GRASSLANDS AND MORAINE

WHAT IS GRASSLAND?
Grasslands are natural ecological communities lands where the vegetation is dominated by
grasses rather than large shrubs or trees. Natural grasslands primarily occur in the region that
receive between 500 and 900mm of rainfall per year. Some of the worlds largest expanses of
grasslands are found in Africa Savannas.

Grasslands are known by different names in different part of the world

• Steppes in Asia
• Prairies in north America
• Pampas , Llanos and Cerrados in south America
• Savannas and velds in Africa
TYPES OF GRASSLANDS

• Tropical and subtropical

• Temperate
• Flooded
• Montane
• Tundra Prairies
TROPICAL AND SUBTROPICAL

•These types are biomes are located in semi arid to semi humid climate regions of
subtropical and tropical latitudes.
•These are characterised by rainfall levels between 90 to 100 cm per year.
•Grasslands are dominated by grass and other herbaceous plants.

GRASSLAND REGIONS

•Llanos Savannas
•Cerrado Woodlands and Savannas
TEMPERATE GRASSLANDS

• Temperate Grasslands, savannas and Shrublands is a biome whose predominate

vegetation consists of grasses and shrubs.
• The climate is temperate and semi arid to semi humid.
• They differ largely from tropical grasslands in the annual temperature regime as
well as types of species.
• Soil is fertile with rich nutrients and minerals.

GRASSLAND REGIONS
• Northern prairie of North America
• Patagonian steppe in south America
• steppe in Asia
FLOODED GRASSLANDS

• Flooded grasslands and savannas are biomes generally located at subtropical and
tropical latitudes which are flooded seasonally or year round
•These support numerous plants and animals which are adapted to the unique
hydrologic regimes and soil conditions.
•The temperature in these regions is warm with nutrient rich soil.

GRASSLAND REGIONS

• Pantanal flooded savannas in central south America

•Everglades Flooded Grasslands in North America
MONTANE GRASSLANDS
•Montane grasslands and scrublands are a biome located above the tree line, occurs in
mountain region around the world and are commonly known as alpine tundra.
•It includes high elevation grasslands and shrublands as well as sub –alpine habitats.
•This biome also occurs in the mountains of east and central Africa, highest elevation of western
Ghats in south India.
•Where conditions are drier, one finds montane grasslands, savannahs and woodlands.

GRASSLAND REGIONS
• Puna and paramo in south america
•Steppes of the Tibetan plateau, central asia
•Eastern Himalayan alpine meadows.
TUNDRA GRASSLANDS

•Tundra, a major zone of treeless level or rolling ground found in cold regions. Tundra is known
for large stretches of bare ground and rock and for patchy mantles of low vegetation such
as mosses, lichens, herbs, and small shrubs.
•One constant factor shaping the tundra is alternate freezing and thawing of the ground.
•Permafrost—perennially frozen ground—is a significant feature of the Arctic tundra; however,
it does not typically occur in alpine regions.
Grassland regions

GRASSLAND REGIONS
• Artic tundra ,canada
 Moraines
Depositional landforms of valley glaciers

Moraines may form through a number of processes, depending on the characteristics of sediment, the
dynamics on the ice, and the location on the glacier in which the moraine is formed. Moraine forming
processes may be loosely divided into passive and active. Passive processes involve the placing of chaotic
supraglacial sediments onto the landscape with limited reworking, typically forming hummocky moraines.
These moraines are composed of supraglacial sediments from the ice surface. Active processes form or
rework moraine sediment directly by the movement of ice, known as glaciotectonism. These form push
moraines and thrust-block moraines, which are often composed of till and reworked proglacial sediment.
Moraine may also form by the accumulation of sand and gravel deposits from glacial streams emanating
from the ice margin. These fan deposits may coalesce to form a long moraine bank marking the ice margin.
Several processes may combine to form and rework a single moraine, and most moraines record a
continuum of processes.
Source: Wikipedia ,
www.britannica.com
Lateral moraine

A lateral moraine consists of debris

derived by erosion and avalanche
from the valley wall onto the edge of
a glacier and ultimately deposited as
an elongate ridge when the glacier
recedes. If a glacier melts, the lateral
moraine will often remain as the high
rims of a valley.

Example: The Pasterze Glacier formed

on the Grossglockner Massif in the
Alps, Austria.
Supraglacial moraine
Rocks and dust that collect on the
top of a glacier are called
supraglacial moraines. Made up of
rocks and earth that have fallen on
the glacier from the surrounding
landscape, dust and dirt left by
wind and rain .Sometimes it blocks
the view of the ice river
underneath. If a glacier melts,
supraglacial moraine is evenly
distributed across a valley.
Example: This glacier, in Alaska,
has a thin supraglacial moraine.
End or terminal moraine
At a terminal moraine, all the debris
that was scooped up and pushed to
the front of the glacier is deposited
as a large clump of rocks, soil, and
sediment. Study of terminal
moraines helps to see where the
glacier flowed and how quickly it
moved. Different rocks and minerals
are located in this moriane.

Example : The end moraine,

covered with grasses and soil,
formed at the end of a glacier in the
Patagonia region of South America.
Medial moraine

Medial moraines are formed when two

lateral moraines from the different
glaciers are pushed together. It is
deposited as a ridge, forming one line of
rocks and dirt in the middle of the new,
bigger glacier and is roughly parallel to
the direction of ice movement.

Example: Medial moraines, Nuussauq

peninsula, Greenland.
Thank you