Which erosional pattern develops when a retreating glacier carves a U-shaped valley subsequently flooded by the sea?

💡 Explanation

When a glacier retreats, glacial erosion leaves behind a U-shaped valley carved by immense ice pressure and abrasion because glacial ice fills and scours the valley floor. Therefore a subsquent rise in sea-level creates a fjord, rather than other geomorphological formations that arise from different processes.

• Which mechanism drives the progressive headward erosion that leads to the formation of a cirque?
• Which risk increases when an artificial levee is constructed on an active alluvial fan?
• Which mechanism initiates upwelling along transform fault zones in oceanic ridges?
• Which mechanism initiates the sudden release of stored energy during an earthquake along a transform fault?
• Which outcome dominates when a locked subduction zone ruptures?
• Which process primarily controls sediment deposition and layering at the head of a fjord?