Updated June 2005
To have a glacial advance requires a change in the global temperature so as to lower the values over the majority of the Earth's surface (or at least one hemisphere). Milankovitch suggested a way in which the earth's orbit might change to bring this about.
Animations of the changes can also be seen at the SCOTESE site, which is Recommended. It also features (for example) the very useful diagram reproduced below which shows the fluctuations in the Earth's climate over the last hundreds of thousands of years which have swung between periods of warm and cold weather. Students have to get to grips with diagrams such as this, to appreciate that the weather conditions we are used to are not the 'norm'. We live in interesting times....
Image from http://www.scotese.com - click to enlarge
A good page on GLACIERS AND GLACIATION here. You could base an entire scheme of work around this list of definitions, or use it as the basis for tests. For students, it's a great shortcut - US based, as with much of this material, but the terms are essentially the same
The WYCOMBE HIGH SCHOOL folks have once again been at work here and have produced some notes relevant to the area. Get yourself a copy.
Some nice images for use in projects or revision, along with some SATELLITE IMAGES OF GLACIERS of the World, courtesy of the USGS. Get yourself some Laser printer film and it's OHT city. Some detailed images.
There has been a lot of Glacial activities in the UK over the years, although all that we can see now are relict features. Try here for details on MORAINES NEAR YORK: terminal moraines mapped, described and located.
An excellent update has just taken place on the ALL ABOUT GLACIERS site which has lists of data sources for further study.
Try the good old Zephryus site for a nice illustrated account of CORRIE AND NICHE GLACIERS. (some excellent photos here, particularly at the top of the page)
There's an ONLINE GLACIER QUIZ here. Try it and get it to mark your answers.
For some satellite images, try the LANDSAT INVENTORY of glacial landforms.
A set of lectures from Tavi Murray at LEEDS UNIVERSITY is available from this index page. Some useful Powerpoint images available here as well as useful simple notes from what would obviously have been more involved lectures.
There's a VIRTUAL GLACIER TOUR available here as well: click on the images to move to some pictures of glacial landforms. Thanks to TrailMonkey for this.
Want to see an animation which explains how glacial erratics made their way to Cannock Chase near Birmingham ? Go HERE and watch and enjoy.
An excellent site looking at GLACIERS IN ICELAND, part of a virtual geological tour of the island which also has details on volcanic activity.
Another virtual tour, this time of GLACIER NATIONAL PARK by Karen Lemke.
A great set of links from Dr. Mark FRANCEK - explore these to have a set of useful material.
BANFF NATIONAL PARK pages. Someday I'll get there.
For an illustrated lecture on Glaciated scenery in Greenland, go HERE to the home pages of Dr. P. Knight of Keele University. This "virtual lecture" of 24 pages is a reduced version of a lecture originally presented at Keele University in December 2000 for the Stanley Beaver Memorial Lecture, organised jointly by the North Staffordshire Geographical Association and Keele University School of Earth Sciences and Geography, under the title "How Glaciers Change Landscapes." This has some excellent IMAGES. Also has an excellent 'beginner's guide' to basal ice. Recommended. Close to Top Ten material.
This site from Montana, USA has an excellent illustrated set of notes. Well worth checking it out HERE
It's worth looking for sites related to rock-climbing as these often contain people's digital camera images, which show most of the important features of upland glaciation. Try a search for 'Cuillin Hills' on the Isle of Skye and you can find some excellent images of frost shattered gabbro peaks.
In order for a Glacial period to start, there must be a reduction in Global temperatures. These can be the result of several processes according to which theory you believe in. There could be an increase in volcanic activity, meteorite impact, or the changes in the earth's orbit (there are various wobbles and nutations) which include the changes in the orbit which are the results of the MILANKOVITCH CYCLES. The link here takes you to an excellent animated GIF which shows you the effect of changes in temperature over the last 25 thousand years.
The ARCTIC CIRCLE website is useful.
Holidays in Polar regions are organised by ARCTIC EXPERIENCE - they took a friend of mine to Iceland (the country, not the freezer store....)
The Lake District is an area which has a great deal of evidence of glacial processes. There are some useful images at the MAPE SITE: it also has images of Birmingham and Tobago. Thanks to Rhona Dick for the photos.
Noel Jenkins took his students on a fieldtrip to North Wales last year (2002). He investigated a number of issues: Sand dune succession, glacial landforms and urban regeneration. The FIELDTRIP page offers links to a range of original and thought-provoking materials, including some good images of the area around Cadair Idris, which includes large and small scale glacial landforms. I once climbed Cadair Idris on New Years Eve, but that's another story. Recommended, like all Noel's stuff...
Some useful new images of Canadian GLACIAL FEATURES on the GeoResources site. This site continues to grow.
This is well worth visiting even though it's not 'AS' level. The Ordnance Survey MAPZONE page has a link to a nice FLASH page called Homework Help - from here you can move to Map School, then Geography, then Glaciation. This has a series of images and OS map extracts and short animations which show the development of the major glacial features. This is based on the area of Snowdonia and finishes with a 3D fly through the area.
Some excellent images of Glacial scenery in Iceland following the SLN GEOGRAPHY trip there in May 2003. Recommended - thanks to Chris Durbin and colleagues for providing these resources.
GLACIER COUNTRY in New Zealand has its own website. This is a WORLD HERITAGE AREA, and offers some excellent scenery and ecosystems.
OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY has produced an ONLINE GLOSSARY of glaciology and glacial geomorphology. This includes POWERPOINT PRESENTATIONS and images of key glacial features and processes. Some of the content is obviously pitched towards undergraduate level, but the images are very useful for A2 students.
City of Sunderland college have a VIRTUAL LEARNING PLACE where you can see basic notes on a series of issues which are useful in this area:
The Pleistocene Ice Age, the Ice and its Impact
Glaciers: their types, movements and economies
The Anatomy of a Valley Glacier
Glacial Erosion
Glacial Deposition and Depositional Landforms
Fluvioglacial Deposition
Human Activity and Glacial Movements
Found this site via some images of Montserrat. The site offers the chance to buy a DVD of QTVR panoramas and images of Glacial landscapes. Some marvellous images produced by JURG ALEAN. The link then goes through to Jurg's own school's GEOGRAPHY SITE, which is all in German, but includes some marvellous images and VIRTUAL REALITY tours of a glacial landscape. There are a few samples on the shop page which give a real idea of the scale of some of the features produced by ice. Some marvellous images of permafrost landscapes too, as well as trips to Pompeii and other places. Recommended.
