A vocabulary of glacial erosion
Student tasks
1. Match the definition to the correct glaciation keyword or phrase.
Key word or phrase
Definition
Arête
Scratches or gouges cut into bedrock by glacial abrasion.
Corrie
A long, narrow coastal inlet with steep sides or cliffs created by
glacial erosion and drowned by a later rise in sea level.
Fiord or fjord
A small deep lake in the floor of a cirque
Freeze-thaw weathering
An armchair shaped hollow in the mountainside. Corries are also
known as a cirques or cwms.
Hanging valley
A process also known as frost shattering.
Moraine
A form of erosion where the water freezes to rock and sections
are then pulled out as the glacier moves.
Plucking
A knife edged ridge formed by glacial erosion between two
corries.
Pyramidal peak
A smaller tributary valley entering an over deepened main valley.
Often, waterfalls form at or near the outlet of the upper valley.
Roche moutonnée
An unsorted mixture deposited directly by the glacier. Till can
also be known as boulder clay.
Striation
An area of rock with one side smoothed and polished and the
other plucked and jagged by the passage of a glacier.
Tarn
A mixture of eroded rock debris eroded, transported and
deposited by a glacier.
Till
A ‘V’ shaped river valley eroded by a valley glacier
Truncated spur
A mountain with steep slopes on at least three sides created
when three or more corries erode together
‘U’ shaped valley
A spur of a river valley which has been cut through or sliced off by
a valley glacier.
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A vocabulary of glacial erosion
2. Use the glaciation keyword or phrases to label the image below:
Mt Hood, Oregon, USA
© 2013 Don Graham
https://www.flickr.com/photos/23155134@N06/9726530938
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A vocabulary of glacial erosion
Teaching notes and answers
Students could ‘cut and stick’ to match the key word or phrase to the correct definition.
Key word or phrase
Definition
Arête
A knife edged ridge formed by glacial erosion between two
corries.
Corrie
An armchair shaped hollow in the mountainside. Corries are
also known as a cirques or cwms.
Fiord or fjord
A long, narrow coastal inlet with steep sides or cliffs created by
glacial erosion and drowned by a later rise in sea level.
Freeze-thaw weathering
A process also known as frost shattering.
Hanging valley
A smaller tributary valley entering an over deepened main
valley. Often, waterfalls form at or near the outlet of the upper
valley.
Moraine
A mixture of eroded rock debris eroded, transported and
deposited by a glacier.
Plucking
A form of erosion where the water freezes to rock and sections
are then pulled out as the glacier moves.
Pyramidal peak
A mountain with steep slopes on at least three sides created
when three or more corries erode together, e.g. the Matterhorn
in the Swiss Alps.
Roche moutonnée
An area of rock with one side smoothed and polished and the
other plucked and jagged by the passage of a glacier.
Striation
Scratches or gouges cut into bedrock by glacial abrasion.
Tarn
A small deep lake in the floor of a cirque.
Till
An unsorted mixture deposited directly by the glacier. Till can
also be known as boulder clay.
Truncated spur
A spur of a river valley which has been cut through or sliced off
by a valley glacier.
‘U’ shaped valley
A ‘V’ shaped river valley eroded by a valley glacier.
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A vocabulary of glacial erosion
A possible extension task could be to ask the students to add case study examples.
Key word or
phrase
Arête
Corrie
Example(s)
Striding Edge, Helvellyn, Lake District, England
http://www.stridingedge.net/lake%20district%20features/striding%20edge.htm
Crib Goch, Snowdon, Wales
http://www.flickr.com/photos/huntthewumpus/7856913960/in/photostream
Western Cwm, Mount Everest, Nepal
http://www.flickr.com/photos/86473856@N05/7977390193
Cirque de Gavarnie, Pyrenees, France
http://www.flickr.com/photos/d_ant-5058086/5645806477
Fiord or fjord
Lysefjord, Norway
http://www.flickr.com/photos/78076807@N00/400159933
and http://www.touropia.com/beautiful-fjords-of-the-world
Hanging
valley
Several examples in the Yosemite National Park, California
http://www4.uwsp.edu/geo/faculty/lemke/alpine_glacial_glossary/more/hangingvalley_more.h
tml
Glacier
Mer de Glace, Chamonix, France
http://www.flickr.com/photos/97681386@N00/2528860716
Lateral and
medial
moraine
Edward Bailey Gletscher, Greenland
http://www.swisseduc.ch/glaciers/earth_icy_planet/glaciers05-en.html?id=4
Pyramidal
peak
The Matterhorn in the Swiss Alps
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40826712@N00/713883380
Kinnerly Peak, Glacier National Park, Montana
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22205648@N06/9665549569,
Roche
moutonnée
Nant Ffrancon, Wales
http://www.flickr.com/photos/geogstott/281666589
Striation
Duck Lake, California
http://www.flickr.com/photos/15013508@N04/1797627534
Tarn
Red Tarn, Helvellyn, the Lake District
https://www.flickr.com/photos/35576072@N00/2615650927
Grisedale Tarn, Helvellyn, the Lake District
http://english-lake-district.info/helvellyn/helvellyn.html
Truncated
spur
Glencoe, Scotland
http://www.flickr.com/photos/geojuice/5689792329
‘U’ shaped
valley
Lauterbraunan, Switzerland
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8015657@N02/1989216635
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