An armchair-shaped hollow carved at the head of a glacial valley by the plucking and abrasion of ice.

What landforms develop from cirques?

As cirques enlarge they form arêtes between adjacent hollows, and where several cut back into one summit they leave a pyramidal horn.

Cirque

noun (countable)

/sɜːk/

An amphitheatre-shaped, steep-walled hollow carved into a mountainside by glacial erosion, typically at the head of a glacial valley where snow accumulates, compacts to ice, and rotational sliding abrades the bedrock basin. When the ice melts, a cirque may hold a glacial lake called a tarn. In the Himalayas, numerous cirques and tarns are found in the higher zones of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, and understanding their formation is essential for UPSC questions on glacial landforms.

✍️ Usage in a UPSC answer

The Roopkund tarn in Uttarakhand occupies a classic Himalayan cirque at an elevation of approximately 5,029 m, illustrating the interplay of glacial erosion and periglacial processes at high altitude.

Synonyms

corriecwmglacial hollowarmchair valleyniche glacier hollow

Antonyms

alluvial plaindeltafloodplainpiedmont

🌱 Word Family

cirque (noun), cirque glacier (compound noun), corrie (synonym noun)

🔡 Root

French cirque = circle, amphitheatre; from Latin circus = ring, circle

📜 Etymology

Borrowed directly from French cirque, which derives from Latin circus (ring or circular arena, as in Roman chariot tracks). The geological usage was established in French Alpine geography in the 18th–19th centuries and adopted into English glaciological literature in the mid-19th century. The synonym corrie (Scottish Gaelic) and cwm (Welsh) reflect local terminology for the same landform.

🧠 Memory Hook

A cirque is shaped like a CIRCular amphitheatre carved by a glacier — the same root as 'circus ring'. Picture an ancient Roman circus carved into a mountain by ice.

🎯 How This Word Works in UPSC Writing

An armchair-shaped hollow excavated at the head of a glacial valley by plucking and abrasion. It is the starting point of the classic glacial sequence in GS1: cirques enlarge and coalesce to produce arêtes between them and a horn where three or more meet. Naming that progression is worth more than describing the feature alone.

⚖️ Don’t Confuse It With

A cirque is the hollow at a glacier's head. A tarn is the lake that occupies it after the ice retreats. An arête is the sharp ridge between two adjacent cirques. A horn is the pyramidal peak left where several cirques cut back into the same summit.

🇮🇳 Hindi Meaning

हिमज गह्वर (himaj gahvar) or सर्क, the loanword.

❓ Common Questions

What is a cirque?: An armchair-shaped hollow carved at the head of a glacial valley by the plucking and abrasion of ice.
What landforms develop from cirques?: As cirques enlarge they form arêtes between adjacent hollows, and where several cut back into one summit they leave a pyramidal horn.

🌍 Geography 📖 Seen in: Plate Tectonics & Volcanism — Continen...

Relevant across:GS1 · History, Geography & Society

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