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Physical Process

Glaciation

Glacial and Periglacial Processes

Glaciation is the shaping of landscapes by moving ice, through two distinct erosional mechanisms: abrasion, in which rock and debris embedded in a glacier's base grind the bedrock beneath it, and plucking, in which the ice pulls loose entire blocks of fractured rock. As glaciers advance and retreat they carve distinctive landforms, and the sediment they carry is deposited as moraines when the ice melts.

Facts
Process Type
Glacial 1
Timescale
Glacial advance and retreat play out over centuries to millennia; the ice itself typically flows at a rate of centimeters to a few meters per day. 1
First Proposed Year
1837 2
Louis Agassiz proposed that the Earth had undergone a past ice age, presenting the theory (developed with Karl Schimper) to the Swiss Society for Natural Research at Neuchatel on 24 July 1837.
Scientific Consensus Year
1875 3
The ice age theory was fully accepted by scientists on an international scale during the second half of the 1870s, following the work of James Croll; 1875 is recorded here as a representative midpoint of that span, not a single defining event.
Timescale
Timescale (category)
Days 1
Timescale (category)
Centuries 1
Timescale (category)
Millennia 1
Glaciation
Filter Results2 entries
Connections

Associated With

Causes

Source Isostasy (Wikipedia)

Demonstrated By

An active ice sheet presently carrying out glacial erosion and deposition at continental scale.

Source U.S. National Park Service

Long-Form Articles

Shaped

Source Baltic Sea (Wikipedia)
Cape Cod, Landforms
Source Cape Cod (Wikipedia)
Source Columbia River - Wikipedia
Drumlin, Landforms
Source Drumlin - Wikipedia
Source Ellsworth Land (Wikipedia)
Fell, Landforms
Source Fell (Wikipedia)

Ice sheets form through a process of glaciation.

Source Greenland Ice Sheet (Wikipedia)
Source Holarctic realm (Wikipedia)
Source Hudson Bay - Wikipedia
Ice Cap, Landforms
Source Ice cap (Wikipedia)
Kettle Lake, Landforms
Source Kettle (landform) - Wikipedia
Source Lake Como (Wikipedia)
Source Lake Constance (Wikipedia)
Source Lake Erie (Wikipedia)
Source Lake Garda (Wikipedia)
Source Lake General Carrera (Wikipedia)
Source Lake Huron (Wikipedia)
Source Lake Lucerne (Wikipedia)
Source Lake Maggiore (Wikipedia)
Source Lake Peipus (Wikipedia)
Source Lake Tahoe (Wikipedia)
Source Limestone pavement (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia, Milford Sound
Source Mississippi River (Wikipedia)
Mont Blanc, Landforms
Source Mont Blanc (Wikipedia)
Source Niagara Falls - Wikipedia
Source North Sea (Wikipedia)
Source Norwegian Sea - Wikipedia
Source Ohio River (Wikipedia)
Plateau, Landforms
Source Plateau (Wikipedia)
Source Queen Maud Land (Wikipedia)
Source Rhine Falls (Wikipedia)
Source Ross Dependency (Wikipedia)
Source Ross Sea (Wikipedia)
Scandinavia, Regions
Source Scandinavia (Wikipedia)
Source South Shetland Islands (Wikipedia)
Svalbard, Regions
Source CIA World Factbook (factbook.json archive): CIA World Factbook archive: Svalbard
The Alps, Landforms
Source U-Shaped Valleys, Fjords, and Hanging Valleys (U.S. National Park Service)
The Antarctic, Regions
Source Antarctica (Wikipedia)
Source British Isles (Wikipedia)
Source The Formation of the Great Lakes (Wisconsin Sea Grant)
Source Mississippi River (Wikipedia)
Source Tierra del Fuego (Wikipedia)
Source Valdivian temperate forests (Wikipedia)
Valley, Landforms
Source Hanging Valley Formation (Wikipedia)
Source Yosemite Valley (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. U.S. National Park Service
U.S. National Park Service
  • Lead section
    Reed Glaciers can sculpt and carve landscapes by eroding the land beneath them and by depositing rocks and sediment.
  • Demonstrated By: The Antarctic Ice Sheet
View the Source
2. Louis Agassiz (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIce age section
Quote, Ice age section
In 1837, Agassiz proposed that the Earth had been subjected to a past ice age.
View the Source
3. Ice Age (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHistory of research section
Quote, History of research section
This happened on an international scale in the second half of the 1870s, following the work of James Croll
View the Source
The Formation of the Great Lakes (Wisconsin Sea Grant)
Wisconsin Sea Grant, University of Wisconsin-MadisonShaped: The Great Lakes, How They Were Made
Quote, Shaped: The Great Lakes, How They Were Made
Thousands of years ago, the melting mile-thick glaciers of the Wisconsin Ice Age left the North American continent a magnificent gift: five fantastic freshwater seas collectively known today as the Great Lakes.
View the Source
U-Shaped Valleys, Fjords, and Hanging Valleys (U.S. National Park Service)
U.S. National Park ServiceShaped: The Alps, U-Shaped Valleys section
Quote, Shaped: The Alps, U-Shaped Valleys section
Valley glaciers carve U-shaped valleys, as opposed to the V-shaped valleys carved by rivers.
View the Source
Isostasy (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationCauses: Isostasy, Post-glacial rebound section, timescale
Quote, Causes: Isostasy, Post-glacial rebound section, timescale
isostatic post-glacial rebound is observed in areas once covered by ice sheets that have now melted, such as around the Baltic Sea and Hudson Bay.
View the Source
Greenland Ice Sheet (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Greenland Ice Sheet, Lead section
Quote, Shaped: Greenland Ice Sheet, Lead section
Ice sheets form through a process of glaciation, when the local climate is sufficiently cold that snow is able to accumulate from year to year.
View the Source
Tierra del Fuego (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Tierra del Fuego, Geology section, first sentence
Quote, Shaped: Tierra del Fuego, Geology section, first sentence
The geology of the archipelago is influenced by the effects of the Andean orogeny and the repeated Pleistocene glaciations.
View the Source
Lake Erie (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Lake Erie, Lead and sections
Quote, Shaped: Lake Erie, Lead and sections
Lake Erie was carved out by glacier ice and went through many phases before its current form which is less than 4,000 years old, which is a short span in geological terms.
View the Source
Lake Constance (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Lake Constance, Lead and sections
Quote, Shaped: Lake Constance, Lead and sections
Lake Constance was formed by the Rhine Glacier during the Quaternary glaciation ice age and is a Zungenbecken or Tongue lake.
View the Source
Lake Lucerne (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Lake Lucerne, Lead and sections
Quote, Shaped: Lake Lucerne, Lead and sections
Lake Lucerne was formed at the end of the last ice age, from the meltwater of the Reuss Glacier.
View the Source
Norwegian Sea - Wikipedia
Shaped: Norwegian Sea, Lead and sections
Quote, Shaped: Norwegian Sea, Lead and sections
The coasts of the Norwegian Sea were shaped during the last ice age.
View the Source
Ross Sea (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Ross Sea, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: Ross Sea, Formation statement for target 23655
This over-deepened condition is due to cycles of erosion and deposition of sediments from expanding and contracting ice sheets overriding the shelf during Oligocene and later time, and is also found on other locations around Antarctica.
View the Source
Hudson Bay - Wikipedia
Shaped: Hudson Bay, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: Hudson Bay, Formation statement for target 23655
Much of the landform has been shaped by the actions of glaciers and the shrinkage of the bay over long periods of time.
View the Source
Lake Huron (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Lake Huron, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: Lake Huron, Formation statement for target 23655
Like the other Great Lakes, it was formed by melting ice as the continental glaciers retreated toward the end of the last ice age.
View the Source
Columbia River - Wikipedia
Shaped: Columbia River, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: Columbia River, Formation statement for target 23655
The trench is a broad, deep, and long glacial valley between the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Mountains in BC.
View the Source
Lake Peipus (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Lake Peipus, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: Lake Peipus, Formation statement for target 23655
Its modern relief was formed as a result of glacier activities, the last of which, the Weichselian glaciation, ended about 12,000 years ago.
View the Source
Lake Maggiore (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Lake Maggiore, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: Lake Maggiore, Formation statement for target 23655
The lake basin has tectonic-glacial origins and its volume is 37 cubic kilometres (9 cu mi).
View the Source
Rhine Falls (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Rhine Falls, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: Rhine Falls, Formation statement for target 23655
During the Würm glaciation, the Rhine was pushed far to the south to its present course, over a hard Late Jurassic limestone bed.
View the Source
Scandinavia (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Scandinavia, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: Scandinavia, Formation statement for target 23655
Finland and Sweden have many lakes and moraines, legacies of the ice age, which ended about ten millennia ago.
View the Source
Antarctica (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: The Antarctic, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: The Antarctic, Formation statement for target 23655
Most of Antarctica is covered by the Antarctic ice sheet, with an average thickness of 1.9 km (1.2 mi).
View the Source
South Shetland Islands (Wikipedia)
Shaped: South Shetland Islands, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: South Shetland Islands, Formation statement for target 23655
Between 80 and 90% of the land area is permanently glaciated.
View the Source
Fell (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Fell, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: Fell, Formation statement for target 23655
While not always covered in glaciers, high fell is characterized by such, and glaciers have a major impact on how the shape of the high mountains changes over time.
View the Source
Valdivian temperate forests (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Valdivian Temperate Rainforest, Formation statement for target 23655
Quote, Shaped: Valdivian Temperate Rainforest, Formation statement for target 23655
Much of the ecoregion was once covered by the Patagonian Ice Sheet and other glaciers during the peak of the last ice age, with ice descending from the Andes Mountains; numerous bodies of water within the Chilean Lake District (in the central part of the ecoregion) are the remnants of ancient glacial valleys.
View the Source
Ice cap (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Ice Cap, Formation section
Quote, Shaped: Ice Cap, Formation section
Ice caps are formed when snow is deposited during the cold season and fails to completely melt during the hot season.
View the Source
Ohio River (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Ohio River, Upper Ohio River
Quote, Shaped: Ohio River, Upper Ohio River
The upper Ohio River formed when one of the glacial lakes overflowed into a south-flowing tributary of the Teays River.
View the Source
Lake Como (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Lake Como, Lead paragraph
Quote, Shaped: Lake Como, Lead paragraph
Lake Como, also known as Lario, is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy.
View the Source
Lake General Carrera (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Lake General Carrera, Lead paragraph
Quote, Shaped: Lake General Carrera, Lead paragraph
The lake is of glacial origin and is surrounded by the Andes mountain range.
View the Source
Holarctic realm (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Holarctic realm, Lead paragraph
Quote, Shaped: Holarctic realm, Lead paragraph
This continuity is the result of those regions' shared glacial history.
View the Source
Drumlin - Wikipedia
Shaped: Drumlin, Lead
Quote, Shaped: Drumlin, Lead
A drumlin is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated till or ground moraine.
View the Source
Kettle (landform) - Wikipedia
Shaped: Kettle Lake, Lead
Quote, Shaped: Kettle Lake, Lead
A kettle (also known as a kettle hole, kettlehole, pothole, or, in parts of the United Kingdom, pingo) is a depression or hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters.
View the Source
Hanging Valley Formation (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Valley, Lead
Quote, Shaped: Valley, Lead
Some valleys are formed through erosion by glacial ice.
View the Source
Plateau (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Plateau, Lead
Quote, Shaped: Plateau, Lead
Plateaus can be formed by a number of processes, including upwelling of volcanic magma, extrusion of lava, and erosion by water and glaciers.
View the Source
Yosemite Valley (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Yosemite Valley, Lead
Quote, Shaped: Yosemite Valley, Lead
Yosemite Valley ( yoh-SEM-ə-tee; Yosemite, Miwok for "killer") is a glacial valley in Yosemite National Park in the western Sierra Nevada mountains of Central California, United States.
View the Source
Niagara Falls - Wikipedia
Shaped: Niagara Falls, Lead
Quote, Shaped: Niagara Falls, Lead
Niagara Falls was formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age), and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path over and through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean.
View the Source
Lake Garda (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Lake Garda, Lead
Quote, Shaped: Lake Garda, Lead
Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last ice age.
View the Source
Lake Tahoe (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Lake Tahoe, Lead
Quote, Shaped: Lake Tahoe, Lead
The lake was formed about two million years ago as part of the Lake Tahoe Basin, and its present extent was shaped during the ice ages.
View the Source
Cape Cod (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Cape Cod, Article text
Quote, Shaped: Cape Cod, Article text
The bulk of the land on Cape Cod consists of glacial landforms, formed by terminal moraine and outwash plains.
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North Sea (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: North Sea, Article text
Quote, Shaped: North Sea, Article text
The eastern and western coasts of the North Sea are jagged, formed by glaciers during the ice ages.
View the Source
Mississippi River (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Shaped: The Mississippi, Article text
    The current form of the Mississippi River basin was largely shaped by the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the most recent Ice Age.
  • Shaped: Mississippi River Basin, Article text
    The current form of the Mississippi River basin was largely shaped by the Laurentide Ice Sheet of the most recent Ice Age.
View the Source
Wikipedia, Milford Sound
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Milford Sound, Article text
Quote, Shaped: Milford Sound, Article text
As a fiord, Milford Sound was formed by glaciation over millions of years.
View the Source
British Isles (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: The British Isles, Article text
Quote, Shaped: The British Isles, Article text
The islands have been shaped by numerous glaciations during the Quaternary Period, the most recent being the Devensian.
View the Source
Baltic Sea (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Baltic Sea, Article text
Quote, Shaped: Baltic Sea, Article text
The Baltic Sea is one of the largest brackish inland seas by area, and occupies a basin (a Zungenbecken) formed by glacial erosion during the last few ice ages.
View the Source
Limestone pavement (Wikipedia)
Shaped: Limestone Pavement, Article text
Quote, Shaped: Limestone Pavement, Article text
Conditions for limestone pavements are created when an advancing glacier scrapes away overburden and exposes horizontally bedded limestone, with subsequent glacial retreat leaving behind a flat, bare surface.
View the Source
Mont Blanc (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationShaped: Mont Blanc, Lead and geology text
Quote, Shaped: Mont Blanc, Lead and geology text
Finally, past and current glaciation caused significant sculpting of the landscape into its present-day form.
View the Source
CIA World Factbook (factbook.json archive): CIA World Factbook archive: Svalbard
CIA World Factbook (factbook.json archive)Shaped: Svalbard, Geography: Geography - note
Quote, Shaped: Svalbard, Geography: Geography - note
glaciers and snowfields cover 60% of the total area
View the Source
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