Scioly.org

Does anyone have any tips for studying?
I already used a lot of websites, all the resources from Science Olympiad's website, and the wiki.
I don't have access to any Earth Science college or high school textbooks (I am in middle school).

Do Road Scholar.

EDIT: for books, you could probably find some quality free e-books on glaciers. Look up some free e-book download sites

If you need help with topography or satellite imagery, you could always find some random topographic maps online or go to Google Earth and look in places where there might be glaciers. Many times, you can find a lot of conventional examples, as well as some more intricate puzzles, which you can practice identifying and solving.

Also, read. Personally, I like reading online, since there are so many resources. Wikipedia is good, but only to a certain extent. There may be some other features not on Wikipedia but can be found elsewhere. Also, if you can understand the scholarly articles (theses, research, etc.), they would be great, but they are very detailed and focused so unless you're really into that particular aspect, try to stay more general. The more you read, the more you learn, and the more you cover, and you'll discover something new every day.

I'm not sure how much textbooks help, but if you can get one that focuses on glaciers, it would definitely be a really big help.

On the issue of textbooks, I know my partner asked his dad, who was a professor at a nearby University, to borrow all the books on glaciers within the system/chain of the colleges (whatever you call it) under his name.

So if you can get some books from a college library...or any library in general, for that matter, but I think college libraries would be ideal if you have access to one

So I came back from Yosemite a few days ago. It was really interesting to see glacially carved troughs, but what surprised me the most was that there is a roche moutonnee in the park! It's name is the Lembert Dome. I thought they were only formed by continental glaciers, and I'm pretty sure there weren't any in California during the most recent Ice Age... does anyone have an explanation for this? Can they be formed by valley glaciers too?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwolf/4916121683/

mnstrviola wrote:So I came back from Yosemite a few days ago. It was really interesting to see glacially carved troughs, but what surprised me the most was that there is a roche moutonnee in the park! It's name is the Lembert Dome. I thought they were only formed by continental glaciers, and I'm pretty sure there weren't any in California during the most recent Ice Age... does anyone have an explanation for this? Can they be formed by valley glaciers too?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwolf/4916121683/

That does seem like quite an anomaly. I did a little research, and it appears that Yosemite MAY have been covered with a small continental glacier, such as an ice cap at some point during the Pleistocene.
This link says that "glaciers covered this (Lembert Dome) during the Pleistocene" (http://epod.usra.edu/blog/2012/07/lembe ... -park.html) and this map shows a possible small continental glacier over where Yosemite is today. (http://3dparks.wr.usgs.gov/nyc/images/fig143.jpg)
But, to explain the valley glacier features, I would assume that when the ice cap melted it left behind valley glaciers in the lower lying areas to form the trough. This is similar to what happened with the New York finger lakes, which are valley glacier formations that were under the Laurentide Ice sheet.

The important thing to remember about roche moutonnees is how they form. They are formed by differing levels of pressure on opposite sides of some sort of obstacle to glacier flow, that is too big to simply be plucked. As long as the glacier is deep and wide enough, a roche moutonnee could conceivably form. Most alpine settings are unsuitable I think because steep mountainsides are poor terrain for them to form. Yosemite is an exception.

ScienceOlympian wrote: I don't have access to any Earth Science college or high school textbooks (I am in middle school).

Several times I've seen the Tarbucks and Leutgen (sp?) Earth Science college text (usually an older edition, but who cares) for $3 or so at the thrift store! That's a really good book. So, if you don't have access to a college library or even a good city library check there. Also, ask around as often your teachers and your friends' parents might have some decent textbooks on their shelves gathering dust.