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A cross-section through a glacier. The base of the glacier is more transparent as a result of melting. Glaciers may also move by basal sliding, where the base of the glacier is lubricated by the presence of liquid water, reducing basal shear stress and allowing the glacier to slide over the terrain on which it sits.
They have a characteristic U shape in cross-section, with steep, straight sides and a flat or rounded bottom (by contrast, valleys carved by rivers tend to be V-shaped in cross-section). Glaciated valleys are formed when a glacier travels across and down a slope, carving the valley by the action of scouring. [2]
Lower Curtis Glacier is a cirque glacier in the North Cascades in the U.S. state of Washington. Cirque glaciers are glaciers that appear in bowl-shaped valley hollows. [4] [12] Snow easily settles in the topographic structure; it is turned to ice as more snow falls and is subsequently compressed. [12]
Apart from the landforms left behind by glaciers, glaciers themselves are striking features of the terrain, particularly in the polar regions of Earth. Notable examples include valley glaciers where glacial flow is restricted by the valley walls, crevasses in the upper section of glacial ice, and icefalls—the ice equivalent of waterfalls.
Cross-section of cirque erosion over time Kinnerly Peak in Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. Glaciers, typically forming in drainages on the sides of a mountain, develop bowl-shaped basins called cirques (sometimes called 'corries' – from Scottish Gaelic coire [kʰəɾə] (a bowl) – or cwm s). Cirque glaciers have ...
The main glacier erodes a deep U-shaped valley with nearly vertical sides, while the tributary glacier, with a smaller volume of ice, makes a shallower U-shaped valley. Since the surfaces of the glaciers were originally at the same elevation, the shallower valley appears to be 'hanging' above the main valley. Often, waterfalls form at or near ...
Cross section of a cirque glacier showing the randkluft. A randkluft (from the German for marginal cleft/crevasse) or rimaye (from the same French IPA:) is the headwall gap between a glacier or snowfield and the adjacent rock face at the back of the cirque [1] or, more loosely, between the rock face and the side of the glacier.
The upstream portion – that section furthest into the glacier – consists of a branching system forming a network, similar to the anastomostic branching patterns of the upper reaches of a river (as contrasted with dendritic patterns). They typically exhibit the largest cross-sectional area in the center of the course and terminate over a ...