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^[1]:

     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^[2]:

     Glacial polish on lee surfaces may reflect this sorting.

   • 1953, Hans Cloos, Conversation with the Earth‎^[3]:

     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.