glacial polish

English

Noun

glacial polish (usually uncountable, plural glacial polishes)

  1. The appearance of rock after having been worn smooth by a passing glacier.
    • 2001, Bill Guyton, Glaciers of California‎:
      Tenaya Lake was at one time under as much as 2,460 feet of glacial ice that produced a pressure of about 74 tons per square foot and extensive glacial polish (fig. 18).
    • 2002, John Menzies, Modern and Past Glacial Environments: Revised Student Edition
      Glacial polish on lee surfaces may reflect this sorting.
    • 1953, Hans Cloos, Conversation with the Earth‎:
      However, in Canada and Northern Europe—where they are known collectively as "shields"—the basement formations stretch out in the lowlands, smoothed by glacial polish.
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