ABSTRACT
The retreat of glacier ice exposes land surfaces to processes that progressively modify glacial landforms, landscapes and landsystems. Such modification is often described as paraglacial, a term first defined by Church and Ryder (1972, p. 3059) as referring to ‘non-glacial processes that are directly conditioned by glaciation’. Use of ‘paraglacial’ has, however, subsequently widened to include description of landforms and sediments as well as geomorphic processes. In this chapter the term ‘paraglacial’ is therefore redefined as describing ‘non-glacial earth-surface processes, sediment accumulations, landforms, landsystems and landscapes that are directly conditioned by glacation and deglaciation’. This revised definition retains the essence of the original, but recognizes the more eclectic use of the term now current.
