Mass Movement and Glaciers

Erosion & Deposition:
Mass Movement and

Glaciers

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Erosion

process by which
natural forces move
weathered rock and soil,
or sediment, from one
place to another

Factors that effect rate
of erosion
•weather
•climate
•topography
•type of rock

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Multiple Choice

The process by which natural forces move weathered rock and soil from one place to another is called

• erosion

• sediments

• mass wasting

Deposition

the laying down or settling of
eroded material

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Mass Wasting

downhill movement of a
large mass of rocks or soil
because of the pull of
gravity (examples include
landslides, mudslides,
slump and creep)

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Multiple Choice

Mass wasting or mass movement is caused because the pull of

• hands

• wind

• gravity

• Friction

Glacier

• Continental glacier (or ice

sheets) – covers large areas
of land and move outward
from central location; exist
today on Antarctica and
Greenland

• Valley glacier (alpine) –

long, narrow glacier that
forms when snow and ice
build up high in a mountain
valley

large mass of ice that formed on land
and moves slowly across Earth’s
surface; form in areas where the
amount of snowfall is greater than the
amount of snowmelt

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How Glaciers
Shape the
Land

Two processes by which
glaciers erode the land and
plucking and abrasion.

Plucking occurs when a
glacier flows over the land, it
picks up rocks and large
boulders dragging them
across the land, causing
abrasions, or gouges and
scratches in the bedrock

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Glacial

Depositions

•Till – mixture of
sediment that is
deposited directly on
the surface
•Moraine – ridge
formed from till
deposited at the edge
of glaciers
•Kettle – small
depression that forms
when a chunk of ice
is left in till then
eventually melts

When a glacier
melts, it creates
various landforms

which include

©Nitty Gritty Science,
LLC

©Nitty Gritty Science,
LLC