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Describe the landscape features that are produced by glacial erosion

User Stu Pegg
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Glacial erosion is the process by which glaciers move and carve the land beneath them, resulting in a variety of distinct landscape features. Some of the landscape features produced by glacial erosion are:

  • U-shaped valleys: Glaciers erode valleys into a characteristic U-shape by gouging and plucking rocks and sediment from the valley floor and sides.

  • Cirques: A cirque is a steep-walled, bowl-shaped depression at the head of a valley, formed by glacial erosion. The ice carves the walls and floor of the cirque, and it often contains a small glacier or a glacial lake.

  • Fjords: Fjords are long, narrow inlets of the sea between steep cliffs. They are created by the slow movement of glaciers carving out valleys, which later fill with seawater.

  • Roche moutonnée: Roche moutonnée is a rock formation created by glacial erosion that appears as a smooth and polished rock with a gentle slope on the side facing the direction from which the glacier came and a steep slope on the opposite side.

  • Striations and grooves: These are parallel scratches and grooves found on bedrock caused by the movement of glacier ice over it.

  • Erratics: Large boulders or rocks that have been transported and deposited by glaciers in areas where the rock type is different from the surrounding geology.

  • Drumlin: A drumlin is a long, teardrop-shaped hill created by the accumulation of glacial till on the lee side of an obstacle or irregularity in the bedrock.
User Solr
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