Glacier terminus

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/glacier-terminus

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the location?The distal end of a glacier, where ice meets a non-glacial environment
2. What is the primary processes?Ablation (melting, sublimation, calving) and ice flow
3. Why does a glacier terminus move back and forth?It moves because ice can build up in the upper part or melt and break off at the end. When melting is faster than new ice, the terminus retreats; when new ice is faster, it advances.
4. How does a glacier terminus shape the land?As the glacier moves, it scrapes rock and pushes debris, carving U‑shaped valleys, cirques, and fjords. When it stops, it leaves piles of rocks called moraines.

Ablation: The loss of ice from a glacier through melting, sublimation, and calving.
Mass Balance: The difference between the amount of ice accumulated and the amount lost by a glacier over a year.
Tidewater Glacier: A glacier that terminates in the sea, often characterized by iceberg calving.
Primary Succession: The colonization of barren land by living organisms, starting with hardy pioneer species.