Landforms Resulting from
Fluvio Glacial Deposition
What happens when the glacier
melts?
Landforms Resulting from
Fluvio Glacial Deposition
By the end of this cycle you will be able
to describe the formation of:
Outwash plains
Eskers
Kames
Kettleholes
Landforms Resulting from
Fluvio Glacial Deposition
You will know if you have been
successful if you can:
answer a past paper question
devise a past paper question marking
guide
mark your partner’s answer
Introduction
Fluvio glacial material differs from till
in that it is sorted, stratified (layered).
Because it was transported by water
over longer distances than ice it
consists of more rounded deposits of
mainly sand and gravel.
Features of fluvio glacial deposition
Outwash plains
Eskers
Kames
Kettleholes
Outwash plains
Outwash plains are formed in the following way:
Meltwater streams rush through the terminal
moraine picking up rock pieces.
The streams then drop these pieces beyond the
terminal moraine as they slow down.
The largest pieces are dropped first, for example
gravel, followed by smaller ones, for example
sand.
These areas of sand and gravel, rounded and
sorted by meltwater, are called outwash plains.
Braided
Streams
Form on the outwash plain where channels of meltwater get
become clogged by course deposits, encouraging the stream to
braid or divide into smaller streams.
Eskers
Eskers are formed in the following ways:
A meltwater stream follows a tunnel
beneath the melting glacier.
The stream carries and deposits
moraine, filling up the tunnel.
When all of the ice melts, a long ridge
of moraine is left in the shape of the
stream’s tunnel.
These long ridges are called eskers.
Kames
Kames form in the following way:
Some ice is stagnant (doesn’t move) – normally
at the edge or detached from the main
glacier.
Sands and gravel are washed into the
crevasses of the stagnant ice.
As the ice melts the debris is deposited on
the ground.
These mounds of debris are called kames.
Kettleholes
Kettleholes form in the following way:
As the glacier retreats it may leave large
blocks of buried ice.
This ice slowly thaws over time and the
covering gravel collapses leaving a
depression.
These depressions are called kettle holes.
If the depressions are deep enough to tap
the water table a kettle hole lake forms.