Landforms of British Columbia 1976 - Department of Geography

Floodplain-the portion of a river valley, adjacent to the river channel, which is
covered bv water when the river overflows its bank at flood sta,w. See Plate
VIB. -
Fluting-smooth gutter-like channels or deep smooth furrows worn in the surface
of ground moraine or rock by glacial action. See Plate XXV.
Fluvioglacial-pertaining to streams flowing from glaciers or to the deposits made
by such streams. See Plate VIII%
Fold-a bend or flexure in layered rock.
Foliation-laminar or layered structure in metamorphic rocks.
Foothill-a hill at the foot of a mountain or of higher hills. Usually used in the
plural.
Formation-a sedimentary formation is a lithologically distinctive product of con-
tinuous sedimentation. It is part of a succession of strata that is a convenient
unit for the purposes of mapping, description, and reference-one or more
formations may be deposited during the time interval represented by one of
the periods on the geologic time scale on page 126.
Geomorphology-the study of the description, classification, correlation, and origin
of landforms.
Geosyncline--a great downward flexure of the earth’s crust-the site of deposition
of sedimentary and perhaps volcanic rocks over a long period of time.
Glacial lake-lake lying against or on a glacier. See Plate XLIA.
Glacier-a field or body of ice formed in a region where snowfall exceeds melting.
It shows evidence of past or present flow. See Plate 1.
Gneiss--a coarse-grained, banded, metamorphic rock.
Goethe place left on a sea coast through the removal by wave action of a block
of rock originally bounded by more or less vertical joint planes.
Graben-a block, generally much longer than wide, that has been downthrown along
faults relatively to the rocks on either side.
Ground moraine--a moraine with low relief and no distinctive structure.
Group-a subdivision of sedimentary rocks, based on lithologic features and corn-
priSing two or more formations; also an assemblage of mountain peaks without
the linear arrangement of a range.
Hanging valley-a tributary valley whose floor is higher than the floor of the trunk
valley which it joins. See Plate XLIIA.
Highland-elevated or mountainous land; more particularly, an elevated region
whose upland surface is not completely dissected. See Plate XXVIIIA.
Icefield-a general designation for ice-caps, highland glaciers, or other extensive
and irregular areas of glacier ice. See Plate XLIA.
Incise-to cut down into, as a river cuts into a plateau. See Plate XXXIXB.
Inlier-an area of older rocks surrounded by younger (may be produced by erosion
of the crest of an anticline).
Intrusion--a body of igneous rock that invades older rock.
Isostatic-being in hydrostatic equilibrium.
Join-a fracture or parting which interrupts abruptly the physical continuity of
a rock.
Landform-includes all the features, such as plain, plateau, and mountain as well
as hill, valley, canyon, and alluvial fan, that make up the surface of the earth.
Most of these features are the products of erosion, but the term includes also
all forms that are due to sedimentation and to movements within the crust of
the earth.
Lineament-an alignment of topographic features along some geologic structure.
.%x Plates XLVIII and XXIA.
128