Cirque, arete, pyramidal peak, glacial trough/ribbon lake, truncated spurs and hanging valleys.
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Describe a cirque.
Bowl-shaped depression with a steep, craggy backwall and rock or sediment lip, usually a few hundred metres in diameter.
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Describe an arete.
A steep rock ridge separating two cirques, formed by their backwalls.
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Describe a pyramidal peak.
A very steep rock peak in the shape of a pyramid.
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Describe a glacial trough/ribbon lake.
The valley eroded by a glacier, being steep-sided but flat-bottomed. Many are several kilometres long and may today contain a long, thin lake (ribbon lake).
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Describe a truncated spur.
Spurs are projections of bedrock into a river valley, but they are cut (truncated) by glacial erosion to form steep rock faces.
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Describe a hanging valley.
A small glacial valley cutting into a larger one from the side, with its base high above the floor of the larger valley.
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How is a cirque formed?
Rotation of an area of accumulated ice causing abrasion and plucking of the bedrock.
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How is an arete formed?
Lateral erosion of cirque backwalls gradually narrowing the rock between them.
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How is a pyramidal peak formed?
Formed when three or more cirque back walls and aretes meet.
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How is a glacial trough/ribbon lake formed?
V-shaped river valleys eroded by ice, and deepening occurs as most erosion is concentrated at the base
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How is a truncated spur formed?
Ice shapes former river valleys by erosion cutting into the interlocking spurs of rock and slicing off their ends.
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How is a hanging valley formed?
Ice from a smaller, less deep glacier joins a larger glacier so their bases are at different elevations.
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Other cards in this set
Card 2
Front
Describe a cirque.
Back
Bowl-shaped depression with a steep, craggy backwall and rock or sediment lip, usually a few hundred metres in diameter.
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