Glacier features in lowland areas - SS1 Geography Lesson Note

Roche Moutonnée: Imagine a rock that looks like a smooth, rounded hill. Roche moutonnée is the term for such a feature created by glaciers. They form when the glacier's movement smoothens one side of the rock due to abrasion but leaves the other side steep and jagged.

 

Crag and Tail: Picture a large rock (crag) with a long, smooth ridge (tail) extending in the direction of glacier movement. This happens when the glacier sculpts the softer rock behind the harder crag, forming this unique feature.

 

Boulder Clay: It is a type of sediment left behind by glaciers. Boulder clay consists of a mix of different-sized rocks, clay, and silt. It's typically unsorted and unstratified because the glacier deposits it haphazardly as it melts.

 

Erratic: Erratics are large rocks that don't belong to the local geology. Glaciers can transport these rocks over long distances and leave them in entirely different areas when they melt. Imagine finding a massive rock in a landscape where it clearly doesn't belong.

 

Drumlins: These are elongated, hill-shaped mounds found in lowland areas. Drumlins form as glaciers move over the landscape, reshaping the underlying material into these streamlined, oval features.

 

Eskers: Eskers are long, winding ridges or mounds of sediment, often composed of gravel and sand. They're formed by meltwater streams that flow within or beneath glaciers. These streams deposit sediments, creating these distinctive features.