AQA A-Level Geography 7037
Water and Carbon Cycles
Hot Desert Systems and LandscapesLandscape
Coastal Systems and LandscapesLandscape
Glacial Systems and LandscapesLandscape
HazardsHazards or ecosystems
Ecosystems Under StressHazards or ecosystems
Global Systems and Global Governance
Changing Places
Contemporary Urban EnvironmentsHuman option
Population and the EnvironmentHuman option
Resource SecurityHuman option
Glacial Systems and Landscapes
The Glacial Mass Budget and Ice Movement
- 4 things to know
- Component 1
Overview
Recall questions on the glacial mass budget, accumulation and ablation zones, the equilibrium line, positive, negative and balanced budgets, past ice advance and retreat, basal sliding and internal deformation, extending, compressing and rotational flow, and warm- and cold-based glaciers.
What you need to know
Answer each one before you reveal it.
Where are the accumulation zone and the ablation zone found on a glacier?
When is a glacier's budget negative, and what happens to the snout?
Define accumulation, ablation and the equilibrium line.
Questions from this subtopic
Each one with the model answer underneath.
- 1
What is the glacial (mass) budget?
Model answer
The balance over a year between the mass a glacier gains through accumulation and the mass it loses through ablation.
- 2
Define accumulation.
Model answer
The input of snow and ice to a glacier, mainly from snowfall, avalanches and wind-blown snow, which compacts into ice.
- 3
Define ablation.
Model answer
The loss of ice and snow from a glacier through melting, sublimation, evaporation and calving.
- 4
Where are the accumulation zone and the ablation zone found on a glacier?
Model answer
The accumulation zone is the upper part where inputs exceed losses; the ablation zone is the lower part where losses exceed inputs.
- 5
What is the equilibrium line?
Model answer
The line on a glacier where annual accumulation exactly equals annual ablation, so the net balance there is zero.
- 6
When is a glacier's budget positive, and what happens to the snout?
Model answer
When accumulation exceeds ablation, typically in colder years; the glacier gains mass and its snout advances.
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