Question

Explain how glaciers can change the landscape and physical characteristics of continents.
in paragraph

Answer 1

Glaciers reshape continents through powerful processes of erosion, transport and deposition: as they flow downhill or outward from ice sheets, their moving ice plucks and abrades bedrock, carving U-shaped valleys, cirques, arêtes and deep fjords, striating and polishing rock surfaces and leaving steep-walled troughs and roche moutonnées; they pick up and carry vast amounts of rock and soil and drop it as unsorted till that forms moraines, drumlins and ground sheets, while meltwater redistributes sorted sediments into eskers, outwash plains and kettle lakes. Ice sheets can grind down entire mountain ranges and redistribute sediments over continental scales, altering drainage networks by damming rivers and creating new lakes and wetlands, and they also change topography enough to affect regional climate patterns and vegetation. When ice melts, the removed weight allows isostatic rebound of the crust, slowly uplifting formerly depressed areas and modifying coastlines, and the sea-level changes associated with glaciation and deglaciation further reshape continental margins. Together these processes leave a lasting imprint on continental physical characteristics—topography, soils, hydrology and coastal outlines—that persist long after the ice has retreated.