Physical Landscapes in the UK: Glacial Landscapes — AQA GCSE Geography

Glaciers shaped much of the UK's upland landscape during past ice ages, leaving distinctive landforms now used in many ways.

Glacial processes

Ice shapes the land through:

• Erosion — freeze–thaw weathering loosens rock; abrasion (rock embedded in ice scrapes the surface) and plucking (ice freezes onto rock and pulls it away).
• Movement and transport — glaciers carry rock (till/moraine) as they flow downhill.
• Deposition — material is dropped as the glacier melts, forming moraines and erratics.

Glacial landforms

Erosional landforms:

• Corries (cirques) — armchair-shaped hollows where ice accumulated.
• Arêtes — knife-edge ridges between two corries.
• Pyramidal peaks — where three or more corries meet.
• Glacial troughs (U-shaped valleys), with truncated spurs, hanging valleys and ribbon lakes.

Depositional landforms: moraines (lateral, medial, terminal, ground) and drumlins and erratics.

You should be able to explain how each forms and recognise them on OS maps and photographs.

Land use and management

Glaciated upland areas (e.g. the Lake District) offer economic opportunities: tourism, farming (hill sheep), forestry and quarrying. These uses create conflicts — for example between tourists, farmers, conservationists and local residents (traffic, footpath erosion, second homes, jobs).

A case study of a UK upland area should show the attractions for tourists, the social, economic and environmental impacts of tourism, and the strategies used to manage the impacts (e.g. managing traffic, repairing footpaths, education).

Exam tips

• Learn the three erosion processes (freeze–thaw, abrasion, plucking).
• Be able to describe the formation of corries, arêtes, pyramidal peaks and U-shaped valleys.
• Distinguish erosional and depositional (moraine, drumlin) landforms.
• Use a named upland case study to discuss tourism conflicts and management.