Glacial Landforms

Erosional landforms

ice scoured basins: the Great lakes and millions of other lakes basins on the Canadian shield and other glaciated shields
roche mountonnees: "rock sheep", bedrock ridges striated and polished on the stoss (up-glacier) side and plucked on the lee side where meltwater produced on the stoss side refroze to the lee side of the ridge
meltwater valleys: large wide valleys eroded by meltwater draining along the ice margin or spillways draining glacial lakes (e.g. all the major valleys of the southern Canadian Interior Plains)

cirque: bowl-shaped rock cavity, where alpine glaciers form and then retreat to and persist; commonly have small lakes called tarns
arete: narrow ridge between glacial cirques and troughs
horn: pyramidal peak faceted by glaciation on all sides
hanging valley: tributary valley that hangs above the trunk valley, i.e. the floors of the two valley are a t different elevation and separated by a cliff (and thus usually waterfalls)
glacial trough: the U-shaped valley created when a valley glacier, usually by modifying a pre-glacial fluvial (V-shaped) valley
truncated spur: the ends of interfluves truncated by valley glaciation

glacial drift

all sediment transported by glaciers or glacial meltwater

till: unsorted, unstratified drift deposited directly from glacier ice
ice-contact stratified drift: deposited or modified by meltwater in contact with or close proximity to ice; some sorting and stratification but large variation in particle size and sedimentary structure
outwash: glacial-fluvial sediments washed out from the margin of the ice with more sorting than with ice-contact drift
glacio-lacturine sediments: clays and silts deposited in lakes near or on glaciers
glacio-marine sediments: sediment rained down or ice rafted onto continental shelves from a floating glacier
glacio-tectonic drifto: frozen or saturated drift and/or bedrock folded and faulted by the force of a glacier

moraine

collective term for landforms of direct glacial origin