Physical Environments
Weather
Glaciated Uplands
Glacial feature | Description |
Corrie | A large, U shaped hollow in a mountain that has been eroded by ice. |
Corrie lake (tarn) | A body of water that is left behind within a corrie after the glacier melts. |
Arête | The narrow ridge formed when two corries form back to back or side to side. |
Pyramidal peak | The steep point at the top formed when three or more corries form back to back or side to side. |
U shaped valley | A valley shaped like a U which has been formed through glacial erosion. |
Hanging valley | A smaller U shaped valley that is above the main valley and can sometimes have a waterfall. |
Ribbon lake | A large body of water within a U shaped valley that is left behind when the glacier melts. |
Misfit stream | A small river that occupies a U shaped valley. |
Truncated spur | A steep area of land at the side of a U shaped valley. |
Erosion processes
Plucking- when ice freezes onto rocks and as the glacier moves it will rip the rock out creating jagged and steep sides.
Abrasion- when rocks trapped in between the rock and ice scrape against the surface like sandpaper which deepens and smoothes the bottom of the valley.
Freeze-thaw weathering- when water freezes inside the cracks of rocks which forces the rock to become expand. Overtime the rocks become too big and chunks of it are broken off.
Formation of Corrie, Arête and Pyramidal Peak
-Snow gathers on a north facing mountain hollow and eventually compacts into ice, forming a glacier.
-The force of gravity pushes the glacier downhill which erodes the base.
-Plucking is when ice freezes on to the outside of rocks and as the glacier moves it will the them out which creates steep, jagged sides. Freeze-thaw weathering is when ice freezes inside the cracks of rocks which force the rock to expand. Overtime the rocks become too big and chunks will break/fall off.
-When the glacier melts the hollow is U shaped and there may be a tarn left behind, (Corrie)
-The arête is the narrow, knife edged ridge formed when two corries form back to back or side to side. (arête)
-The pyramidal peak is the steep peak formed at the top when three or more corries form back to back or side to side. (pyramidal peak)