CURRICULUM TOOL: CHANGING THE EARTH’S SURFACE
STREAM AND GLACIAL EROSION
NYS Earth Science Core Curriculum
Performance Indicator 2.1 Use the concepts of density and heat energy to explain
observations of weather patterns, seasonal changes, and the movements of Earth’s plates.
2.1u The natural agents of erosion include:
• Streams (running water): Gradient, discharge, and channel shape influence a stream’s velocity
and the erosion and deposition of sediments. Sediments transported by streams tend to
become rounded as a result of abrasion. Stream features include V-shaped valleys, deltas,
flood plains, and meanders. A watershed is the area drained by a steam and its tributaries.
• Glaciers (moving ice): Glacial erosional processes include the formation of U-shaped valleys,
parallel scratches, and grooves in bedrock. Glacial features include moraines, drumlins, kettle
lakes, finger lakes, and outwash plains.
• Wave Action: Erosion and deposition cause changes in shoreline features, including beaches,
sandbars, and barrier islands. Wave action rounds sediments as a result of abrasion. Waves
approaching a shoreline move sand parallel to the shore within the zone of breaking waves.
• Wind: Erosion of sediments by wind is most common in arid climates and along shorelines.
Wind-generated features include dunes and sand-blasted bedrock.
• Mass Movement: Earth materials move downslope under the influence of gravity.
Curriculum-Based Questions
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How do gradient, discharge, and stream shape influence
stream velocity?
How do sediments deposited by stream and glaciers
compare? How do valleys formed by streams and
glaciers compare?
What landscape features are created by glaciers?
What landscape features are created by streams? You
may sketch a diagram if it helps. How does the
topography of the landscape affect the pattern streams
create?
Earth Science Reference Table pg. 2
Some Past Part A Questions
1. Which feature will most likely form when the partially buried ice block melts?
(1) drumlin
(3) kettle lake
(2) Moraine
(4) finger lake
2. The topographic map shows two hills located in upstate New York.
Which agent of erosion is most responsible for the shape of these hills?
(1) wind
(3) waves
(2) gravity
(4) glaciers
(related pages: 3, 6)
Some Past Part B-1, B-2, C Questions
August 2012 Questions 42-43
January 2012 Questions 46-48, 72-74
August 2011 Questions 83-84
*Released Regents Tests:
http://www.nysedregents.org/earthscience/
High School of Language and Innovation 2012 (draft)
CURRICULUM TOOL: CHANGING THE EARTH’S SURFACE
STREAM AND GLACIAL EROSION
3. The block diagram to the right shows a portion of Earth’s crust.
Which stream drainage pattern is most likely present on this crustal surface?
Resources for Learning
Readings
Websites
Holt (yellow book)
pg. 379-384
Regents Exam Prep Center: Earth Science
http://regentsprep.org/Regents/earthsci/earthsci.cfm
Geology: Surface Processes
http://www.hmxearthscience.com/surface_processes.html
Landforms of Glaciation
http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/10af.html
Landforms from Stream Erosion and Deposition
http://www.ck12.org/concept/Landforms-from-Stream-Erosionand-Deposition/?ref=%2Fconcept%2FLandforms-from-StreamErosion-and-Deposition%2F
Glaciers and Ice sheets
http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier
1.html
River Sediments
http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/geology/sed_river.html
Glencoe (big blue
book) pg. 214227
McGuire (little
blue book) pg.
205-219
Unison Reading
Binder:
Landscapes
Foreign Language:
Glaciares y places de hielo
http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier
1.html&lang=sp
High School of Language and Innovation 2012 (draft)
Videos
Depositional Landforms
http://video.about.com/geology/What-Is-aDepositional-Landform-.htm
Loch Lomond – Glacial Landforms
http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips/lochlomond-glacial-landforms/1138.html
At home:
Glacial Characteristics
www.youtube.com/watch?v=AuS9_WKL5-A
In-Class
Activities
Landforms Binder
Landforms
Vocabulary
Landforms Memory
CURRICULUM TOOL: CHANGING THE EARTH’S SURFACE
STREAM AND GLACIAL EROSION
High School of Language and Innovation 2012 (draft)