Ice sheets are the largest ice masses found on Earth, covering huge land areas. The ice sheet in Antarctica covers 13 million sq km. It is over 4 km thick and its weight has depressed the continent below sea level in many places. If this weight were removed, the continent would slowly rise and readjust itself, as Europe still does after the melting of the ice sheet that covered that continent during the last ice age. Ice caps are smaller than ice sheets. They form when snow and ice fill a basin or cover a plateau to a considerable depth. Ice fields develop where large interconnecting valley glaciers are separated by mountain peaks and ridges that project through the ice.
- ice sheet [ais - ʃi:t] n. 冰原
- mass [mæs] n. 块
- depress [diˈpres] v. 使降低
- readjust [ˌri:əˈdʒʌst] v. 重新调整
- melting [ˈmeltiŋ] n. 融化
- ice age [ais - eidʒ] n. 冰河时期
- ice cap [ais - kæp] n. 冰冠
- basin [ˈbeisn] n. 盆地
- plateau [ˈplætəu] n. 高地
- considerable [kənˈsidərəbl] adj. 相当大的
- ice field [ais - fi:ld] n. 冰原
- interconnecting [ˈintəkəˈnekt - iŋ] adj. 互相连接的
- valley [ˈvæli] n. (山)谷
- peak [pi:k] n. 山顶
- ridge [ridʒ] n. 山脊
- project [prəˈdʒekt] v. 凸出
