A deep, steep-walled, hollow in a mountain caused by glacial erosion; = corrie (Scotland); = cwm (Wales)
a deep, steep-walled hollow on a mountainside in which an alpine glacier forms The walls and floor of the cirque are carved by glacial ice to form a bowl shape
A semicircular, concave, bowl-like area with a steep face, primarily resulting from erosive activity of a mountain glacier A glacial cirque appears as a amphitheater-like carving in the mountainside, with steep slopes providing headwaters for drainage
A large size amphitheatre shaped hollow which has been excavated by ice action in mountainous regions
A kind of circular valley in the side of a mountain, walled around by precipices of great height
Deep horseshoe-shaped basins formed as a result of glacial erosion, cirques are the headwaters of a glacier Cirque formation is initiated when the climate is cool enough in the area to allow snow to remain year-round in small hollows above the snowline Meltwater from these small snowfields seeps into cracks in the surrounding rocks during times of partial melt, then re-freezes as the temperature falls in the winter, fracturing and loosening the bedrock Subsequent meltwater and ice-flow remove the loose debris and the process begins anew Over a period of thousands of years, the cycle of fracturing, erosion, and removal transform the small hollows into spectacular cirques As the glacier retreats and, eventually, completely disappears a lake will often remain in the cirque Such lakes are known as tarn lakes
{i} corrie, cwm, semicircular bowl-shaped hole with steep walls inside a hill or a mountain formed by glacial erosion (Geology); circle; circus (Archaic from French)
Glacially eroded rock basin found on mountains Most alpine glaciers originate from a cirque