The wearing away of bedrock and sediment by moving glacial ice, working through plucking, in which ice freezes onto joint-bounded blocks of rock and tears them free, and abrasion, in which rock fragments embedded in the ice's base grind and scratch the surface beneath. It is the dominant force carving U-shaped valleys, cirques and fjords in glaciated mountain landscapes.
Facts
Process Type Timescaleapproximately 100,000 years to form a U-shaped valley, mountain ranges erode over millions of years 1 Timescale
Timescale (category) Timescale (category) Connections
Caused By
Causes
Source Arete Formation (Wikipedia)
Source Cirque Formation (Wikipedia)
Source Roche Moutonnee Formation (Wikipedia)
Shaped
Source Cirque Formation (Wikipedia)
Source Hudson River (Wikipedia)
Source Kenai Fjords National Park (Wikipedia)
Source Loch Ness (Wikipedia)
Source Glacial Horn Formation (Wikipedia)
Source Roche Moutonnee Formation (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Glacial erosion - Wikipedia
Glaciers section, processes sentence
Glaciers erode predominantly by three different processes: abrasion/scouring, plucking, and ice thrusting.
Glaciers section, timescale paragraph
Scientists also provide a numerical estimate of the time required for the ultimate formation of a steady-shaped U-shaped valley, approximately 100,000 years. Mountain ranges take millions of years to erode to the degree they effectively cease to exist.
View the SourceCirque Formation (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation- Causes: Cirque Formation
Shaped: Cirque, Lead paragraph
A cirque (French: [siʁk]; from the Latin word circus) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion.
View the Source Arete Formation (Wikipedia)
Roche Moutonnee Formation (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation- Causes: Roche Moutonnee Formation
Shaped: Roche Moutonnee, Lead paragraph
In glaciology, a roche moutonnée (or sheepback) is a rock formation created by the passing of a glacier.
View the Source Glacial Plucking (Wikipedia)
Glacial Horn Formation (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Pyramidal Peak, Lead paragraphQuote, Shaped: Pyramidal Peak, Lead paragraph
A pyramidal peak, sometimes called a glacial horn in extreme cases, is an angular, sharply pointed mountain peak which results from cirque erosion caused by multiple glaciers diverging from a central point.
Fjord - Wikipedia
Shaped: Fjord, Lead paragraphQuote, Shaped: Fjord, Lead paragraph
In physical geography, a fjord ( FYORD, fee-ORD; also spelled fiord, a variant most common in New Zealand English) is a long, relatively narrow sea inlet with steep sides or cliffs in a valley created by a former glacier, which has since become inundated with water.
Hudson River (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Hudson River, Lead paragraphQuote, Shaped: Hudson River, Lead paragraph
The lower half of the river is a tidal estuary, deeper than the body of water into which it flows, occupying the Hudson Fjord, an inlet that was carved out by North American glaciers.
Loch Ness (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Loch Ness, Lead paragraphQuote, Shaped: Loch Ness, Lead paragraph
Loch Ness lies along the Great Glen Fault, which forms a line of weakness in the rocks which has been excavated by glacial erosion, forming the Great Glen and the basins of Loch Lochy, Loch Oich and Loch Ness.
Kenai Fjords National Park (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Kenai Fjords, Lead paragraphQuote, Shaped: Kenai Fjords, Lead paragraph
The park contains the Harding Icefield, one of the largest ice fields in the United States, and is named for the numerous fjords carved by glaciers moving down the mountains from the ice field.
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