Glacial Landforms

Question 1

Corrie

Answer 1

Bowl-shaped hollow with a steep back side and a mountain lip.

Deepened by basal sliding, abrasion and plucking.

Question 2

Arête

Answer 2

A steep sides ridge formed when 2 glaciers flow in parallel valleys.

The glaciers erode the sides of the valley, sharpening the mountain ridge in between them.

Question 3

Pyramidal Peak

Answer 3

A pointed mountain peak with at least 3 sides.

Forms where 3+ carries form back to back.

Question 4

Glacial Trough

Answer 4

(Also called U-shaped valleys)

Steep-sided valleys with flat bottoms formed by the erosion of V-shaped valleys by glaciers which makes them deeper & wider.

Question 5

Hanging Valleys

Answer 5

Valleys formed by tributary glaciers which erode the valley floor less deeply than the main glacier so when the glaciers melt, the valley is left at a higher level than the glacial trough formed by the main glacier.

Waterfalls may fall over hanging valleys.

Question 6

Truncated Spurs

Answer 6

Formed when ridges of land that stick out into the main valley are chopped off as the glacier moves past.

Question 7

Valley Steps

Answer 7

Steps in the glacial trough formed when the glacier erodes the valley floor more deeply.

This happens when another glacier joins it or where there is less resistant rock.

Question 8

Tarns

Answer 8

Lakes that form in corries after a glacier has retreated.

Question 9

Fjords

Answer 9

Long, deep inlets that form when a valley that has been eroded by a glacier is flooded by sea level rise after the ice has melted.

Question 10

Roche Moutonée

Answer 10

A resistant mass of rock on the valley floor.

The upstream (stoss) side is smooth due to abrasion and the downstream (lee) side is steep and rough due to plucking.

3m tall and 8m wide.

Question 11

Moraines

Answer 11

The name for different formations of till.

Lateral- deposited where sides of glacier were
Medial- deposited in the centre of the valley where 2 glaciers converge
Terminal- builds up at the end of a glacier and is deposited as semicircular hillocks of till

Question 12

Drumlins

Answer 12

Half egg-shapes hills of till (possibly because an original mound of deposited till got streamlined as the glacier readvanced over it)

The upstream (stoss) end is wide & tall and the downstream (lee) end is narrow & low.

100m high and 1.5km wide.

e.g. Ribble Valley - Lancashire

Question 13

Erratics

Answer 13

Rocks that have been picked up by a glacier/ice sheet and deposited in an area of completely different geology.

e.g. in Eastern England from Norway