ICE CAPS — Remembering the Glacial Process Sequence
This memory aid covers ICE CAPS — Remembering the Glacial Process Sequence within Glacial Processes for GCSE Geography. Revise Glacial Processes in Glacial Landscapes in the UK for GCSE Geography with 15 exam-style questions and 20 flashcards. This topic appears regularly enough that it should still be part of a steady revision cycle. It is section 14 of 17 in this topic. Use it for quick recall, then test yourself straight afterwards so the memory aid becomes usable in an answer.
Topic position
Section 14 of 17
Practice
15 questions
Recall
20 flashcards
🧠 ICE CAPS — Remembering the Glacial Process Sequence
Use this mnemonic to remember the key glacial processes in order, from ice formation through to deposition:
You can also remember the two erosion processes with: "Plucking Pulls, Abrasion Scratches" — Plucking produces a jagged surface (it pulls blocks out); abrasion produces a scratched, polished surface.
For moraine types: TLMRG — Terminal (furthest advance), Lateral (valley sides), Medial (two glaciers merge), Recessional (retreat stages), Ground (under the ice). Or use the sentence: "The Lonely Mountain Range Guards [the valley]".
Quick Check: A sample of glacial sediment contains boulders, sand, silt, and clay all mixed together with no layering. Is this till or fluvioglacial sediment? How do you know?
This is till. The key evidence is that it is unsorted (boulders mixed with clay and silt) and unstratified (no layering). Till is deposited directly by ice, which has no capacity to sort by particle size — when ice melts, all particle sizes are dropped together regardless of their mass. Fluvioglacial sediment deposited by meltwater would be sorted (larger particles deposited first, finer particles carried further) and stratified (distinct horizontal layers). If this sediment were fluvioglacial, you would see separate layers of boulders, then gravel, then sand, then silt — not everything mixed together.