CirqueA cirque (French:; from the Latin word circus) is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic: coire, meaning a pot or cauldron) and cwm (Welsh for 'valley'; pronounced). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform arising from fluvial erosion. The concave shape of a glacial cirque is open on the downhill side, while the cupped section is generally steep.
ValleyA valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over a very long period. Some valleys are formed through erosion by glacial ice. These glaciers may remain present in valleys in high mountains or polar areas.
OverdeepeningOverdeepening is a characteristic of basins and valleys eroded by glaciers. An overdeepened valley profile is often eroded to depths which are hundreds of metres below the lowest continuous surface line (the thalweg) along a valley or watercourse. This phenomenon is observed under modern-day glaciers, in saltwater fjords and freshwater lakes remaining after glaciers melt, as well as in tunnel valleys which are partially or totally filled with sediment.
Roche moutonnéeIn glaciology, a roche moutonnée (or sheepback) is a rock formation created by the passing of a glacier. The passage of glacial ice over underlying bedrock often results in asymmetric erosional forms as a result of abrasion on the "stoss" (upstream) side of the rock, and plucking (i.e. pieces cracked off) on the "lee" (downstream) side.
ArêteAn arête ( ə-RET; French: [aʁɛt]) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys.
GlacierPersistent body of ice that moves downhill under its own weightGlacier of the Geikie Plateau in GreenlandThe Taschachferner in the Ötztal Alps in Austria. The mountain to the left is the Wildspitze (3,768 m), the second highest in AustriaThe Baltoro Glacier in Pakistan. It is 62 kilometres (39 mi) long, the fifth longest alpine glacier in the world.A glacier (US: ; UK: or ) is a persistent body of natural ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving under its own weight.
Ice sheetLarge mass of glacial iceOne of Earth's two ice sheets: The Antarctic ice sheet covers about 98% of the Antarcticcontinent and is the largest single mass of ice on Earth. It has an average thickness of over 2 kilometers.In glaciology, an ice sheet, also known as a continental glacier, is a mass of glacialice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km (19,000 sq mi). The two current ice sheets are the Antarctic ice sheet and the Greenland ice sheet.
LandformA landform is a land feature on the solid surface of the Earth or other planetary body. They may be natural or may be anthropogenic (caused or influenced by human activity). Landforms together make up a given terrain, and their arrangement in the landscape is known as topography.
Quaternary glaciationThe Quaternary glaciation, also known as the Pleistocene glaciation, is an alternating series of glacial and interglacial periods during the Quaternary period that began around 2.58 million years ago and is ongoing. Although geologists describe this entire period up to the present as an "ice age", in popular culture this term usually refers to the most recent glacial period, or to the Pleistocene epoch in general.
SaharaThe Sahara (, ) is a desert spanning North Africa. With an area of 9,200,000 square kilometres (3,600,000 sq mi), it is the largest hot desert in the world and the third-largest desert overall, smaller only than the deserts of Antarctica and the northern Arctic. The desert covers much of North Africa, excluding the fertile region on the coast, the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb, and the Nile Valley in Egypt and the Sudan.AndesMountain range in South AmericaThe Andes ( ), Andes Mountains or Andean Mountain Range (Spanish: Cordillera de los Andes; Quechua: Anti) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is 8,900 kilometres (5,500 mi) long and 200 to 700 kilometres (120 to 430 mi) wide (widest between 18°S and 20°Slatitude) and has an average height of about 4,000 metres (13,000 ft).
FennoscandiaFennoscandia (Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian: Fennoskandia; Russian: Фенноскандия, romanized: Fennoskandiya), Fenno-Scandinavia, or the Fennoscandian Peninsula, is a peninsula in Europe which includes the Scandinavian and Kola peninsulas, mainland Finland, and Karelia. Administratively, this roughly encompasses the mainlands of Finland, Norway and Sweden, as well as Murmansk Oblast, the Republic of Karelia, and parts of northern Leningrad Oblast in Russia.*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.