Glacial geology

Glacial geology studies glaciers and the landforms and deposits they create. It reconstructs past ice extent and movement from features such as moraines, tills, and striations.

Glacier: A persistent mass of ice that forms on land through the accumulation and compaction of snow. Glaciers are the moving agents whose erosion and deposition glacial geology examines.
Basal sliding: Movement of a glacier over its bed, enabled by deformation or water at the ice-bed interface. Sliding helps explain how glaciers abrade bedrock and transport debris along their bases.
Drumlin: An elongated hill of glacial sediment or bedrock, typically aligned with former ice flow. Its orientation and shape provide clues to ice movement and sediment deformation.
Glacial geomorphology: The study of landforms produced by glaciers and the processes that shape them. It focuses on interpreting the landscape forms that are central evidence in glacial geology.
Fluvial geomorphology: The study of landforms and processes associated with rivers and flowing water. River processes can mimic or rework glacial features, but usually sort sediment differently.
Glacial erosion: The wearing away of rock and sediment by moving glacier ice and its debris. Erosion produces many of the distinctive landforms used to interpret former ice flow.
Glacial abrasion: The grinding of bedrock by debris carried at the base of moving glacier ice. Abrasion creates polished surfaces and striations that reveal glacier passage.
Esker: A winding ridge of sand and gravel deposited by meltwater flowing in an ice-walled channel. Eskers preserve the courses of meltwater streams within or beneath former glaciers.
Quaternary geology: The study of Earth's geology during the Quaternary Period, including repeated ice ages. Glacial geology supplies key evidence for reconstructing Quaternary environments and chronology.
Periglacial geomorphology: The study of landforms and processes in cold environments dominated by freeze-thaw, not glacier ice. Periglacial features form near glaciers or in cold climates without direct glacier action.

Linked from 6 pages