Exam 17: Cenozoic Earth History the Quaternary Period

A glacier covering at least 50,000 km² and unconfined by topography is classified as a(n) ____.

Plate tectonic activity is an important factor in global climate change because atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns may be greatly affected by the location of landmasses.

Most Pleistocene mineral deposits are directly or indirectly related to glaciation.

The melting of continental glaciers will not affect sea level.

The scablands of Washington and large ripple marks in Montana and Idaho were formed when the ____.

____________________ glaciers produced bowl-shaped depressions on mountains called cirques.

A dome-shaped mass of glacial ice covering less than 50,000 km² is a(n) ____________________ ____________________.

Discuss the causes of large-scale glaciation and the controls on ice advances and retreats within ice ages.

One of the effects of the disappearance of pluvial lakes was the formation of thick sequences of evaporites.

Thick bars of gravel and large boulders provide evidence for massive flooding cause by the failure of large pluvial and proglacial lakes.

Isotopes of the element ____________________ are used to reconstruct past glacial and interglacial stages.

According to the Milankovitch theory, the amount of heat received by Earth greatly varies and glaciation occurs when solar input is at a low.

____________________are ridges or mounds of unsorted, unstratified debris deposited by a glacier along its margins or at its terminus.

Salt deposits from glacial times formed via ____.

According to the Milankovitch theory, the total heat received from the sun varies very little, but there is enough interaction of orbit and tilt changes to cause climate changes.

A glacier is retreating when ____.

____ moraines allow geologists to determine the farthermost advance of Pleistocene glaciers.

Increased volcanic activity may raise the temperature of Earth enough to make the climate warmer and more tropical.

Glaciers form where ____.

The glaciers in Glacier National Park are examples of ____________________ glaciers.