AQA GCSE Geography (8035) · Spec 3.1.3.4
Glacial landscapes in the UK
Read the notes, then try the questions. Each one is marked the moment you press Check, and shows the right answer and why.
Key ideas
- Much of upland Britain was covered by ice in the last ice age. There are no glaciers there now. Ice erodes by plucking and abrasion, and weathering breaks rock by freeze-thaw. Ice transports material, for example by bulldozing.
- Erosion landforms: a corrie is an armchair-shaped hollow. Two corries back to back leave an arête, a knife-edge ridge. Three or more leave a pyramidal peak. A glaciated valley becomes a U-shaped glacial trough, which may hold a ribbon lake.
- Deposition landforms: moraines are ridges or spreads of mixed material, an erratic is a boulder dropped far from its source rock, and a drumlin is a low egg-shaped mound of till.
- Glaciated uplands are used for tourism, farming, forestry, quarrying and water supply. These can conflict, so land use is managed. You need a UK upland example, such as the Lake District.
Key terms
- Plucking
- Ice freezing to rock and ripping pieces away as it moves.
- Corrie
- An armchair-shaped hollow cut into a mountainside by ice.
- Arête
- A narrow, knife-edge ridge between two corries.
- Moraine
- Ridges or spreads of rock and clay left by a glacier.
- Erratic
- A large boulder carried by ice and dropped on a different type of rock.
- Land-use conflict
- When different groups want to use the same land in different ways.
Common mistakes
- Saying running water carved corries or glacial troughs. Ice did.
- Confusing plucking and freeze-thaw with ways of transport. Plucking is erosion and freeze-thaw is weathering.
- Using the Alps or Svalbard as your UK upland example. The question needs a UK area.
Exam tip
Explain the formation of a corrie or other landform is usually a 4-marker. Put the steps in order and say what causes each one. Learn the formation of at least one erosion landform and one deposition landform.
Free practice questions
6 questions, 10 marks. Answer, then press Check. The marking guide explains how the marks are worked out. Nothing is saved.
- Question 1 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which of these is a way that a glacier transports material?
- Question 2 · Multiple choice[1 mark]
Which of these carved out a corrie?
- Question 3 · Fill the gaps[2 marks]
Where three or more corries cut back, they leave a ___ peak. Two corries cut back to back leave a(n) ___.
Word bank: drumlin · tarn · arête · pyramidal
- Question 4 · Matching[3 marks]
Match each glacial erosion landform to its description.
- Question 5 · Put in order[1 mark]
Put these stages of corrie formation in the correct order.
Use the arrows to put these in the right order, first at the top.
- 1Plucking, rotational slip and abrasion deepen the hollow
- 2Snow collects in a north-facing hollow
- 3The ice melts, leaving a steep back wall and a lip
- 4The snow compresses into ice
- Question 6 · Fill the gaps[2 marks]
Lateral, medial and terminal are types of ___. A boulder dropped far from its source rock is a(n) ___.
Word bank: drumlin · arête · moraine · erratic