ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the role of ice as a geomorphic agent. It starts by examining forms of glaciers (ice sheets, ice caps, ice shelves, ice shields, cirque glaciers, valley glaciers, and so on), their structure (accumulation zone and ablation zone), and Quaternary glaciations. It then looks at ice an agent of erosion and transport, noting the distinction between subglacial, englacial, and supraglacial debris. The chapter shows how ice erosion creates a wealth of landforms by abrasion, by fracture, by crushing, and by eroding a mountain mass, including glacially scoured regions, glacial troughs, striated bedrock, trough heads, and cirques; how ice also creates a suite of depositional landforms, including moraines, erratics, drumlins, and many more; and how meltwater fashions glaciofluvial landforms, including eskers, kames, meltwater, scablands and spillways, outwash plains, and kettle holes. It evaluates the variety of paraglacial landforms that develop immediately after glaciers retreat and concludes by showing that many glaciers are currently in retreat owing to human-induced climate change.
