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Article: Glacial Landforms and Features
- Article from:
- UXL Encyclopedia of Landforms and Other Geologic Features
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Glacial landforms and features
During
the last Ice Age, which ended approximately 10,000 years ago, 32 percent of Earth's land area was covered with glaciers. At present, glaciers cover roughly 10 percent of the land area. A vast majority of that glacial ice overlies much of the continent of Antarctica. Most of the rest covers a great portion of Greenland; a small percentage is found in places such as Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, Patagonia, New Zealand, the Himalayan Mountains, and the Alps.
Glaciers are not landforms. The action of glaciers, however, creates landforms. It is a process known as glaciation. Glacial ice is an active agent of erosion, which is the gradual wearing away of ...