The result of this erosion over a long time is a U-shaped valley. The western fiords of Iceland display this characteristic U-shape. Other erosional features such as hanging valleys, aretes, cirques, and tarns are created by valley glaciers. As the sediment eroded by a glacier is eventually deposited it forms a variety of features. Moraines are ridges of sediment that are deposited perpendicular to glacier flow near the terminus of a glacier.
Eskers are sinuous ridges of sand and gravel deposited in or under ice in a meltwater tunnel.
Kames are hills of sediment that are commonly found near kettles. Kettles are depressions that were formed when a buried ice block melts. Outwash plains , called sandur in Iceland are broad nearly flat areas of braided stream sediment. Outwash plains form in front of the glacier as meltwater carries sand and gravel away from the glacier.