Question

What is the name for an amphitheatre-like hollow that forms at the head of a glacier?
A. Kettle
B. Moraine
C. Cirque
D. Horn

Answer 1

Hint: Glacier is an important agent for the formation of landforms on the earth surface, especially in the snow-covered mountainous regions. Glaciers are moving bodies of ice that are able to change the entire landscapes of a region.

Complete answer: Option A- Kettle is a landform formed by the glacier, acting as an landform agent. Kettle may be defined as a depression or a hole formed in an outwash plain when the glacier is receding backwards or draining floodwaters. Depressions, known as kettles, often pockmark the outwash plains and other areas with glacial deposits.
Option B- Moraines are accumulated but unconsolidated dirt and rock particles that are either fallen on the glacier or have been pushed along by the glacier as it moves forward. The size of these dirt of moraines can range from powdery silt to large chunks of rocks and boulders.
Option C- A cirque is a valley formed by the glacial erosion. Cirques are characteristically formed by the accumulation of ice and snow avalanching from upslope areas. The size of these cirque glaciers ranges from the glaciers that are completely limited within hosting bedrock hollows to glaciers that form the heads of the large valley glaciers. These landforms are generally amphitheatre-like hollow shaped landforms.
Option D- When glaciers erode three or more aretes that usually forms a sharp-edged peak, a horn shaped landform is formed. The Matterhorn in Switzerland is a horn carved away by glacial erosion.

Therefore, from the above discussion it is clear that the right answer is option C, Cirque.

Note: Blue Lake Cirque in New South Wales in Australia, Chandra Taal in Himachal Pradesh in India, Seven Rila Lake Cirques in Rila Mountain in Bulgaria are some of the notable Cirques of the world. Glaciers can only originate above the snowline, and for this reason studying the location of present-day cirques provides information of past glacial patterns and even of climate change.