A bowl-shaped hollow with steep walls on three sides, carved into a mountainside at the head of a glacial valley by the rotational erosion of a small mountain glacier. A cirque often holds a small lake, called a tarn, once the glacier that carved it has melted away, and the erosion of cirques back-to-back is what carves sharp aretes and pyramidal peaks.
Connections
Associated With
Shaped By
Source Cirque Formation (Wikipedia)
Sources
Cirque Formation (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped By: Glacial Erosion, Lead paragraphQuote, Shaped By: Glacial Erosion, Lead paragraph
A cirque (French: [siʁk]; from the Latin word circus) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.