Flashcards: Geomorphology

A moraine is any glacially formed accumulation of unconsolidated glacial debris (soil and rock) that occurs in both currently and formerly glaciated regions on Earth (i.e. a past glacial maximum), through geomorphological processes.

In geology the Ukrainian Shield (or Ukrainian Crystalline Massif) is the southwest shield of the East European craton.

A wide variety of river and stream channel types exist in limnology, the study of inland waters.

A drainage basin or catchment basin is an extent or an area of land where all surface water from rain, melting snow, or ice converges to a single point at a lower elevation, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean.

Karst topography is a landscape formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum.

In geology, permafrost is ground, including rock or (cryotic) soil, at or below the freezing point of water 0 °C (32 °F) for two or more years.

Isostasy (Greek ísos "equal", stásis "standstill") is the state of gravitational equilibrium between Earth's crust and mantle such that the crust "floats" at an elevation that depends on its thickness and density.

Orography (from the Greek όρος, hill, γραφία, to write) is the study of the topographic relief of mountains, and can more broadly include hills, and any part of a region's elevated terrain.

A monolith is a geological feature consisting of a single massive stone or rock, such as some mountains, or a single large piece of rock placed as, or within, a monument or building.

Aeolian processes, also spelled eolian or æolian, pertain to wind activity in the study of geology and weather and specifically to the wind's ability to shape the surface of the Earth (or other planets).

A pingo, also called a hydrolaccolith, is a mound of earth-covered ice found in the Arctic and subarctic that can reach up to 70 metres (230 ft) in height and up to 600 m (2,000 ft) in diameter.

The Main European Watershed is the drainage divide which separates the basins of the rivers that empty into the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea and the Baltic Sea from those that feed the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea.

Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce water containing minerals, or other dissolved substances, that alter its taste or give it a purported therapeutic value.

Subsidence is the motion of a surface (usually, the Earth's surface) as it shifts downward relative to a datum such as sea-level.

Debris flows are geological phenomena in which water-laden masses of soil and fragmented rock rush down mountainsides, funnel into stream channels, entrain objects in their paths, and form thick, muddy deposits on valley floors.

A geohazard is a geological state that may lead to widespread damage or risk.

The Iowan Erosion Surface (IES) is a geographic region located mostly in northeastern Iowa while extending into southeastern Minnesota.

Frost heaving (or a frost heave) is an upwards swelling of soil during freezing conditions caused by an increasing presence of ice as it grows towards the surface, upwards from the depth in the soil where freezing temperatures have penetrated into the soil (the freezing front or freezing boundary).

A fault scarp is a small step or offset on the ground surface where one side of a fault has moved vertically with respect to the other.

The term stream power law describes a semi-empirical family of equations used to predict the rate of erosion of a river into its bed.