Study Hub

Study Guides

This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.

Back to Study HubBrowse Year 9 Geography Guides

Year 9 - Geography

Glacial processes

Ice and glaciers: How are cold places affected by a warming planet?

Unit Summary

This unit teaches pupils about the physical processes that influence cold places around the world and how areas of ice have changed over time due to climatic variations. Pupils will learn about the impact of global warming on glaciated areas and what this means for the future of our planet.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to describe the glacial processes of erosion, transportation and deposition.

Key Notes

  • Glaciers erode the landscape by plucking and abrasion.
  • Eroded material called moraine is moved by the glacier in a process called transportation.
  • When the ice melts, moraine is dropped in the process of deposition.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • plucking: when meltwater at a glacier's base refreezes to bedrock, loosened rocks will be torn away as the glacier moves forwards, here rocks freeze to a glacier and are pulled from the ground as it moves
  • abrasion: where rocks carried beneath the ice scratch and sandpaper the bedrock
  • moraine: a ridge or mound of debris deposited by a glacier

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Glaciers are white.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this geography topic using two clear key points.

Glaciers erode the landscape by plucking and abrasion. Eroded material called moraine is moved by the glacier in a process called transportation.

2. Define this geography term and use it in an example. 'plucking'

when meltwater at a glacier's base refreezes to bedrock, loosened rocks will be torn away as the glacier moves forwards, here rocks freeze to a glacier and are pulled from the ground as it moves.

3. Correct this common geography misunderstanding.

Mistake: Glaciers are white. Correction: Glaciers can appear dirty because they carry material.

More Lessons In This Unit

Browse all guides in the Year 9 Geography guide library.