Glacial Landforms and Topographic Maps Lesson

NGSS - (Underlined portions will be reached in this lesson plan)

MS-ESS2-2 EARTH'S SYSTEMS - Construct an explanation based on evidence for how
geoscience processes have changed Earth's surface at varying time and spatial scales.
[Clarification Statement: Emphasis is on how processes change Earths surface at time and
spatial scales that can be large (such as slow plate motions or the uplift of large mountain
ranges) or small (such as rapid landslides or microscopic geochemical reactions), and how
many geoscience processes (such as earthquakes, volcanoes, and meteor impacts) usually
behave gradually but are punctuated by catastrophic events. Examples of geoscience
processes include surface weathering and deposition by the movements of water, ice, and wind.
Emphasis is on geoscience processes that shape local geographic features, where appropriate.]
Science and Engineering Practices:
Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions
Constructing explanations and designing solutions in 68 builds on K5 experiences and
progresses to include constructing explanations and designing solutions supported by multiple
sources of evidence consistent with scientific ideas, principles, and theories.
Construct a scientific explanation based on valid and reliable evidence obtained from sources
(including the students own experiments) and the assumption that theories and laws that
describe nature operate today as they did in the past and will continue to do so in the future.
Disciplinary Core Ideas:
ESS2.A: Earths Materials and Systems
The planets systems interact over scales that range from microscopic to global
in size, and they operate over fractions of a second to billions of years. These
interactions have shaped Earths history and will determine its future.
ESS2.C: The Roles of Water in Earth's Surface Processes
Waters movementsboth on the land and undergroundcause weathering and
erosion, which change the lands surface features and create underground formations.
Objectives Based off Standard:
1. Students will be able to understand the differences of alpine glaciers and
continental glaciers.
2. Students will understand the depositional and erosional landforms created by
glaciers and have an idea of the time scale it takes to create those features.
3. Students will understand how the present is the key to the past and how by
analyzing current glaciers, we can determine past glaciation patterns. For example: the
Greenland glacier can help us understand the Laurentide Glacier.
 4. Students will begin to understand how glaciation has shaped earths history and
will have a part in our future. (ie sea-level rise).
5. Students will be able to identify glacier features on Google Earth and on
topographic maps.
6. Students will better understand how waters movements on land and
underground cause weathering and different surface features. Students will focus
specifically on glacial melt-water and what landforms this can create.

Part 1 - Glacier Features

Alpine vs. continental
Engage: Give a picture of alpine glacier and continental glacier. Give the students a list of
vocab words and like pin the tail on the donkey. Have the students cut out and tape the labels
on the glacier diagrams. Have the class work together to label each part of the glacier.
Need to still make cut outs of landforms and definitions.
Need to choose and attach picture of alpine glacier and continental glacier with
landforms to mark.
This will help get the students looking at different pictures of glaciers and start noticing the
landforms. This will also show any prior knowledge that the students may have.

Explore: Keep snow in a freezer for this experiment. Take a tupperware and fill it with unsorted
dirt. Take the snow and put it on the dirt, try to show how the ice moves across the land by
forcing the snow forward with hands. Ask the students if they think that as the thick snow is
moving across the dirt if it is picking up any of the dirt. Keep pushing until the snow has created
an end moraine. Talk about how glaciers move and the slow pace they can grow and retreat.

Take the students over to a bedrock map of the midwestern United States. Ask them to make
observations on what they think the moraines are around Wisconsin and Michigan. Do not call
them moraines but let the students come up with their own conclusions. After looking at the
bedrock map, go back to the tupperware to see if the snow has melted.

Hopefully, the snow will have created end moraines in the dirt. (This could be a really bad idea if
it doesnt work - I still need to try it).

Explain: As a class, pull up Google Earth and choose a couple glacier locations. Show an
example of every glacial feature on the list from the engage exercise. If it is easier to do some
on a powerpoint and a couple Google Earth locations, this is also an option.
Need to pick google Earth locations
Need to create powerpoint.
Also, observe the bedrock map again and show where the end moraines are from and share
about the Laurentide ice sheet that created different landforms. Also help the students
understand timescale of when the Laurentide glacier was there and how long it takes for
glaciers to make certain landforms.
Elaborate: Student will be given a sheet of paper with landscape terms and definitions. Then
they will explore 5-7 different locations on Google Earth of alpine and continental glaciers.
Students will fill out a worksheet and answer questions on what landforms they recognize and
whether the glacier they see is alpine or continental.
Need to make the Google Earth locations
Need to create sheet of paper with landscape terms and definitions.
Need to make a worksheet for students to fill out (1 blank and 1 with answers).
After the students have finished, we will go through as a class and correct any mistakes the
students might have made.
Evaluate: Students will be asked to repeat the elaborate exercise on their own to test their
understanding. They will be given 3-4 new locations of alpine and continental glaciers or glacial
features. They will have to label whether the glacier is alpine or continental and which landform
it comes from.
Need to choose 3 new locations
Need to create test for students

Possible glacial locations for Google Earth exercise:

Current glaciers - Carbon Glacier Mt. Rainier alpine glacier
Crillion Glacier, Alaska - valley glacier
La perouse Glacier in Alaska
Baird Glacier (kettle holes)
Seward Glacier Mt. St. Elias Range
Cirque - Sue Lake - Glacial National Park
Grand Teton - wyoming - u-shaped valley
Half dome in Yosemite U shaped Valley
Walker Lake Terminal and Lateral Moraine in Sierra Nevada California
Longs Peak- horn peak formed by glaciers
Knob and Kettle North Dakota
Drumlin fields
Lake Kabetogama Minnesota Rainy Lake Canada border

Part 2 - Contour lines/ Till vs. Outwash

Students will be able to understand how contour lines work and be able to make contour
profiles.
Engage: Till vs outwash. Give them samples of both and write about the differences they notice.
Explore: study contour maps together and do elevation profile
Part 3 - Topographic Maps
Students will be able to identify glacier features on topographic maps.
Explain: Show them different landscapes on topographic maps
Elaborate: Have them work in groups to identify glacial landforms on topographic maps
Evaluate: Test them using a new topographic map to see if they can understand contours and
glacial features on a topographic map.
Part 4 - History and Future/ Meltwater
Students will begin to understand how glaciation has shaped earths history and will have a part
in our future. (ie sea-level rise).
Students will better understand how waters movements on land and underground cause
weathering and different surface features. Students will focus specifically on glacial melt-water
and what landforms this can create.
Elaborate: calculating average retreat and gain of a glacier from year to year. (See lab studies in
geology)

Glacial landforms and features: Words to Know

Ablation zone:
The area of a glacier where mass is lost through melting or evaporation at a greater rate than
snow and ice accumulate.
Accumulation zone:
The area of a glacier where mass is increased through snowfall at a greater rate than snow and
ice is lost through ablation.
Alpine glacier:
A relatively small glacier that forms in high elevations near the tops of mountains.
Arte:
A sharp-edged ridge of rock formed between adjacent cirque glaciers.
Basal sliding:
The sliding of a glacier over the ground on a layer of water.
Cirque:
A bowl-shaped depression carved out of a mountain by an alpine glacier.
Continental glacier:
A glacier that forms over large areas of continents close to the poles.
Crevasse:
A deep, nearly vertical crack that develops in the upper portion of glacier ice.
Erosion:
The gradual wearing away of Earth surfaces through the action of wind and water.
Erratic:
A large boulder that a glacier deposits on a surface made of different rock.
Esker:
A long, snakelike ridge of sediment deposited by a stream that ran under or within a glacier.
Firn:
The granular ice formed by the recrystallization of snow; also known as nv.
Fjord:
A deep glacial trough submerged with seawater.
Glacial drift:
A general term for all material transported and deposited directly by or from glacial ice.
Glacial polish:
The smooth and shiny surfaces that are produced on rocks underneath a glacier by material
carried in the base of that glacier.
Glacial surge:
The rapid forward movement of a glacier.
Glacial trough:
A U-shaped valley carved out of a V-shaped stream valley by the movement of a valley glacier.
Glaciation:
The transformation of the landscape through the action of glaciers.
Glacier:
A large body of ice that formed on land by the compaction and recrystallization of snow, survives
year to year, and shows some sign of movement downhill due to gravity.
Ground moraine:
A continuous layer of till deposited beneath a steadily retreating glacier.
Hanging valley:
A shallow glacial trough that leads into the side of a larger, main glacial trough.
Horn:
A high mountain peak that forms when the walls of three or more glacial cirques intersect.
Internal flow:
The movement of ice inside a glacier through the deformation and realignment of ice crystals;
also known as creep.
Kame:
A steep-sided, conical mound or hill formed of glacial drift that is created when sediment is
washed into a depression on the top surface of a glacier and then deposited on the ground
below when the glacier melts away.
Kettle:
A shallow, bowl-shaped depression formed when a large block of glacial ice breaks away from
the main glacier and is buried beneath glacial till, then melts. If the depression fills with water, it
is known as a kettle lake.
Lateral moraine:
A moraine deposited along the side of a valley glacier.
Medial moraine:
A moraine formed when two adjacent glaciers flow into each other and their lateral moraines are
caught in the middle of the joined glacier.
Meltwater:
The water from melted snow or ice.
Moraine:
A general term for a ridge or mound of till deposited by a glacier.
Piedmont glacier:
A valley glacier that flows out of a mountainous area onto a gentle slope or plain and spreads
out over the surrounding terrain.
Rock flour:
Fine-grained rock material produced when a glacier abrades or scrapes rock beneath it.
Snow line:
The elevation above which snow can form and remain all year.
Striations:
The long, parallel scratches and grooves produced in rocks underneath a glacier as it moves
over them.
Tarn:
A small lake that fills the central depression in a cirque.
Terminal moraine:
A moraine found near the terminus of a glacier; also known as an end moraine.
Terminus:
The leading edge of a glacier; also known as the glacier snout.
Till:
A random mixture of finely crushed rock, sand, pebbles, and boulders deposited by a glacier.
Valley glacier:
An alpine glacier flowing downward through a preexisting stream valley.

Read more: http://www.scienceclarified.com/landforms/Faults-to-Mountains/Glacial-Landforms-

and-Features.html#ixzz43f99QAL6

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