Which landform is a round lake at the base of a glacier?

Which landform is a round lake at the base of a glacier?

• A. Kettle Lake
• B. Drumlin
• C. Cirque
• D. Crevasse

Answer: (A)

Kettle lakes form when a block of ice becomes buried in sediment as a glacier or its meltwater advances and retreats. After the ice block melts, it leaves a circular hollow in the ground, which fills with water to become a round lake at the base of the glacier. This is a common feature on glaciated landscapes where outwash sediments are deposited and ice blocks are left behind during retreat. Drumlins are elongated hills formed by the reshaping of sediment beneath moving ice, not lakes. Cirques are bowl-shaped basins eroded at the upper part of a valley where a glacier originated, not at the base. Crevasses are deep cracks in the glacier ice itself, not lakes. So the round lake at the glacier’s base is best explained by a kettle lake.

Kettle lakes form when a block of ice becomes buried in sediment as a glacier or its meltwater advances and retreats. After the ice block melts, it leaves a circular hollow in the ground, which fills with water to become a round lake at the base of the glacier. This is a common feature on glaciated landscapes where outwash sediments are deposited and ice blocks are left behind during retreat.

Drumlins are elongated hills formed by the reshaping of sediment beneath moving ice, not lakes. Cirques are bowl-shaped basins eroded at the upper part of a valley where a glacier originated, not at the base. Crevasses are deep cracks in the glacier ice itself, not lakes. So the round lake at the glacier’s base is best explained by a kettle lake.