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GCSE Geography · key term
Glacial erosion in which ice freezes onto rock and pulls it away as the glacier moves.
Used by AQA and Edexcel
Specification 3.1.3.4 · Paper 1
Revise: Glacial Processes and Landforms of ErosionPlucking occurs when meltwater freezes onto rock, including rock loosened along cracks. As the glacier moves, the attached ice pulls pieces away. This can leave steep, rough rock faces.
Specification 1.11, 1.12, 1.14 · Paper 1
Glacial erosion in which water freezes around pieces of rock and the moving glacier pulls them away.
Revise: Glacial ProcessesGlaciers do this mainly through plucking and abrasion.
The removal of blocks of bedrock when glacial ice freezes onto them and pulls them away as it moves.
The removal of pieces of bedrock by moving glacier ice.
Paper 2
Glacial erosion in which moving ice pulls away pieces of rock frozen to its base.
Revise: UK Landscape Development: Tectonic and Glacial ProcessesIn plucking, ice froze around pieces of rock and pulled them away as it moved. In abrasion, rock fragments embedded in the ice scraped and ground against the valley floor and sides.
For plucking, explain that water freezes around rock and moving ice pulls it away. For abrasion, explain that rock debris carried by ice scrapes the bedrock.
For a formation explanation, link each process to a change in the landform: abrasion deepens the corrie floor, while plucking steepens its back wall.
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