Glaciers sculpt Earth's landscapes into U-shaped valleys
Glaciers are nature's powerful sculptors, eroding rock over millennia to form dramatic U-shaped valleys and fjords, fundamentally shaping Earth's mountainous terrains.
Massive glaciers, slow-moving rivers of ice, relentlessly carve Earth's surface. They grind against bedrock using embedded rocks like sandpaper and pluck away chunks, creating distinctive U-shaped valleys, unlike the V-shapes formed by rivers. Iconic examples include California's Yosemite Valley and Norway's Sognefjord, the world's longest fjord. This powerful process shaped about 30 percent of Earth's land during the last major glaciation 20,000 years ago. These ancient sculptors are now rapidly diminishing, with an estimated 390 billion tons of ice lost annually since 2000, altering landscapes through increased rockfalls and flooding.