Glacier Erosion

Forms of glacial erosion represent some of the most widely distributed and recognizable indicators for past glacier extent. The discovery that polished rock surfaces were formed trough glacier abrasion, and the subsequent mapping of this feature on valley floors very distant from recent glaciers, was vital for the support of the "glacial theory" in the mid-1800s by the geological community.

The glacial striations of Le Landeron on Lake Biel, visited by the participants of the excursion of the Société Géologique in 1838, in a representation of Agassiz's work Etudes sur les glaciers of 1840.

Abrasion is the process of (frictional) wear, produced by surface rubbing against each other, and is achieved in the subglacial environment by sliding of debris-charged ice across the rock-bed.
Roches moutonées are the classical example of subglacial bedrock erosion, with abrasion dominating on the upstream (stoss) side and plucking (material pull off) on the lee side. This results in a highly unsymmetrical form, with a plain, upward side and a step to vertical termination.


To be continued...