Landforms Of Glacial Erosion: Cirques Flashcards
What is a cirque?
It’s a basin-shaped hollow in a mountain. It has 3 steep sides and often contains a lake. It was the birthplace of a glacier.
How is a cirque formed?
When snow accumulates in a hollow high up on a mountain. The snow is compressed to form ice.
What does plucking do to form them?
The ice plucks rocks from the sides of the mountain as it begins to move.
What does abrasion do to form them?
These rocks make the hollow deeper through the process of it.
What causes the ice to move downhill?
the ice eventually overflows from the hollow and gravity moves it.
What is a tarn?
The ice that’s left behind melts and forms a lake in the hollow.
What is an example of a cirque?
Coumshingaun in the Comeragh Mountains in Co. Waterford
What is an example of a cirque that has a lake?
Devil’s Punchbowlnear Killarney in Co. Kery
