When glaciers receded, leaving behind their cargo of crushed rock and sand (glacial drift), they left behind distinctive depositional landforms. Glacial moraines, eskers, and kames are examples. Drumlins and ribbed moraines are other landforms left by receding glaciers.
Glaciers form on land and are composed of falling snow that has been compressed into ice over many centuries. The pull of gravity causes them to move slowly downward. The majority of the world's glaciers are found in the polar regions, such as Greenland, the Canadian Arctic, and Antarctica.
A moraine is the material left by a moving glacier. Typically, this material is soil and rock. Similarly to how rivers transport debris and silt that eventually builds up to form deltas, glaciers transport dirt and boulders that eventually build up to form moraines.
