University:
Durham Technical Community College
Course:
GEL-111 | Geology
Academic year:

2024
Views:

195

Pages:

4
Author:

Amy TGT

Part 1: Glacial Landform Identification (kettle lake in Glacier National Park, Montana, USA - centered) Kettle lakes are formed when an ice block falls off a glacier and burrows slightly into the ground. The ice then melts to form a small lake. (Arête - Mt. Peabody in Montana, USA) An arête is a narrow wall of rock that appears between two U-shaped valleys. When a glacier erodes a U-shaped valley right next to another one, the barrier between the two valleys is an arête. (cirque - beneath Parke Peak, Montana, USA) A cirque is a bowl-shaped pocket on the side of a mountain. They form from mountain glaciers. When two or more cirques coincide they create a peak known as a horn. Part 2: Sediment Transport Analysis Answer the following questions in 2–3 sentences each: ○ How does sediment transport influence the shape of the landscape? Sediment transport can also form moraines after the glacier melts. ○ What is the difference between till and outwash deposits? Till is the sediment transported by the glacial ice itself. Outwash is sediment transported by the meltwater streams. Part 3: Case Study: Glacial Issues (25 points) Glacial melting and sea-level rise. Issue Summary: As the overall temperature of the globe continues to rise, the mountainous and polar glaciers (the ice sheets at the poles) begin to melt. And with these glaciers melting, sea level begins to rise in certain places, but not in others. Impacts: If all the current glaciers melted completely, sea level would rise about 230 feet higher and flood all the coastal cities in the world. Solutions: One way to keep our glaciers from melting too quickly is through carbon sequestration. This is a method of removing carbon from the atmosphere and returning it to the geosphere (earth) where it belongs. The most common way to do this is composting. Composting is the process of taking food remains, dead plants and other naturally occurring structures and turning them into soil to be returned to the earth. This is perhaps the most well known method of carbon sequestration. Sources: - How would sea level change if all glaciers melted? | U.S. Geological Survey. How do glaciers affect sea level rise? - Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution