Erosional Processes
There are two main erosional processes that you need to be able to explain and then link to different landforms:
Abrasion – when sub-glacial basal ice rubs against the bedrock and valley sides. This causes the wearing away of the landscape as the glacier behaves like sandpaper.
Plucking – occurs when rocks and stones become frozen to the base or sides of the glacier (regelation) and are pulled from the ground or rock face as the glacier moves.
You also need to be aware that two other processes influence erosion:
Freeze-thaw – where water enters cracks in rocks, freezes and expands by 9%. This repeated, results in rock breaking off valley sides.
Meltwater – carries material to the base of the glacier where it forms basal ice.
Erosional Landforms
Here we can group erosional landforms into three categories, based on the type of glacier that creates them:
