U-shaped valleys are formed after a glacier passes through a V-shaped valley. They are U-shaped with steep, straight sides and a flat bottom. The U-shaped valleys occur when a glacier travels across a down slope, carving the valley by the action of scouring. The glacial erosion called glaciation and abrasion, which results in large rocky material being carried in the glacier. A material called boulder clay is deposited onto the floor of the valley. As the ice melt the valley is left with ver steep sides and a wide, flat floor. A river or stream may flow through the valley from the melted ice.
On the sides of an U-shaped valley, they may have hanging valleys. Hanging valleys are side valleys (valleys on the side) that are on the high, left side of a main valley that has been turned into a U-shaped valley.Streams that are in a U-shaped valley may form a waterfall as water can flow down the steepened sides. The valley may also have trunctated spurs. Trunctated spurs are the ends of sloping ridges cut (or truncated) by the valley glacier to flow straighter than a river.
Seracs are blocks or columns of ice formed by intersecting crevasses on a glacier. They are often house-sized or larger, they are dangerous to mountaineers as they can topple at any second, which can result in serious damage or even death.
They usually look like a tall column of ice, which may have a pointed peak. They may stay up for a long time or it may collapse, depending on the weather conditions an altitude.
Seracs are found within an icefall, often in large numbers or on ice faces on the lower edge of a hanging glacier.
The word 'serac' comes from a Swiss name for a very dense, crumbly white cheese and from a distance, seracs can resembles giant blocks of cheese - at least to the imaginative eye.
Erosion is one of the major forces changing the surface of the Earth constantly. These alterations may be subtle, and they may be drastic. Regardless of which, erosion affects human society in more ways than one, and understanding this will bring to light benefits effected by this force. The landforms which give the Earth such character are all products of erosion.
This blog is a joint project aiming to detail the features and characteristics of the agent of erosion assigned to us: Ice.
