drift, deposit of mixed clay, gravel, sand, and boulders transported and laid down by glaciers. Stratified, or glaciofluvial, drift is carried by waters flowing from the melting ice of a glacier. The flowing water sorts the particles, generally depositing layers of coarser particles nearer the point of origin. Till, or boulder clay, which makes up the greater part of the drift, is unstratified, consisting of disorganized heaps of rocks that range widely in size. Till is deposited directly by the glacier itself without water transport. The drift may take the form of a drumlin drumlin (drŭm`lĭn), smooth oval hill of glacial drift , elongated in the direction of the movement of the ice that deposited it.
..... Click the link for more information. , a kame kame (kām), low, steep, rounded hill or ridge of layered sand and gravel drift, developed from glacial deposits.
..... Click the link for more information. , an esker esker, long, narrow, winding ridge of stratified sand-and-gravel drift . Eskers, many miles long and resembling abandoned railway embankments, occur in Scandinavia, Ireland, Scotland, and New England; they arose from deposition of sediment in the beds of streams
..... Click the link for more information. , a moraine moraine (mərān`), a formation composed of unsorted and unbedded rock and soil debris called till, which was deposited by a glacier .
..... Click the link for more information. , or an outwash plain; its thickness varies noticeably from place to place and is not dependent upon topographical factors. Presence of drift proved useful in establishing the existence of time periods when large parts of the surface of continents were covered with glaciers (see glacial periods glacial periods, times during which large portions of the earth's surface were covered with thick glacial ice sheets. In the Pleistocene epoch , in the Carboniferous and Permian periods of the Paleozoic era era, and in Huronian time of the Precambrian era , the earth
..... Click the link for more information. ). Large sections of continental Europe and North America are covered by drift.

drift

Change in frequency or time synchronization of a signal that occurs slowly.

drift

1. the extent to which a vessel, aircraft, projectile, etc. is driven off its course by adverse winds, tide, or current

2. a general tendency of surface ocean water to flow in the direction of the prevailing winds

3. a controlled four-wheel skid, used by racing drivers to take bends at high speed

4. Geography a loose unstratified deposit of sand, gravel, etc., esp one transported and deposited by a glacier or ice sheet

5. a tapering steel tool driven into holes to enlarge or align them before bolting or riveting

6. an uncontrolled slow change in some operating characteristic of a piece of equipment, esp an electronic circuit or component

7. South African a ford

8. Engineering a copper or brass bar used as a punch

drift (redirected from drifting)

drift

drift
(redirected from drifting)