Landforms Caused by Glaciers

Types

• Valley or mountain glaciers move along paths created by snow melt or a river, increasing the steepness of mountains as they move. Large, gently sloping glaciers called piedmont glaciers form when a valley glacier reaches the lowlands at the foot of the valley and spreads out. Ice caps are small glaciers that form in valleys on the sides of mountains. Continental glaciers are the largest type of glacier, covering thousands of square miles in ice which is miles thick.

U-Shaped Valleys

• As a glacier moves through a V-shaped valley created by a river, it smashes through rocks, soil and vegetation, slowly rounding off its shape until it resembles a "U." The rocks and soil are deposited along the sides and front of the valley in mounds called moraines. Chunks of ice in the rubble form depressions that eventually turn into lakes called kettle lakes.

Fjord

• A fjord is a steep-sided sea inlet that scientists believe formed when a glacier reached the coastal end of a valley and then retreated. After the glacier retreated the valley filled with water. Fjords can be more than 3,000 feet deep.