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Everything about Cirque
Amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion
A cirque is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie and cwm. A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform arising from fluvial erosion. Wikipedia →
🧭 Start here: a 6-step reading path
- Read the overview: CirqueA 5-minute orientation
- Skim a recent paper: Cirque morphology and palaeo-climate indications along a south-north transect in High Mountain AsiaInfluential work since 2022
- Pick up a classic book: OliverThe most-reprinted book on the subject
- Read the landmark paper: Paleoclimatic implications based on equilibrium-line altitude depressions of reconstructed Younger Dryas and Holocene cirque glaciers in inner Nordfjord, western NorwayCited 150 times
- Go sideways: Tarn (lake)A closely related topic
- Go sideways: Pyramidal peakA closely related topic
📖 Definitions
Noun A Roman circus.
Noun A curved depression or natural amphitheatre, especially one in a mountainside at the end of a valley.
Noun Something in the shape of a circle or ring.
🗂️ The subject at a glance
🏆 Landmark papers (most cited)
Paleoclimatic implications based on equilibrium-line altitude depressions of reconstructed Younger Dryas and Holocene cirque glaciers in inner Nordfjord, western Norway
Timing and significance of Late-glacial and Holocene cirque glaciation in the Sierra Nevada, California
Chronology of Cirque Glaciation, Colorado Front Range
Alpine landscape evolution dominated by cirque retreat
Allometric development of glacial cirque form: Geological, relief and regional effects on the cirques of Wales
20th-century variations in area of cirque glaciers and glacierets, Rocky Mountain National Park, Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA
Current glacier recession causes significant rockfall increase: the immediate paraglacial response of deglaciating cirque walls
Macroinvertebrate assemblages in 25 high alpine ponds of the Swiss National Park (Cirque of Macun) and relation to environmental variables
🆕 Influential since 2022
Cirque morphology and palaeo-climate indications along a south-north transect in High Mountain Asia
ACME2: An extended toolbox for automated cirque metrics extraction
Cirque development in the Pir Panjal Range of North Western Himalaya, India
Landslide Processes Involved in Volcano Dismantling From Past to Present: The Remarkable Open‐Air Laboratory of the Cirque de Salazie (Reunion Island)
AutoCirque: An automated method to delineate glacial cirque outlines from digital elevation models
📚 Books worth reading
OliverSyd Hoff · 1960
Hurrah for the Circus!Enid Blyton · 1962
Chu's DayNeil Gaiman · 2013
The green slimeSusan Saunders, Edward Packard · 1982
Female Aerialists in the 1920s and Early 1930sKate Holmes · 2021
The stolen childKeith Donohue · 2006
Le CirquePascal Jacob · 1996
Circus techniquesHovey Burgess · 1976
Ranked by number of editions on Open Library, a rough measure of how lasting a book is.
🔗 Related topics
- Tarn (lake) A tarn (or corrie loch) is a mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque (or "corrie") excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below…
- Pyramidal peak A pyramidal peak, sometimes called a glacial horn in extreme cases, is an angular, sharply pointed mountain peak which results from cirque erosion caused…
- Arête An arête (/əˈrɛt/ ə-RET; French: [aʁɛt]) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel…
- Overdeepening Overdeepening is a characteristic of basins and valleys eroded by glaciers. An overdeepened valley profile is often eroded to depths which are hundreds…
- Glossary of landforms Landforms are categorized by characteristic physical attributes such as their creating process, shape, elevation, slope, orientation, rock exposure, and…
- Glacial landform Glacial landforms are landforms created by the action of glaciers. Most of today's glacial landforms were created by the movement of large ice sheets during…
- Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other…
- Glaciology Glaciology (from Latin glacies 'frost, ice' and Ancient Greek λόγος (logos) 'subject matter'; lit. 'study of ice') is the scientific study of glaciers…