Classwork
Name: ____________________________________
Block:____________
Glacier Worksheet
Provide a brief answer to each of the questions below based on the images.
Question 1
This view is looking up, over the toe of Carbon Glacier toward
the peak of Mount Rainier in Washington. Why do you think
there are rocks on top of the glacier? How did they get
there?
As the glacial ice moves, it scrapes and grinds the bedrock, and
these loosened material become mixed into the ice. At the toe of
the glacier, the ice melts, leaving the rock behind. This is called
a moraine or till.
Question 2
This is a picture of the beach near Montauk Point on Long
Island (at the eastern end of Long Island, New York). Usually
rocks on a beach are well rounded by wave action. These are
not. Where could they have come from?
The deposits on Long Island are the deposits of a glacier
moraine. The rocks were carried there by glacial ice and
deposited at the terminus of a continental glacier.
Classwork
Question 3
This valley is in North Cascades National Park in Washington.
What shape is this valley, and what gave it the shape?
The valley is a U-shaped valley. It was carved by a glacier in the
past, the the glacier has since melted.
Question 4
This rock and wall is at the Cloisters Museum in New York City (on
Manhattan Island). What are the "scratches" called, and how do they
form? Why are they in New York City?
Glaciers once covered the New York City area. The moving ice scraped the
bedrock producing glacial groove and striations. The glaciers that once covered
New York have since melted.
Classwork
Question 5
This picture shows two types of rocks on a mountaintop in northern New
Jersey. This is a large boulder of a layered sandstone (a sedimentary rock)
resting on granite bedrock (an igneous rock). Sandstone, like this boulder, is
found on a mountain about 30 miles away. How this boulder might get here?
A continental glacier once covered the northern New Jersey region. As the
glacier moved south, the sandstone boulder was plucked from its bedrock
source, and transported by the moving glacial ice to its current location. The
glacier melted, leaving the boulder on the mountaintop.
Extra Brain Teaser
This view is looking north along the Hudson River in Southern
New York. Although the "Hudson" is a "River" - early explorers
of the region thought that the broad river might be a passage for
boat travel across North America. Although they were
disappointed, they did note that the Hudson River is salty all the
way to its headwater regions near Albany, New York (nearly 200
miles from the ocean). Could you explain why the Hudson
River is salty?
The Hudson River is a Fjord. The valley was partially carved by
a southward advancing ice sheet (or continental glacier). When
the glaciers melted, rising sea level flooded the Hudson River
Valley with sea water.