Physical Landscapes - Glaciated Uplands

Question 1

State some natural processes that can cause physical landscapes.

Answer 1

• weathering
• erosion
• decomposition

Question 2

Explain the process of freeze-thaw

Answer 2

Water enters joints, cracks and hollows in rocks. When the temperature reaches freezing point the water inside the cracks freezes, expands and causes the cracks to widen. When the temperature rises, the water thaws and contracts. This eventually causes rocks to break up.

Question 3

What is abrasion?

Answer 3

Abrasion has a sand-papering effect as the ice moves across the land. It produces smoothed surfaces.

Question 4

Explain the process of plucking

Answer 4

Pieces of rock are torn away from the land. This happens because there is a thin film of melt-water between the glacier and the ground over which it flows. This film of water freezes and, as the glacier moves, fragments of rock are ripped or plucked from the ground. Plucking causes jagged features.

Question 5

Explain what a Corrie is.

Answer 5

Corries are steep-sided hollows in the sides of mountains where snow accumulated and gradually compacted into ice.

Question 6

Explain the process of Corrie formation.

Answer 6

• snow gathers in mountain hollows and is then compacted into ice.
• the rotational movement of the ice dude to gravity causes erosion on the floor and sides of the hollow.
• the erosion on the floor is caused by abrasion (sandpapering) and becomes concave in shape with the edge taking on a ridge-shaped appearance.
• the sides of the Corrie are eroded by plucking, where pieces of rock are torn away due to a film layer of meltwater freezing and pulls rocks when the glacier moves.
• the back wall of the depression becomes very steep
• freeze- thaw causes fragments of rock to break off bits, sharpening the back wall.
• freeze-thaw is when water enters cracks in rocks and when it freezes it expands causing the cracks to widen. This continued action causes rocks to break up.
• sometimes melting ice fills the Corrie to form a corrie-loch or tarn.

Question 7

Explain the process of the formation of an arête.

Answer 7

• corries often develop on adjacent sides of a mountain
• when they are fully formed the corries are separated by a knife-shaped ridge termed as an arête.
• the arête is then further sharpened by frost action

Question 8

Explain the formation of pyramidal peaks.

Answer 8

• if corries develop on all sides of a mountain, the arêtes form a jagged peak at the top
• this peak is called a pyramidal peak and is further sharpened by frost action.

Question 9

Explain the formation of a U-shaped valley.

Answer 9

• as a glacier moved downhill through a valley, the shape of the valley is transformed
• plucking and abrasion widen, steepen and smooth v-shaped valleys into u-shaped valleys
• the interlocking spurs are cut off by the ice creating transacted spurs

Question 10

Explain the formation of truncated spur.

Answer 10

• a spur is the bottom part of a slope which juts out into the main valley
• as the ice cuts through the original valley, the original spurs are removed by the ice
• the feature that remains once the ice melts is called a truncated spur.