Glacial erosion

Glacial erosion is the wearing away of land by moving glacier ice and the sediment it carries, through processes such as abrasion and quarrying.

Glacial abrasion: The grinding of bedrock by rock fragments embedded in moving glacier ice. Rock debris dragged across bedrock scratches, polishes, and wears it down.
U-shaped valley: A broad valley with a rounded floor and steep sides, commonly carved by glacier ice. Glaciers widen and deepen former river valleys into this characteristic profile.
Glacier: A persistent body of land ice that flows under its own weight. Moving glacier ice supplies the force and transport that produce erosion.
Paleoglaciology: The study of ancient glaciers and ice sheets using geological and geomorphological evidence. Erosional landforms and scratches help reconstruct vanished glaciers.
Glacial quarrying: The removal of bedrock blocks by glacier ice, especially where ice exploits fractures. Ice can detach and carry away fractured rock rather than merely grind its surface.
Cirque: A bowl-shaped hollow near a mountain glacier's head, bounded by steep slopes. Glacial erosion excavates cirques where ice accumulates and moves downhill.
Rock flour: Fine-grained sediment produced when rock is ground beneath a glacier. It is a small but abundant product of abrasion at the glacier bed.
Glacial geomorphology: The study of landforms created or modified by glaciers and glacial processes. It interprets erosion alongside deposition to explain glaciated landscapes.
Basal sliding: Movement of glacier ice over its bed, enabled by deformation or water at the ice-bed interface. Sliding brings debris into contact with bedrock and drives much glacial wear.
Arete: A sharp ridge formed when glaciers erode opposing sides of a mountain spur. Erosion by neighboring cirques can leave a narrow, knife-edged divide.

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