So what is a glacier?

a slow moving
river of ice.
Glaciers scrape and shape the land they flow,
giving special landforms.
How glaciers form
• Snowflakes collect or accumulate in a hollow in the
mountainside.
• With more snowfalls, the weight compresses the
snow
together into solid ice of a much greater density.
• The ice mass will become bigger and heavier. Then the
force of gravity causes this large ice mass to move
downhill, very slowly.
• As the glacier moves it erodes (wears away) the
landscape on either side and underneath it, altering the
landscape.
Glacial Formation Flowchart

1 2

1 5 4
The story starts high in the The snow collects, and under its own weight
crushes out all the air in it, to make a river of ice
mountains where snow called a glacier.
collects in hollows

Eventually lower down the Under the force of gravity the

mountain the glacier starts to melt. glacier moves down the mountain.
How glaciers form (in words)
• Snowflakes collect or accumulate in a hollow in the
mountainside.
• With more snowfalls, the weight compresses the
snow
together into solid ice of a much greater density.
• If the ice does not melt and snow continues to fall, the ice
mass will become bigger and heavier. Then the force of
gravity causes this large ice mass to move downhill, very
slowly.
• As the glacier moves it erodes (wears away) the
landscape on either side and underneath it, altering the
landscape.
Present Day Ice
Key Terms
⚫Glacial: a period of ice advance associated with falling
temperatures
⚫Mountain glaciers: glaciers on mountain ranges
⚫Ice sheet: a large body of ice over 50,000 sqkm in
extent
⚫Ice shelf: a sheet of ice that is attached to land, but
floats in the ocean.
⚫Ice berg: when an ice shelf breaks off
⚫Glacier: a finger / river of ice usually extending
downhill from an ice cap occupying a valley
What evidence can be seen in this picture that erosion has
taken place?
Can we see evidence of more than one type of erosion?
Glaciers scrape and shape the land they flow,
giving special landforms.
What 3 jobs do glaciers do?
Erode
Transpor
t
Deposit
Reca
p
What is erosion?

Wearing away of rocks, stones and

soil by glaciers.
Key Terms
video

Erosion = the wearing away of the

land

Weathering = when rock/ice is exposed to weather conditions

which cause it to change
 Freeze-Thaw
Weathering

Plucking and
Abrasion

Listen to the explanations of these processes so you

can fill in your worksheet
Freeze thaw weathering

The water then This expansion

Water fills
freezes and causes the
cracks in the
expands rock/ice to
rock and ice
break apart
Plucking is the
tearing away of
blocks of rocks as
a glacier moves

Rocks are frozen to the

base of the glacier –
these scrape the
ground underneath
Plucking
The ice freezes around rocks and stones under the glacier and
tugs or plucks them out.
Features of Erosion
This is how the mountain looks after glaciation. It is much more
angular in appearance
Features of Erosion

Where two of corries meet back to Where three or more corries

Glacial erosion carves our large
hollows like these high up in the
mountains. These are called
corries.
meet back to back they leave a
back they leave narrow jagged
ridges known as aretes. pointed top on the mountain
called a pyramidal peak

What does it look like

when the glaciers melt
away?
Valley Glaciers carve out large U
shaped valleys known as glacial
troughs.
Reca
p
What is a glacial till?

The load a glacier drops – a

mixture of rocks, stones,
sand and clay.
 Features of Erosion

Reca
p Corrie
What landforms are created by erosion?

Arête
Pyra
midal
peak
 Features of Erosion
Name and
describe this
feature.
Features of Erosion

A2. Name and describe

this feature.

V-SHAPED VALLEY (✔)

Narrow valley floor(✔)

Very Steep sides(✔)

Features of Erosion
Name and describe this feature.
Q3.
Features of Erosion
U -S H A P E D VA L L E Y (✔)
Q3. (✔)
(✔)
Features of Erosion
 Before Glaciation – V shaped
valleys, rounded hills

During Glaciation – Glacial

processes begin to change the
shape of the landscape

After Glaciation – U shaped

valleys, steep sided mountains.
video

Features of Erosion
Features of Erosion
Features of Erosion
Features of Erosion
Features of Deposition
 Features of Deposition
Moraine
Moraine: A type of landform that is created
when a glacier deposits the material (till) that it
has been transporting.
Three main types of moraine are:
1. Terminal
2. Lateral
3. Ground
 Features of Deposition
Moraines
a large mass of rocks and dirt that is carried along with a
glacier and is left behind when the glacier melts.
 Features of Deposition
Terminal Moraine

The material dropped at the front of a

melting glacier. Forms a ridge.
Lateral Moraine Features of Deposition

Materials a glacier drops along the sides of

its route.
 Features of Deposition
Ground Moraine

Material the glacier drops all over the ground when

it melts.
 Features of Deposition

Drumlins
⚫ Are another sign that an area has
been glaciated.

⚫ Usually the low hills and shaped like

the back of a spoon.

⚫ In the midst to know how they are

formed.

⚫ But experts agree that the smooth

shape is due to a glacier flowing
over deposited material.
 Features of Deposition
Did you know a group

Drumlins of Drumlins is called

a SWARM!

⚫Formed of till.
⚫Elongated features that can reach a kilometre or more in length, 500m
or so in width and over 50m in height.
 Features of Deposition

Erratics
⚫Boulder that is different to
the bedrock upon which it
is sitting.
⚫Transported and deposited
by a glacier.
⚫Therefore, indicators of
patterns of former ice flow.
Features of Deposition
Features of Deposition