glacier

Everyday

1. A glacier is a huge, thick mass of ice that moves very slowly over land, like a frozen river. tree →
2. Glaciers form where more snow falls each year than melts, so the snow piles up and presses into ice. tree →

In the lessons

In science and geography glaciers appear in lessons about ice ages, mountains, valleys and climate change: they carve U-shaped valleys, carry rocks, and many are shrinking as the world warms. They store much of the world's fresh water. Phrases: «glacier melt», «retreating glacier», «glacier valley», «glacier ice».

Examples

• A glacier moves only a few centimetres or metres a day. tree →
• We saw a glacier on our trip to New Zealand. tree →
• Long ago, glaciers covered much of Canada and northern Britain. tree →
• The glacier carved a wide U-shaped valley. tree →
• Many glaciers are melting because the climate is getting warmer. tree →
• Icebergs break off glaciers that reach the sea. tree →
• Walking on a glacier is dangerous because of hidden cracks called crevasses. tree →
• Our teacher showed photos of the same glacier fifty years apart. tree →
• They had only one more glacier to climb. tree →

Note

Countable: «a glacier», «two glaciers». Pronounced GLAY-see-er (UK also GLASS-ee-er). Adjective: «glacial» (also means very cold or very slow). Not the same as an iceberg (a piece floating in the sea) or an ice sheet (covering a whole land area, like Antarctica).