Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) varve, in geology, pair of thin sedimentary layers formed annually by seasonal climatic changes. Usually found in glacial lake deposits, varves consist of a coarse-grained, light-colored summer deposi...

(Encyclopedia) Scoresby Sound, arm of the Greenland Sea, E Greenland. It has numerous fjords that branch out generally westward to the ice cap. Some of the branches extend more than 180 mi (290 km) inland. At its mo...

(Encyclopedia) erosion ĭrōˈzhən [key], general term for the processes by which the surface of the earth is constantly being worn away. The principal agents are gravity, running water, near-shore waves, ice (most...

(Encyclopedia) gymnastics, exercises for the balanced development of the body (see also aerobics), or the competitive sport derived from these exercises. Although the ancient Greeks (who invented the building called...

(Encyclopedia) Pocatello pōkətĕlˈō [key], city (1990 pop. 46,080), seat of Bannock co., SE Idaho, between mountains on the Portneuf River near its junction with the Snake (there dammed to form the American Fall...

(Encyclopedia) Isfjorden ēsˌfyôrˈdən [key] [Ice Fjord], inlet of the Greenland Sea and largest fjord of Spitsbergen island, Svalbard, Norway, 65 mi (105 km) long and from 8 to 20 mi (12.8–32 km) wide. It rece...

(Encyclopedia) Foxe Basin, a widening of the waterway between Baffin Island and the Melville Peninsula, c.340 mi (550 km) long and c.225 mi (360 km) wide, Nunavut Territory, Canada. The basin is shallow and is ice-c...

(Encyclopedia)  CE5 A professional football field. College teams use a similar field except that the inbound lines are 53 ft 4 in. (16.25 m) from the sidelines. football, any of a number of games in which two opp...

(Encyclopedia) Neer, Aert van der ärt vän dĕr nār [key], c.1603–77, Dutch landscape painter. Working mostly in Amsterdam, he excelled in painting unusual light effects, such as moonlight, sunsets, conflagratio...

(Encyclopedia) boulder, large rock fragment formed by detachment from its parent consolidated rock by weathering and erosion. In engineering and geology, especially in the United States, the term is applied to loose...