A | B |
Erosion | Process in which surface materials are worn away and transported from one place to another by agents such as gravity, water, wind, and glaciers |
Deposition | Dropping of sediments that occurs when an agent of erosion, such as gravity, a glacier, wind, or water, loses its energy and can no longer carry its load |
Mass movement | Any type of erosion that occurs as gravity moves material down-slope |
slump | A type of mass movement that occurs when mass of material moves down a curved slope |
creep | A type of mass movement in which sediments move down-slope very slowly; is common in areas of freezing and thawing, and cause walls, trees, and fences to lean downhill |
glacier | Large, moving masses of ice and snow that change large areas of Earth's surface through erosion and deposition |
iceberg | Huge ice formation from the breaking of ice shelves at poles of earth - floats in ocean and most is below surface |
plucking | Process that adds gravel, sand, and boulders to a glacier's bottom and sides as water freezes and thaws, breaking off pieces of surrounding rock |
till | Mixture of different sized sediments that is dropped from the base of a retreating glacier and can cover huge area of land |
moraine | Large ridge of rocks and soil deposited by a glacier when it stops moving forward |
outwash | Material deposited by the meltwater from a glacier, most often beyond the end of the glacier |
deflation | A type of erosion that occurs when wind blows across loose sediment removes small particles and leaves coarser sediment behind |
abrasion | A type of erosion that occurs when windblown sediments strike rocks and sediments, polishing and pitting their surface |
loess | Windblown deposit of tightly packed, fine-grained sediments |
dune | Mound formed when windblown sediments pile up behind an obstacle; common landform in desert areas |
arete | ridge line formed when a glacier moves on both sides eroding soil and rock away |
horn | land formation due to glaciers weathering and eroding soil and rock away on several sides of a mountain |
u-shaped valley | land formation left after a glacier moves through mountains |
v-shaped valley | land formation due to flowing of water weathering and eroding soil and rock away |