Glacial Landforms Vocab
glacier - An accumulation of ice large enough to flow under the force of its own weight.
cirque - A steep-walled bowl at the top of a valley cut by a valley glacier.
striation - Glacial striations result from glaciers dragging rocks across bedrock, cutting grooves
in the bedrock.
horn - A prominent topographic high left where 3 or more cirques meet. The Matterhorn is a
prime example.
arete - A knife edge topographic high left where 2 cirques meet.
fiord - A valley carved by a glacier that is now flooded by the sea. Norway is the archetypal
place to find fjords. British Columbia and Alaska are closer to home. Sometimes spelled Fjord or
Fiord.
glacial till - Material deposited directly by a glacier.
moraine - A landform of material deposited by a glacier. Moraines are made from glacial till.
Important types of moraines include lateral, medial, terminal, and ground moraines.
esker - A sinuous hill that is left behind after a glacier melts where a river was flowing on or in
the glacier. The sediments on the bottom of the river are deposited leaving a sinuous hill.
glacial outwash - Material washed out of the terminal moraine by water melting from the
glacier.
erratic - a large boulder carried far from its source by a glacier.
kettle - A topographic depression caused by melting of a large chunk of ice that was broken off
a glacier and buried in outwash. The ice chunk melts, leaving a hole known as a kettle.