The velocity increases toward the center and upper parts of the glacier. Galciations have occurred so recently in N. America and Europe, that weathering, mass wasting, and stream erosion have not had time to alter the landscape. Thus, evidence of glacial erosion and deposition are still present. Since glaciers move, they can pick up and transport rocks and thus erode. Since they transport material and can melt, they can also deposit material.
Glaciated landscapes are the result of both glacial erosion and glacial deposition.
Glacial polish - rock that has a smooth surface produced as a result of fined grained material embedded in the glacier acting like sandpaper on the underlying surface. Landforms produced by mountain glaciers Cirques - bowl shaped depressions that occur at the heads of mountain glaciers that result form a combination of frost wedging, glacial plucking, and abrasion. Sometimes small lakes, called tarns occur in the bottom of cirque. If two adjacent valleys are filled with glacial ice, the ridges between the valleys can be carved into a sharp knife-edge ridge, called an ar te. Hanging Valleys - When a glacier occupying a smaller tributary valley meets the larger valley, the tributary glacier usually does not have the ability to erode its base to the floor of the main valley.