Which mechanism initiates the creation of a cirque on a mountainside subject to glaciation?

💡 Explanation

When a slope is subject to freeze-thaw cycles, frost wedging occurs because water enters rock fractures and expands upon freezing, exerting pressure that weakens rock, which forms basins over time where glaciers originate by accumulation of snow/ice. Therefore frost wedging is the triggering mechanism, rather than abrasion, plucking or radiation.

• Which feedback arises when increased rainfall rapidly saturates soluble bedrock, forming new sinkholes?
• Which erosional mechanism deepens cirques during glacial advance?
• Which outcome occurs when permafrost thaws beneath tundra ecosystems on moderate slopes?
• Which mechanism causes higher chlorophyll concentrations along coastlines in coastal regions?
• Which process causes increased clay mineral formation when plinthite underlies a waterlogged region?
• Which mechanism most directly causes shallow-focus earthquakes along oceanic transform faults?