Hanging valleys develop because larger, more massive glaciers create more erosion and deeper valleys. Many hanging valleys are also the sites of sensational waterfalls. Cirques are the bowl shaped depressions found at the head of glacial valleys. For most alpine glaciers, cirques are the areas in the alpine valleys where snow first accumulated and was modified into glacial ice. The glaciers that occupy cirques are called cirque glaciers .
Horns are pyramidal peaks that form when several cirques chisel a mountain from three or more sides.
The most famous horn is the Matterhorn found in the Swiss Alps. Features associated with alpine glaciation. Talus and other foot-slope deposits are also common in a glaciated valley. Because of the enhancement of freeze-thaw processes bedrock in alpine areas is weathered by the growth of ice crystals. This type of weathering shatters the bedrock into sharp angular fragments that accumulate at the bottom of rock slopes as talus.