LESSON 25: GLACIATION
Glaciation is the process or the state of being covered by glacier and the action of these glaciers on the landscape.
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TYPES OF GLACIERS
- Valley (alpine) glacier: these are long and narrow glaciers which are formed on mountainous and flow down slopes through Mt river valleys. They only cover small areas.
- Continental glacier: they occur over large scales found in Polar Regions
Glaciers erode in three main ways.
- Plucking: it is the process by which slowly moving glacier pulls away rock fragments from the sides’ flours of the rock in which they were frozen.
- Sapping: it is the breakup of rocks by alternate freezing and thawing of water in cracks.
- Abrasion: it is the process by which rock fragments in the moving ice scrub and scratches the floor and the valley sides as it moves down the slope.
Erosional features:
- Cirque
- Arête
- Pyramidal peak
- Hanging valleys
- Horning valleys
- U-shaped valley.
Depositional features
- Moraines
- Boulder clay plain
- Kames
- Eskers
- Erratic
