How Do Glaciers Create Landforms?

Scouring

• Glacial scoring occurs when sediment picked up by the ice rubs against the ground rock as the glacier moves. This creates very distinctive formations in bedrock and produces a sediment powder streams transport down from mountains.

Moraines

• At the lowest elevation, where the glacier terminates, the sediment picked up by the ice is dropped. These piles of discarded rock and debris form mounds called moraines. Moraines commonly look like belts of low-lying hills at the base of mountains.

Alpine Valleys

• Glaciers erode rock and form U-shaped valleys called alpine valleys. This happens as a glacier advances down a mountainside in fingers, carving the valleys as it scrapes the surface. Between these valleys are sharp peaks called aretes.