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Physical Process

Roche Moutonnee Formation

Glacial and Periglacial Processes

Roche moutonnee formation is the process by which an overriding glacier shapes an outcrop of resistant bedrock into an asymmetric mound: the up-glacier side is smoothed and gently sloped by abrasion as ice and embedded debris scrape across it, while the down-glacier side is left steep and jagged where glacial plucking pulls blocks of rock away along joints and fractures loosened by pressure release. The resulting asymmetry lets a geologist read the direction of past ice flow directly off the landform long after the glacier is gone. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Timescale
Timescale (category)
Years 1
Timescale (category)
Thousands of Years 1
Process Type
Glacial 1
Timescale
Thousands to tens of thousands of years of sustained ice cover. 1
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Source Roche Moutonnee Formation (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Roche Moutonnee Formation (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationView the Source
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