Cirque Lake

When a corrie no longer holds a glacier it is possible to see how the ice has shaped the underlying rock. It is common to find a shallow depression (called a cirque depression) in the base of the corrie. Over time this fills with water forming a small lake. In the UK this is commonly called a tarn. In the USA it is known as a cirque lake

 

 

Photograph of a stack just off shored

Photo of the tarn (or cirque lake) sitting in the corrie at the top of Helvellyn in the UK Lake District.

Photograph of Lac Bleu, a tarn near Chamonix

A view down onto a cirque lake, or tarn, in the French Alps.

To the left of the lake you can see the raised corrie lip, and to the right is the back of the corrie with its steep face. To either side of the corrie are moraine deposits.

 

 

Click this button to go back to the last paged

 

 


This site is registered with ICRAThis page conforms to triple A accessibility standards

This is the logo of NGFL A black rectangle to tidy up the edge of the page