mountains down and cut valleys miles deep. • A glacier is nothing more than a frozen river still moving. It might only move an inch or two per year, but it still moves. • The melted water from beneath the glaciers seeps into cracks of rock and freezes. As the freezing water expands, chunks of rock break loose and become frozen into the bottom and sides of the glaciers.

Bibliography Special thanks to the websites we used. http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/glaciers http://wiki.answers.com

Questions • How many years does it take to form a glacier? • Describe a glacier. • Glaciers might only move _____ inches or _____ inches per year.

Glaciers

Glaciers

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