1. 4 – Glacial Erosion

2. glacier – a mass of ice and snow that moves downhill under the influence of gravity.
Salmon Glacier in British Columbia, Canada.
Kenai Fjord National Park, Alaska, USA.

3. glacier – a mass of ice and snow that moves downhill under the influence of gravity.
There are two types of Glaciers;
1 – Mountain (alpine or valley) glaciers.

4. 2 – Continental (ice sheets)

5. Glacier movement glaciers always move downhill. advancing glaciers
more snow and ice accumulate than is lost by melting.
the end of the glacier will move forward.

6. retreating glaciers
more ice and snow melt each year than accumulate.
the furthest extent of the glacier (the end) does not extend as far downslope.

7. Ice Movement
the ice within a glacier moves more slowly along the sides of the glacier (friction).
View of ice velocity from above glacier (
View of ice velocity from side of glacier (

8. Glacial Erosional Features

10. Till
Unsorted (different sizes) & unstratified (not layered) rock material deposited directly by glacial ice.

12. Moraine
a deposit of till left behind when a glacier retreats.

14. End moraine, Bylot Island, Canada

15. Lateral moraine
material that piles up along the sides of the glacier.

17. Medial moraine
a pile of material that runs down the middle of the glacier.
produced when two glaciers come together and their lateral moraines join.

19. Striations
long parallel scratches left on rocks and bedrock by glacial movement.
produced when the glacier drags rock material over the bedrock.

21. Glacial grooves, Ontario, Canada

22. U-shaped valley
glacial valley - a u-shaped valley formed by glacial erosion.

24. Hanging valley
The U-shaped valley carved out by the main glacier is deeper than the valleys carved out by the tributary glaciers.

26. Cirque
a semicircular basin found at the head of a glacial valley.

27. Cirque, Torngat Mountains, Newfoundland, Canada

28. Arete a sharp divide that separates two adjoining cirques.
“A knife-like ridge.”

30. Horn a pyramid-shaped peak formed where three or more cirques meet.
Matterhorn, in Switzerland.

33. Torngat Mountains, Newfoundland, Canada

34. GLACIAL DEPOSITIONAL FEATURES

36. Till
unsorted and unstratified rock material deposited directly by glacial ice.

37. Outwash
sediments deposited in front of a glacier by streams of meltwater.

39. End Moraine
a moraine that occurs at the ice front - rock pieces brought forward by the glacier’s motion build up as the ice melts.

40. End moraine, Bylot Island, Canada

42. Erratic
a large boulder that has been transported into an area by a glacier.

43. Perched erratic boulder, North West Territories, Canada
Perched erratic boulder, Newfoundland, Canada

45. Drumlin a long, smooth, canoe-shaped hill. usually found in groups.
shaped by an advancing glacier.

47. Drumlin field. Manitoba, Canada

48. Outwash Plain
a broad, stratified (layered), gently sloping deposit of sediment.
formed beyond the terminal (end) moraine by streams from a melting glacier.

49. Southwest Alaska 1996

50. Esker a long, winding ridge.
formed when sand and gravel fill meltwater tunnels beneath a glacier.

53. Kettle (kettle hole)
a bowl-like hollow found in deposits of glacial outwash.
formed when a large block of ice was left behind when a glacier melted.