Sea - Saline water bodies connected to, but smaller than the world’s oceans

Salinity - A measure of the amount of dissolved solids in water

Island Chains - A series of islands formed above a hot spot in the Earth’s crust (e.g., Hawaiian Islands)

Islands Arcs - Curved series of volcanic islands (archipelago) formed along a subduction zone.

Seamounts - A volcanic mountain rising from the sea floor that does not extend above sea level

Abyssal Plain - Deep, flat, sediment covered ocean floor plain

Continental Shelf - The near shore, fairly flat, underwater extension of the continent

Continental Slope - The slope that connects the continental shelf with the deep ocean bottom.

Submarine Canyons - Grooves in the continental shelf and slope leading down to the ocean bottom

Continental Rise - The gently sloped area between the continental slope and the abyssal plain

Tides - The rise and fall of sea level along a coast in response to the pull of the Moon’s (and Sun’s) gravity.

Spring Tide (highest tidal shift, sun & moon work together)

Neap Tide (lowest tidal shift, sun & moon cancel out)

Flood Tide (incoming or rising tide)

Ebb Tide (outgoing or falling tide)

Slack Water (in between Flood and Ebb Tides, no flow)

Tidal Bore  (upstream flow/wave in a river channel during a flood tide)

Swells - The up-and-down wave pattern in the open ocean.  As they approach shore, they become irregular waves and then breakers.

Littoral Drift - The movement of sand down the beach (Beach Drift) and water down the coast (Longshore Current)

Headlands - Parts of the coastline that extend out into the sea

Submergent coastlines - Flooding of coasts due to sea level rise

Ria Coasts - Hill and valley coastal areas in which the valleys are flooded, forming estuaries

Fjord Coasts - Deep glacial valleys filled by the rising sea

Barrier Island Coasts - Low lying coasts, where wave action creates sandy islands parallel to the coast

Delta Coasts - Coasts with river deltas extending out to sea

Fault Coasts - Tectonic uplift creates rugged, steep coasts

Volcanic Coasts - Rise of volcanic material above the water creates rugged coasts

Coral Reef Coasts - Coasts where coral formations are found

Fringing Reefs - Stage in which reefs are attached to land

Barrier Reefs - As an island sinks or is worn down, the reefs surrounding it are found farther from shore

Atoll - Ring shaped coral islands and reefs that remain once the main island is gone

Firn - A granular textured snow formed from fresh snow

Glacier - A mass of year-round ice which can flow downward.

Ice Sheet - A very large continuous continental glacier

Ice Cap - A smaller ice sheet covering a mountainous area

Ice Field - A large expanse of ice in a mountainous area (larger than an ice cap, smaller than an ice sheet)

Ice Age - A time of colder climate with an increase in glaciers

Interglacial - A period of warming in the middle of an ice age

Cirque Glacier - A small glacier forming in the basin (cirque) found at the top of a valley

Valley Glacier - A alpine glacier that flows down a valley

Piedmont Glacier - The spreading out and joining of valley glaciers as they flow into flatlands.

Tidal Glacier - A glacier that flows out over a water body

Calving - The loss of ice, in the form of icebergs, at the snout of a glacier that lies over a water body

Ice Shelf -The large, flat portion of an Antarctic tidal glacier where it extends over a bay. It can break off forming a large iceberg.

Fjord - The deep U-shaped troughs formed by valley glaciers that are now filled with sea water.

Glacial Surge - When a glacier moves much faster than usual

Zone of Accumulation - The area on a glacier where more snow falls than melts, evaporates, or sublimates.

Zone of Ablation - The area on a glacier where more snow melts, evaporates, or sublimates than falls on it.

Abrasion - The erosion and polishing of rock surfaces by rocks embedded in glacial ice.

Striations - Scratches and grooves created in rock surfaces by abrasion

Crevasse - Vertical cracks in a glacier formed by stress as it moves over and around obstacles

Bergschrund - The crevasse formed at the top of an alpine glacier where is pulls away from the rock wall

Terminus (Snout) - The leading edge (lowest point) of a glacier

Cirque - An amphitheater shaped basin created by an alpine glacier at the base of a mountain or ridge

Tarn - A small mountain lake often occupying a depression created by an alpine glacier

Arête - A sharp ridge that divides two cirque basins

Col - An arête lowered by glacial erosion on both sides which creates a mountain pass or saddle.

Horn - A steep sided, pyramid shaped mountain carved out by the erosive action of several cirque glaciers

Hanging valley - A tributary valley that is undercut by a large valley glacier so that the hanging valley empties above the main valley floor (often accompanied by hanging waterfalls)

Truncated ridge - Ridge cut away by a large valley glacier

Paternoster lakes - A string of lakes in a glaciated valley

Drift - All of the rock material moved along and deposited by a glacier

Till - Unsorted glacial deposits

Moraine - Linear deposits of drift.  Deposited on the side of the valley (lateral moraine), where two valleys meet (medial moraine), at the snout when the glacier stops or retreats (end moraine)

Terminal moraine - An end moraine deposit at the point of farthest advance of a glacier.

Recessional moraine - Formed as a retreating glacier paused

Ground moraine - The mass of material left all along the path as a glacier slowly retreats

Outwash Plain - A broad, smooth plain made up of sorted glacial drift from glacial outwash.

Till Plain - A bumpy plain made up of unsorted glacial drift deposited behind an end or terminal moraine.

Kettles - A water filled pit formed by blocks of glacial ice left behind as the glacier retreated.

Drumlins - A long narrow hill, made up of till, which points in the direction of the glacier movement.

Kames - A conical hill of sorted drift formed in depression created by a passing glacier.

Eskers - Snake-like ridges made up of sands and gravel deposited by streams flowing under a glacier.

Back to Chapter 4 Terms Page